#4562 Ears On Grumpus

Summary

TBTL #4562 "Ears On Grumpus" — September 25, 2025

Overview

In this episode of Too Beautiful To Live (TBTL), hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh dive deep into the interpersonal minefield of home repair service calls, centering around Luke’s frustrating and slightly surreal encounter with an “inscrutable grumpus” HVAC technician. Along the way, they veer into the philosophy of customer service, the agony and comedy of managing home maintenance, and the emotional legacy of hoarding vs. throwing things away. As always, their unique brand of banter—part absurdist sketch, part therapy session—shines through. There’s also discussion of upcoming travel, window salesman antics, breakfast pizza nostalgia, and a live text scam encounter.

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Key Discussion Points & Segments

1. The Idioms Spiral & Opening Banter

• The episode opens with Luke and Andrew riffing on mixed metaphors, twisting familiar idioms into nonsense:

  "You can lead a bush to birds, but you can't make it hand." (00:13, Andrew)

• Early in the episode we get a taste of TBTL's signature back-and-forth, laying the playful, absurd tone.

2. Luke’s HVAC “Grumpus” Saga

• Main focus of the episode.

• Luke shares a detailed account of an interaction with an unpleasant HVAC repairman ("the grumpus") who came to diagnose a mini-split heat pump issue.

  • Grumpus: brusque, judgmental, policing every detail, questioning Luke’s and his dad's installation.
  • The younger assistant is polite and subtly corrects the grumpus multiple times.

• Key Quotes:

  • "Before the guy says anything, there's two guys... the older guy just goes, 'What's the problem?'" (10:21, Luke)
  • "It's wild because it's immediately like, I'm on trial with this guy. I hired you. I'm paying you. You're not here to save my bacon! I didn't ask you for bail money." (11:18, Luke)
  • "His whole thing was like, I had done something extremely stupid, and now he was going to be here—maybe—to fix it, if that was even possible." (11:38, Luke)

• Memorable Segment:
  The “Ears on Grumpus” phrase emerges from Andrew’s realization he’d caught audio of the grumpy technician the day before:

  "But you're telling me that that was the Grumpus. I had ears on Grumpus." (03:47, Andrew)

• Technical Talk:

  • Insight into “mini split” systems and the myth of DIY installation (“hella complicated”).
  • Story about calling various contractors—all with their own company policies and hurdles.
  • The baffling insistence on knowing how often Luke cleans the air filter, even though the machine is practically unused.
  • The revelation that the second device is called "Mr. Cool," contrasted with the problematic "Pioneer" unit.
  • The running drama: missing owner's manual, ambiguous error messages, filter cleaning schedule (debunked via live Googling), breaker issues, pressure-check confusion, and the mystical absence of "the sniffer"—the tool needed to find a refrigerant leak.

• Notable Quotes:

  • "You're supposed to do it [clean the filters] every two weeks. That's bananas to me." (21:41, Andrew)
  • "He was there looking to figure out how I was screwing this up." (23:56, Luke)
  • "All I know is... I think the breaker being off, it was getting no power. Now it's getting power, so it's pressurizing again. You telling me it was at 10 and it's supposed to be 100, but now you're telling me that as you're leaving it's already back to 50..." (33:02, Luke)

• $279 Service Charge:
  "What did we get for $279? To what end?" (34:14, Luke, channeling Maya Rudolph as Dionne Warwick)

3. Customer Service and The Art of Grumpiness

• Andrew reflects on the psychology and regional nuances of grumpy service providers, especially comparing Pacific Northwest “people pleasing” with “flinty” New England interactions.

• They dissect how too much cheerfulness (ex: a Home Depot window salesman, Red Robin waiter) can feel performative and grating, while genuine, even if crusty, authenticity is sometimes preferable.

  "There's a sweet spot of being not fake nice because that also stresses me out... but this guy today wasn't friendly enough." (47:28, Luke)

4. Window Sales & Escape Tactics

• Luke relays a story about escaping a sales pitch for home window replacement by strategically scheduling a “hard out” for himself.
  • “Do you play guitar?” Salesguy: “I bet you're pretty good!” Every utterance is the “funniest, coolest, most interesting thing.” Too much!
  • Luke likens his escape to scenes from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." (46:15)

5. Donation Thanks & Mini-Skit on ‘The Sniffer’ (54:24–57:42)

• Amusing banter arises about “The Sniffer”—half ominous technician, half noir radio drama detective.
• The hosts thank the day’s TBTL donors (timestamps 54:24–59:54), weaving in-jokes and riffing on place-names (Chagrin Falls!).

6. Listener Email: Breakfast Pizza & The Nostalgia Trap (63:05–66:17)

• Highlight: Charles the Silent Ten’s Letterman mixtape story from 1988, which involved laboriously taping and editing “the best bits.”
  • The sadness/regrets of having thrown the tapes away:

    “A story about not throwing things out… what if I want this later?” (65:59, Luke)

7. Hoarding, Memories, and What We Leave Behind

• A reflective, emotional segment on managing personal artifacts, family photos, and the implications for loved ones when we die.
• Andrew, having recently sorted through his late mother’s belongings, ponders the value of objects and photos, especially with no kids to “inherit” any meaning attached to them.

8. LIVE Text Spam/Scam Encounter (60:25–76:35)

• Luke gets a spam text live during the show (“I'm going to LA on a business trip next month. Do you have time to go hiking or play golf with me?”)
• Andrew coaches him through response etiquette, and they escalate the bit with fake backstory (“Ms. Bella’s been dead for years…”)
• Meta-talk on the joy and futility of “annoying the scammers.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• About the technician:

  "Every time I thought I had him pigeonholed, he would gnaw his way out of the hole and fly free into another." (04:01, Luke)

• On service fees:

  “We know that there may or may not be a leak. Oh, that was the other thing. When he came back, he was breaking into the on-air studio multiple times during the show, which really had me kind of hacked off.” (34:03, Luke)

• Andrew on grumpiness:

  “I kind of appreciate a little bit of grumpiness, when I know it’s not from the heart in a certain way... If by the end of the call, there’s a little bit of friendliness, it’s a sense of relief, of feeling like I’ve won you over.” (39:12, Andrew)

• On scammer interaction:

  “Ms. Bella’s been dead for years.” (61:57, Luke, via text)
  "Are you cursing my friend? I just met her last month." (74:57, scammer’s reply)

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Timeline & Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment/Topic | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–03:00| Goofy idiom-mangling intro | | 03:08 | Andrew confirms he heard “the grumpus” on prior episode | | 04:01 | Luke’s monologue: The perplexing personality of “the grumpus” | | 06:05 | What is a “mini split”? / Home installation talk | | 10:21 | Grumpus asks, “What’s the problem?” | | 14:23 | Discussion about owner’s manuals—keep or toss? | | 21:41 | Filter cleaning schedule: "That's bananas to me." | | 30:15–30:53| “The sniffer” and Pulp Fiction riff | | 34:14 | Service charge: “To what end?” | | 39:12 | Andrew’s reflection on the art of grumpiness | | 46:15–47:12| Fear and Loathing window sales escape | | 54:24–59:54| Donor thank-yous & “The Sniffer” as radio detective | | 63:05–66:17| Letterman mixtape, nostalgia, and purging keepsakes | | 71:37–74:20| Hoarding, family legacy, mortality talk | | 60:25–76:35| Live engagement with a text scammer |

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Tone & Style

True to TBTL’s signature, the episode unfolds like an extended, slightly anarchic conversation between close friends who overthink everything together:

• Warm, witty, self-deprecating
• Absurdist humor (especially in the wordplay and weird technician interludes)
• Thoughtful and meandering—serious reflections on mortality and memory snuggle up next to stupid jokes about “the sniffer”
• The tone alternates between (loving) complaint, mock exasperation, and gentle vulnerability

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Episode Takeaways

• Even routine home repairs can spawn epic stories with existential undertones—especially when filtered through Luke and Andrew’s lens.
• There’s an unspoken etiquette around customer service (and how much grump is just right).
• Modern life = we’re all negotiating which objects/keepsakes are worth hauling into the future.
• It’s possible to turn a spam text into a mini radio theater.
• “Ears on Grumpus” is not just a show title, but a state of mind.
• There’s always another opportunity tomorrow to finish the stories you tease today.

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You’ll love this episode if:
You crave the comedic intricacies of daily life, have ever been on receiving end of a surly technician, or just want to enjoy a blend of screwball, insightful, and poignant podcasting.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

It's like I always say, a bush.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the hand.

[Luke Burbank]

Is worth two birds.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like I always say, man, a bird in the bush is worth two hands. A bush bird is worth two.

[Luke Burbank]

You can lead a bush to birds.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you can't make it hand. Horse in the hand is worth two in the drink. It's like I always say, you can lead a horse to a bird, but.

[Luke Burbank]

You can't make it bush. Bush in the bird hand is worth two horses. You can lead horse hands to a.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bird, but you can't make it. Horse in the bush is worth two birds.

[Luke Burbank]

A bird on the horse is worth two bush birds.

[Andrew Walsh]

Horse hands are worth two bird bushes. You can lead a bird to bush hands, but you can't make it drink horse water. TBTL this is a show for people about dogs, starring one dog and one dirty dog.

[Luke Burbank]

Come on up. This is not real sweat either.

[Andrew Walsh]

I sprayed it on.

[Luke Burbank]

It's made from the actual sweat of professional athletes. And it's romantic and it's full of.

[Andrew Walsh]

These sort of situations, which turns out to be.

[Luke Burbank]

That's very interesting, very scary at times.

[Andrew Walsh]

But also a lot of romance and really well made. Hey, you either get it or you don't. I don't, but I am so excited to be a part of it.

[Luke Burbank]

All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

You are boring me to death, and.

[Luke Burbank]

I am already dead.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're boring me back to death.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host, and I'm gonna get all anecdotal on you. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia. The nice weather is hanging on. We are at episode 4562 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. Nice weather is hanging on but soon it will be cold. And that's why I was trying to have some of my heating and air conditioning fixed yesterday. One of those mini splits, one of those heat pump devices, and I gotta tell you, one of the guys who is here fixing it was so unpleasant to deal with that I was considering, I don't know, calling the company or writing a strongly worded letter. I decided to just subtweet them on my podcast. I figured that's really the way to handle that, and that's what we'll be doing today. Also, the New York Times, speaking of entities that I'm mad at right now, the New York Times is doing something that I am very displeased about. I'D like to point out to anybody watching. This is really bunk journalism involving my beloved New York Times audio app that I've talked about so much on this show. I know what will perk my mood up, though. It's talking to this guy, the longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Just handsome young stranger. He's a soulful rocker from New Hampshire. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, good morning, Luke. So this grump who is at your house, that was not the guy that I overheard heard, because there was a moment in yesterday's show where you had to kind of take a quick pause during a break and like, kind of. And like, I don't know, deal with some payment issues or something. I just could barely hear you guys kind of talking through the.

[Luke Burbank]

I already know what you're going to say.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, no, I don't. I don't think I'm going to say anything here. I'm just asking you because I didn't notice anything off. Putting it sort of sounded like he was saying, like, oh, you should look at this thing too and check out that. I didn't hear anything that. So I thought maybe the guy I heard had some, like, real grump of a sidekick.

[Luke Burbank]

But.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you're telling me that that was the Grumpus. I had ears on Grumpus.

[Luke Burbank]

You got ears on Grumpus, bro.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ears on grumpus. God. Show title, restaurant, I think. But yeah, show title.

[Luke Burbank]

What do they make?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know, man. Don't make me explore it.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that was. What was so maddening about this guy was that every time I thought I had him pigeonholed, he would gnaw his way out of the hole and fly free into another. Every time I thought I could exactly figure out what this dude's personality was, he would then sort of veer a little bit into a different kind of personality. Let me just explain. And by the way, just a heads up, we're doing a little bit of an early recording for this Thursday show because I'm flying to the Twin Cities. We're doing livewire at the Fine Line Theater Friday night. I think There are under 10 tickets left. If you want to go to livewireradio.org get your tickets. We'll see you there. It's gonna be really fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

You didn't tell me, by the way, that our friend Brandy is gonna be on your show in Minnesota.

[Luke Burbank]

Brandy Brown will be there, official Minnesota correspondent for all Media projects that I work on.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, is that true? Has she been on Livewire and stuff before?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think I knew on TBTL when we did it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

State fair.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

She was all media projects that I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Had different media projects. I see. I thought maybe you had other experience with her on Livewire. She had posted your like, kind of upcoming show. Advertisement said, I'm going to be on this with some other people. I was very excited to hear that. I'm a really big fan of Brandi.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. As am I. We just actually had a. Like a pre show kind of meeting with Brandi and she was talking about her latest round of crop art. I don't know if you remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I do.

[Luke Burbank]

When we were at the state fair, she was. She's got some. Lindsey Vaughn, the American skier. Lindsey Vaughn related crop art. That's really something that we're gonna talk about Friday night.

[Andrew Walsh]

She's amazing.

[Luke Burbank]

Because of all that travel, we're gonna. We're gonna wait until Friday, until tomorrow's show to do the Blurs days. Yeah. That's one thing. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Extra day. Which is good because I was out last week and so I didn't receive a lot. I think people weren't even sending them in. So you have an extra day to get in.

[Luke Burbank]

All your blurs day wishes and today's recording. Today's episode is recording early, so we didn't want to miss anyone. Anyway, there's the. The space time continuum is a little wonky today. Suffice it to say, I have this. So you know what a mini split is, right? Like, you've seen these things.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I could draw one, but you've explained it to me.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, they're kind of all the rage right now. If you. If you don't have an easy like H VAC system in your home. Like, I don't. In other words, I don't have a bunch of duct work. Kind of probably what you and Veeves have. I'm a little envious of that. Where you turn on the heat or the cool and it's coming out of a vent, either on the wall or on the floor. These things are some other kind of device. It's like a big fan, but it has this specially charged line that has refrigerant in it. And it allows you to keep things, the interior of your home or room, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And my dad and I. And by that I mean my dad installed. I mean, I had almost Nothing to do with the installation of either of these things.

[Andrew Walsh]

But then you sat next to him and he said, hand me a screwdriver. And you handed him a screwdriver.

[Luke Burbank]

He said, hand me $47 per hour and also gas money. And I did.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you said, I think you were gone.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you were gone. When I realized he's. He's invoicing me for gas mileage. That.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

That. That one stings. That one stings. And I just did the free Haagen Dazs train. It just ended. It just pulled into the station and the wheels fell off. That's what I would say about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sounds like the Little Debbies are going to be coming out.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, they're going to be paying for themselves, my friend. If we're paying for the gas around here, someone else is paying for their snack food. But anyway, so I have two of these mini splits, okay. I have a fairly large one that is responsible for heating and cooling, kind of my entire living room area. It works great. And then I have another one that's a different brand, that is a smaller one, and it is in charge of keeping the upstairs hallway. There's a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. And the idea is to try to regulate the temperature in that area because previously there's nothing. There's no heat, there's no cooling. And so if it's the wintertime, when my poor dad is needing to leave the bedroom that he's using to go to, like the bathroom, the hallways freezing, it's like, just imagine a part of your house that had no heating or cooling. Well, that one, that mini split which is mounted on the outside of the house. And then it has this hose that's in a certain case that runs all the way up and then goes into the house on the upstairs. That thing, the first time that I turned it on this summer after my dad installed it, it was blowing cold air. And then all of a sudden, I don't know, a week later, I went to try it again, and it just wasn't blowing cold air anymore. It was like just kind of. It was just blowing room temperature air. It did not appear to have the ability to cool the air down. And unfortunately, these devices are. They're marketed as, like, something that you could easily install yourself. Like, that's the whole pitch for these is like, anybody can put this on their house. And I have to be honest with you, it is hella complicated. Like, my dad is. My dad knows how to do electrical. He knows how to do plumbing. He knows how to install everything. And yet I feel like it was sort of at the edge of his ability. I would just say to people out there, if you. If you're thinking about getting one of these and you are not super handy, hire someone to put it in. It is, despite what they tell you about it being like a super easy thing that anybody could install, that is not accurate. So this one device has stopped working. The other day I decided I gotta get this fixed before wintertime. I want people to be warm. If they're staying over, I call one place and they're like, who installed it? And I was like, well, my dad, but he's a contractor. They go, we don't work on anything that we didn't install. I was like, ah, okay. So I call this other place, and they're like, oh, we can have someone out in like a week or two. And I was like, okay. So today was the day, as we're recording this, that these guys were showing up. They're actually showing up before showtime. And the guy. So I know when they're showing up, and I'm all ready to go. And they. The truck pulls into my driveway, and I'm like. I had been. Happened to be going between the studio and the house, so I was kind of already outside, and I'm standing down at the bottom of my stairs in front of my house. And they're up on this driveway and the truck. The door opens. And like, before the guy says anything, there's two guys. There's an older guy who's very gruff, and there's a younger guy, his assistant, who's very nice. Actually, the older guy just goes, what's the problem?

[Andrew Walsh]

Who was driving? By the way, Grumpy?

[Luke Burbank]

No, younger guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Huh? I had that back.

[Luke Burbank]

Younger guy's driving. So younger guy opens the door, and I said, hey, there. And he goes, hey. He gives me a nice smile. And as he's smiling from around the back of the truck, it's the inscrutable grumpus. And he goes, what's wrong? And he's. He's standing like 20ft from me when he says, it's not hi, not my name is. Whatever. Not. How's it going? Not, hey, where is the problem? Just what's wrong? And I said, well, I have a mini split that isn't working. He goes, who installed it? And I go, we did. He goes, who's we? I go, me and my dad. Like, those are the first, like, three questions out of this guy's mouth. And he just Kind of like he sort of comes walking down the stairs, and now I'm standing kind of near. Because it's. Again, the device is on the outside of my house, and it's on the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ground level on the outside. Right. It's a tube that takes it up.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, exactly. So we're. It's. We're standing next to it, and it's just. It's wild because it's immediately like, I'm on trial with this guy. Like. And it's like, I hired you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'm paying you money. Like, you're not here to save my bacon. Just. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You're not a family member who I asked to get me out of a jam. I didn't ask you for bail money.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're not driving me to the airport.

[Luke Burbank]

No. You are a professional. Guess what. I'm. Guess what. What? I'm not a professional H Vac person, but guess what. You are a professional H Vac person. That's why I've called you. It was. His whole thing was like, I had done something extremely stupid, and now he was going to be here, I guess, to maybe fix it, if that was even possible. And, like, that was just the tone. And funnily enough, the other guy was clearly trying to run interference and was nice and also, I think, knew as much as the older dude did. So I said to the guy, this was mistake number one, was trying to in any way discuss the actual issue with this thing. Because I had been online, I'd been looking at, you know, like, what goes wrong with these particular things? And the guy, I said, I go, I think it might be the flare. And he goes, the what? I don't know what that is. And then his aside, his associate goes, the flare. The flare connection. He goes, oh, yeah, the flare.

[Andrew Walsh]

Which is like, you must have been so happy when that guy had your back.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I was, but I was also. I was very close to going, should we just call this now? Like, this is. This is getting off to the worst possible start that it could because the guy's interrogating me about installing it, as in, we did it wrong. Which, by the way, the one thing I'll say about Walt. Yes. Does he charge me gas money? Yes. Has that emotionally devastated me this week? Yes. Does he always install things to the absolute letter of the law? Yes. He is Mr. Belt in suspenders. There is nothing that he has done in this house that would not pass any and every inspection. It's always done better than if you hired someone that. That was their whole specialty You've talked.

[Andrew Walsh]

About how meticulous he was in hanging that door.

[Luke Burbank]

Incredibly meticulous. He knows everything about this stuff. There's no corners that are cut. So I knew if there was an issue with this, it wasn't because we screwed it up. And by we, I mean my dad screwed it up. Like, this was something, you know, so, like, it just. That was the. That was the end. She goes. He goes, well, do you have the manual? Now, here is something where my dad and I tend to disagree. My dad is the world's number one manual reader for everything. For every device that we've installed that he's installed for everything here at the house. What I usually do is once the initial storm, and by that I mean the need to refer to the manual. Like, once the thing is up and working and functional, I tend to throw out the manual because I don't want, like a hundred different weird manuals. And I know that they're all online. I know all of these manuals exist online.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have said this before. One of the most underappreciated aspects of living in the Internet age, which is what I describe as the era that we're living in, is that we no longer have to keep manuals. Every. I've talked about this on Spotless, and people have challenged me and said, we'll find this manual. And I found it within seconds. Like, you just. I'm not saying that you don't need to read a manual. I'm pretty. You might be surprised to hear this. I'm pretty bad at reading manuals myself. I just like to get my hands on something and start playing around with it. And then later on, if I don't know, I can look it up. But the thing is, you do. I for years had, like, a file cabinet that had more and more folders that were getting bulging with just like, yes, the refrigerator, manual, this manual, refrigerator. And, like, you're in. You and I are like, in that mentality of, oh, you got to save these things. Until one day I said, I don't need to save any of this. It's all online.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, it is. And that's. So my dad is always mad when I throw out the manual. And I'm always like, yeah, but if we need the manual later, we can go on the Internet where all of the manuals are. So this guy goes, do you have the manual? And I. And by the way, I do think this is to some degree generational. And I go, like. I go, no, but it's online. He goes, well, you need the manual because that's the only way you'll know what the error messages are. And by the way, this is going to get so complicated and boring. Andrew, I apologize in advance, but I'm just going to try to process Hex.

[Andrew Walsh]

Empire game with you.

[Luke Burbank]

You're going to need. I'd get it running on two screens. I would do like an NFL red zone. I'd get at. I'd go seven screens of Hex Empire to try to make this story tolerable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I'm in it. I'm opening it up now.

[Luke Burbank]

So the guy is like. The guy is like, you know, you need the manual. I go, well, here's what I can do. I go, I can go find the manual online and I'll print it out for you. And he goes, okay, so. Because he goes. Because that's what has the error messages, and you need to figure out the error messages. And I go, well, when it broke the first time, it didn't have any error messages, but he did not seem to believe that was at all possible. So we then go upstairs to the inside of the house. That is where this big kind of vent is. Right. And that vent is where the cold air or the hot air comes out of into the room. And it has a little digital readout. And that's the thing. You have a remote control for this. And that digital readout will tell you if it's supposedly blowing cold air, like what the temperature it's trying to achieve is, if it's giving you an error message or whatever. Now, complicating things is that I just had a bunch of. This thing was already installed when I had the upstairs re. Sheet rocked in the house. Okay. So a new layer of drywall was put up while this thing was already mounted into the wall. So what they did is they went around it. So there's kind of a little lip or a little edge around this device. And the COVID was off. The COVID was missing. So this guy is like the.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sorry, I just. I am going to get clarity on this. The COVID was missing when they were putting the Sheetrock up, you mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we took the COVID off. So imagine a big rectangle and it's got some vents on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a big plastic. There's a shell that goes over it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That we had taken off so that the Sheetrock I had taken off so the Sheetrock guys could Sheetrock all around the edges of this.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then you. Then you put it back when they were done with the.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I Hadn't put it back on yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is not on at this point during this conversation.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not on, but it's also not critical to the operation. Everything work without the COVID on? In fact, I thought it might be. Yeah, it's kind of decorative and it kind of directs the air. But I honestly thought it might be more useful to this guy to not have it on. Maybe he could see into the guts of the machinery better. That was another thing he started saying right away was like, what brand? Before we got to the mini split. So he's still coming down the stairs, he goes, what brand is it? And I go, pioneer, because we don't work with that brand. And I'm like, oh my God. Like you. I, you know, like, I'm sorry that I didn't select the proper brand for you to come work with.

[Andrew Walsh]

And also if you're not, then that should have been somebody on the phone telling you that, then they should clear that right away. Why would you send somebody out if that's a rule? Why would you send somebody out to find out on site? That doesn't work for them either? That's a waste of money.

[Luke Burbank]

So we go upstairs and we are turning the thing on and trying to get a sense of if there's an error message displaying on the little digital thing on the device upstairs. And it's not giving an error message, it's sort of not turning on. There was a problem with the breaker. The switch in the basement wasn't going to it. I had to go downstairs and flip that thing. And then we got it up and running. But basically what happened was there was like multiple points where this guy would just say something with bluster. And then I would note that his like sidekick slash assistant would kind of like low key try to correct him. Because the sidekick assistant clearly seemed to have more awareness of what was going on. For one thing, he was like, this thing doesn't even turn on. We can't. He's got the remote control and he's like, it's not even giving us any messages. It's just blank. And then he kind of like he sort of puts the remote control down. And then I noticed that his other guy comes over and picks it up and like does like one thing with the remote control and like turns it on. And then is looking at the readout which is immediately displaying the temperature that it's trying to achieve. In other words, like blustery guy will say something as if it's the like, definitive statement on the topic. And then I'LL be like, I don't. That doesn't sound right to me. And then the other guy will come over and do something and I'll be like, that's kind of what I was thinking. Like, did you consider pointing the remote at that part of the device where it would go? So now suddenly we go from him being like, yeah, it doesn't even turn on. It won't even give me an error message. So, like, it's on and running and by the way, appears to be now blowing cold air. Like, appears to be doing the thing that we want it to do. And by the way, stranger things have happened. Sometimes there are. These devices are just funky. But I bought this brand new. I had my dad install it, which the other one he installed works perfectly. It's like, oh, the other thing that happens as we're walking up the stairs, he goes, how again? He hasn't even laid eyes on this. He goes, how often do you change the filters? How often do you change the filters? And I go, well, I've had this for a month. I go, I've turned it on one time because how often, how often do you change the filters on your other one? And I go, I don't. And I lied. I've never changed the filter. But I was like, I don't know. Every six months. He goes, that's bad. You're supposed to do it every two weeks. I was like, there's no way this device is designed so you're supposed to change or clean the filters every two weeks. It's just that cannot be the case. Like, that would be the worst design of all time. So you're. Every two weeks, you're supposed to take this thing apart, take out these filters, clean them off, and put them back in. Like you're just saying crazy stuff to me right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I ask you a question? And please take this with total respect. I'm just trying to wrap my hand, my head around this story. Was this a bad dream that you had or did this actually happen?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, let's see. If the check I had to write for $279, if that comes out of my bank account, that's an indication that this was not in fact a halluc. That this was a real world event. Now I world financial consequences.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now this shocks me because I'm with you about how ridiculous that sounds. I don't know if you've done this too, but as you're just the Internet.

[Luke Burbank]

Confirming that I'm supposed to clean these filters every two weeks, the AI overview Is. And I don't know, yesterday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's see here. It does say. And I'm not digging in, and I'm not saying this obviously to stop your story or argue with that, but that sounds bananas to. Because I thought I was. I thought I was Googling this to have your back. But it says you should check and clean the filter in your Pioneer Mini split every one to two weeks or about.

[Luke Burbank]

Geez, one week.

[Andrew Walsh]

Every one to two weeks or about once a month. Which. That sounds like AI to me because those are very different things. But anyway, I guess it's closer to that. Maybe. Maybe on paper it is closer to that frequency than I would have guessed. Certainly that's. But that's ridiculous.

[Luke Burbank]

So I will concede that that is the actual schedule you're supposed to be on. But here's what's so weird about it. His first question, because Remember, I have two of these devices. They're made by two different manufacturers. One is called Mr. Cool. By the way, I would highly recommend Mr. Cool.

[Andrew Walsh]

I kind of. That's the other device that's the good one.

[Luke Burbank]

Is Mr. Cool. Yeah, good one is Mr.

[Andrew Walsh]

Cool. I'm just sorry, I got a little distracted because I'm bummed that that name is already taken. That's what I was hoping to nickname myself.

[Luke Burbank]

Got into Cool Guy Zone. Sorry, that was. Anyway, so the Mr. Cool device works great. The Pioneer device is giving me trouble. So his question is, first of all, I've explained to him that I've turned this on exactly once in my life. Well, twice. Once and it worked fine. And then another time and it didn't work at all. I've had the thing for about a month. That's already been relayed to him from an informational standpoint. So then his next question is, as we're walking to the house, is, how often do you change the filter? It's like, well, Sherlock, think about it. I've turned it on twice, so it's probably not the filter. And so I said, well, I've only turned it on two times. And he goes, well, what about your other one? Now here's why. That, to me is a very specious question. The other one is working. He's not there. He's not there to work on the Mr. Cool Guy zone, right? He is. He's there. So in other words, why does he care? It's not. You know what? It's none of his damn business.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I wish you had said. It's none of your business what's going.

[Luke Burbank]

On between me and the Mr. Cool. You know what? Our relationship rocks off.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's good.

[Luke Burbank]

So why are you. It's like he came in looking to figure out how I was screwing this up.

[Andrew Walsh]

He did. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And when. And when the answer about the changing the filters or cleaning the filters on the. On the device in question, when that. When that line of reasoning fell apart because I've only had it for a month and I've only turned it on twice. He then goes to an unrelated device, which is what I consider the Mr. Cool to be.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, absolutely. This is. And I say this with all due respect to people who have this occupation, because I know you're not all like this.

[Luke Burbank]

And I've never encountered someone who's unfriendly.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Not in this particular occupation. But I was going to say this has strong IT department vibes, at least when I. And I don't know if this is still true, if this stereotype still holds true, but when I was working in places like Cairo Radio and other radio stations, like, sometimes the engineers in those places were literally my favorite people. But I had also worked with some IT people at times who fit this stereotype just perfectly. Like, they would come over and all they would do is start asking you questions as if you're the world's biggest idiot. Like, that's where the. That's where it begins. All right, idiot, how did you idiot this up? And this is kind of. This is triggering me.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And the other thing is it's. That's not cool in any environment. But I. On some level, it's like, okay, if we're co workers and this person thinks that I. Through my idiocy, my computer has. You know, I've been downloading too many songs on Kaza on my work computer, which was actually very true at kuow. But, like, that's one dynamic. I'm paying this person.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

To come out and fix a thing that I don't. And it was like, any piece of information he wanted from me about the device that I didn't know. It was like another failure on my part. I just kept wanting to say, like, the reason that I called you is because I don't know about this stuff. I don't. This is not my area of expertise. Like, again, to him, original sin was me and my dad, or in real. In reality, my dad installed this. The idea that this was installed by somebody who was not a professional installer of these things was that was the original sin. And anything else that was going on with it was just kind of like, on his last nerve because I had the temerity to not hire a fellow professional to work on this in this way. So, anyway, long story. Hopefully a little bit less long.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm enjoying my video game, man, so don't hurry on my account.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know if the listeners, some of them are driving and they're not able to play Hex Empire. I weep. I weep for them.

[Andrew Walsh]

People listen to the show without playing Hex Empire.

[Luke Burbank]

Some of them are children. They don't know what the letters H VAC stand for.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, they don't want it know.

[Luke Burbank]

So it sort of feels like somehow in this whole process, we've kind of like, maybe like it's that whole just like, unplug it and plug it back in and maybe it'll work. Because again, it should be working. It's a brand new device. It was properly installed. It shouldn't not be working.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, you skipped over something kind of quickly. It sounds like there was sort of a breaker issue, but. And right now you're standing in the hallway and it's suddenly working again. There's no chance that it was just the breaker, right?

[Luke Burbank]

Like, no, no, no. Because what was happening was it was blowing air.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Just wasn't blowing cold air. So that's getting. But by the way, that was very hard to get this guy to understand. He kept being like, well, how long did the fan stay on? I go, well, I turned it on. It was blowing air that was not cold, even though I was telling it to blow cold air. And then after, I don't know, five or 10 minutes, I just turned it off. He's like, okay. But then did the fan keep running? And I was like, no, I turned the fan off because it was like, it was so hard to explain to him like, that the thing was broken. It was like he wanted so much information from me about this, like, and was seemed to be annoyed that he had to come out to fix this thing again. His sidekick guy couldn't have been nicer. And I could tell that, like, this is probably their dynamic on a lot of jobs is like the younger guy, again, trying to just sort of smooth things over for this big galoot.

[Andrew Walsh]

He doesn't seem embarrassed or anything for his colleague's behavior.

[Luke Burbank]

He didn't seem embarrassed, but it seemed that he understood. I mean, I told you, he clarified flare like he was translating, you know, and kind of going around. Because at one point, the guy's sort of supposition was. Or diagnosis was, oh, it doesn't even Turn. You can't even turn it on with the remote control. You can't. And I'm not even getting an error message on it. And then the other guy was like, well, and then he just turned it on with the remote. And then he. We were looking at the readout and it said, I turned it to 61 degrees, which is the coldest. It goes. And it was blowing cold air. It felt like, which was kind of interesting. It's like maybe we fixed it. So then we come outside again and it's like he wants to. The. The grumpy guy wants to take the whole housing off of the device and he wants to do all this. And I said, well, it seems like it might be working again. Is it possible that this just kind of like, you know, some. We just kind of like re triggered something and now it's sort of working. That's, you know, my approach to everything in life is like, well, maybe it just. Maybe it healed itself.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And he wants to check the pressure and all this stuff. And then I thought, well, if he's out here and he has the tools for it, I guess it's worth knowing. So he comes. So because there's this pressurized tube that the air passes through. That's part of the magic of how it. How it's able to cool and heat. So he hooks up this whole device to it, and he comes in and he goes, It's 10. You're losing pressure. It's 10. It's supposed to be 100 or 90. It's supposed to be 90. It's at 10. I was like, oh, no. Well, that sounds like a problem. I go, do we have a leak in one of the flare valves? He goes, I don't know. I'll have to go up on the ladder and take a look. I'm like, okay. So then we start recording yesterday's show. And I'm watching him. He's up on the ladder, he's taking apart some of the thing. And then. And then he comes down from the ladder and he's like putting everything together and buttoning it all back up. And then eventually I kind of like. We paused the show. We paused yesterday's show. And I go outside because they're getting ready to leave. And I go, so what happened? He goes, well, the flare is dry. The problem is not the flare. The problem is not the installation. Everything's fine. I was like, okay, well, go, Walt. He goes, but there might. But his buddy. He goes, but he. The other guy's name was Chris. He Goes, Chris, Chris might have found a little bit of oil on the copper tubing in the inside of the house, which could mean it has a leak. And I go, well, how do we find that out? He goes, oh, I got to come back with our sniffer.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was like, please be a person. Please be a person. Who is the sniffer?

[Luke Burbank]

Like, how do you not. How do. How is it that you don't have something called the sniffer? You came out to fix a heat pump, AKA a mini split that has copper coils in it, which is again, part of the process of how it does whatever it is it does. How did you not bring that device, something called the sniffer?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, because. Why is that the sniffer is still in Zed's basement? Well, I've seen.

[Luke Burbank]

For some reason, Andrew, I 100% assumed they were in a leather zip up suit and were on some sort of a leash.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know why.

[Luke Burbank]

When you said, please let it be a person, I immediately pictured the character from Zed's basement. I don't think we even use that terminology. Let's just say we're all thinking about the same guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're all thinking about the same sniffer.

[Luke Burbank]

But, like, how was it that you don't have the device that you need to use to figure out? So what we figured out now is apparently there's a leak. We don't know where the leak is. It's not in the parts that Walt installed. It might just be that I got a bum device. I got a bum, you know, piece of equipment, which really sucks because it's, you know, thousand dollars or something and it's out of warranty because as soon as you install it, whether you do it professionally or otherwise, it goes out of warranty. They have that in the manual, which, by the way, I downloaded and printed and brought to the guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you print the whole thing?

[Luke Burbank]

Printed the whole thing. I couldn't figure 41 pages, double sided. And I sharpied. I went to page whatever it was and highlighted the part that had the error messages and brought it to them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Don't tell Walt. I just didn't, you know, he had to print out 40 pages. He kind of gets the win on this one.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I. There was a more efficient way to do it, but I was in, I was in a free fall at that point. So. So now they're all packed up and he's getting into the van and he's telling me like, like, oh, by the way. And the other guy, the other guy, the nice guy, Chris says, oh, yeah, by your pressure is back up to like 50. I'm like, well, that's five times what it was. Like, what are you guys telling me here? So here's what we. Here's. Here's where we're at at the end of this service call, which, by the way, entire thing under an hour, the entire service call. What we have figured out is we don't know what is broken. We cannot find the leak. There might be a leak because at one point the pressure was at 10%. But by the way, the way these things work is they build the pressure back up.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I was gonna say. Maybe by being off for a while, the pressure built up, which is why it was working when you guys turned it off after having been off or turned it back on after having been off for a while.

[Luke Burbank]

All I know is I think the press. Yeah, exactly. The breaker being off, it was getting no power. Now it's getting power, so it's pressurizing again. You telling me it was at 10? Whatever's. I don't know if that's pounds.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know if that's high maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

You were telling me it was at 10 and it's supposed to be 100. But now you're telling me that as you're leaving, it's already back to 50, which seems like that's going in the right direction and that you can't locate a leak. But in order to figure out if there is a leak, you need somebody or something called the sniffer. But you don't have. Even though, by the way, they had a perfect truck for keeping the sniffer in. Yeah, you just put a cage in there. I mean, honestly, it was like I would have been unsurprised if they opened the door and lead the sniffer out. Like you don't have the thing now to tell me the answer to the question, which is where's the leak coming from? So I'm thinking, okay, well, I guess they'll come back and fix that. I go, well, when do you come back with that? He goes, that's not up to me. That's up to dispatch. So in other words, I don't even know when they're coming back with the sniffer because that's up to dispatch. But I do know Andrew, what I can tell you is that he then gives me the bill with tax. It's $279.

[Andrew Walsh]

Damn. I gotta say, I was braced for something even more appalling. So I'm not blown over by that, but yeah. $279 for. For what?

[Luke Burbank]

For what? To what end? To what end? The words of Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph as Dionne Warwick doing a hurricane, whatever, Tammy benefit. But why would President Xi want to rust my Bowflex? To what end? To what end? Like, so here's what we now know. $279 later, we know that there may or may not be a leak. Oh, that was the other thing. When he came back, he was breaking into the on air studio multiple times during the show, which really had me kind of hacked off because mostly that's that he at no time observed me wearing these headphones with this microphone and thought, I guess maybe something's happening over there. Could be live.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't know if it's live. You have a professional looking microphone there. You look like you're doing a radio show. You could be doing a live show.

[Luke Burbank]

And before you and I were even dialed up, Andrew, I was in here talking to him. He was two feet from me. And this is the classic, the classic conundrum I'm always in. On the one hand, I don't want to get into it, I don't want to explain the podcast to him, but I find it insane when people ask zero follow up questions. Or maybe not follow up, but how about initial questions? Like you walk into some. Oh, by the way, it didn't knock. Just kind of came on in. This is. Could be my house. Yeah, that's an office, but kind of weird. Comes on in and then like pops down on the arm of the couch. I'm like, really? How? Where have your work pants been, my guy?

[Andrew Walsh]

That's an interest. I don't know if I've ever seen anybody just sort of make themselves at home like that.

[Luke Burbank]

It was totally wild. And I'm sitting here again. You and I hadn't dialed up yet, but I was recording some stuff for cbs. So I had that headphones on. I'm talking. I'm just finished talking in the microphone. He sits over there and he's having a whole conversation with me. And he at no time goes, what's this setup about?

[Andrew Walsh]

Now he's not sitting there while you're doing your CBS line reads. I can't imagine you doing that.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that would, that would be embarrassing for everyone, honestly. But it's just like, I don't know, man. The whole thing was weird. But then, but then sometimes he would say like, what was it? I did something. And he was like, thank you. And I was like, oh, I was just about to write you off, like, that's what I'm saying. Where. And in fact, when he brought the bill in, even though I went to the truck and paid him with a check so that he would not come back in while we were recording, if I would have paid him with a card, then he would have needed to come in because I would have needed to have put my PIN number in their little mobile card device. I was trying to preserve tbtl because I am a professional by writing him a check so he could have the check. He could just leave the paperwork outside on a little chair that I have outside the door and they could be on their way. And I told him that. I was like, I'm on a. This is. I call this a conference call, Andrew, for anybody who needs to know, I will say I have a conference call most days starting at 10am that's how I describe it. I don't want to get into it. So I told him, it's like, I have a conference call. I've got to go beyond that. So can you just leave the paperwork on that chair? I swear to God. He said yes. And then what did he do? He busted into the Madrona Hill studio while you and I were trying to talk. Impervious or what? Not. That's not impervious. He was not even aware that I was doing something in here, so. And it was. $280.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's wild to me, like. And I'm gonna have to pay again if they want to bring the sniffer out.

[Andrew Walsh]

God, I hope they bring the sniffer out.

[Luke Burbank]

I also think I'm paying for the sniffer.

[Andrew Walsh]

I wonder if I could apply for that job. Honestly, I. Very sensitive smell to get that job is Becca. She's sensitive.

[Luke Burbank]

Unbelievable sense of smell. She would be great at that job.

[Andrew Walsh]

It sounds like I got my competition. So. In all truthfulness, please. I find the phenomenon of grumpiness interesting just in this way. What sparked this feeling in me is when you said every now and then he'd be like, oh, thank you. And you just see a little bit of humanity in there or something. Right. And I think New England did something to me because. And again, I don't want to paint with a broad brush. And we have listeners in New England who are very, very sweet. Not everybody fits the stereotype of a region or a profession or whatever. Obviously, I hope I don't need to see that, say that, but I will say it. But New England has a reputation. And New Hampshire especially, I think a proud probably place like New Hampshire and Maine almost A proud reputation for being. Being steely, you know, or being flinty actually is the perfect word for that, for that area. And it was sort of interesting to me because you and I are both kind of people pleasers. We vibe off of feeling like we're not interrupting or that we're, like, we're. We're friendly people, and you can be friendly with us. And when people are even a little bit withholding, it can be kind of hard to adjust to. And I found my time in New Hampshire very interesting because I also do think that I like and sort of appreciate a little bit of grumpiness when I know that it's not actually from the heart in a certain way. Maybe it's the reason I love Josh Naylor so much. You know what I mean?

[Luke Burbank]

Like, honestly, the nailering of grumpiness.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? No, but it's. It's kind of true, like, for me. And I'm almost embarrassed to admit this. I kind of didn't realize. I'm sort of exploring this now as I'm talking to you, sort of all flowing out, and I'm sort of making realizations. But I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I think that by withholding to me, if you're somebody who I don't know, and you're a little bit grumpy or whatever, but then by the end of the conversation, whatever that is, by the end of the service call or the conversation or whatever it is, if there's a little bit of. If there's a little bit of friendliness, it's a feeling like I've won you over a little bit. It's a sense of relief. It's a sense. And there's a certain way of. You know, I think of that line from Arrested Development. Look at me getting off on withholding, you know, and. But there is something about. You can be a very withholding person. And then when you just show a little bit of. Kind of outward kindness or warmth maybe is the better word, it can mean so much because this person is so flinty, you know? And it was something that I kind of ended up enjoying about a lot of interactions in New England, knowing that this person didn't have to spare any extra energy putting on a fake smile. But at the end of the day, it doesn't mean they don't respect us. It's just that that's how they go about it. So I respect that a little bit. But when it's a service call like this and you're paying them a lot of money in your Home. That's just disrespectful.

[Luke Burbank]

Honestly, to me, there's a sweet spot of being not fake nice because that also stresses me out. So, for instance, I had. I'm going to have some windows replaced in the upstairs of the house. And I decided to have, like. Because I guess I thought they might be able to do it more quickly. I decided to get an estimate from, like, Home Depot, which is a whole kind of thing, which is that you can get any kind of home repair, improvement, installation, whatever. You can go into a Home Depot and, like, order that up through them, and then what they do is they subcontract it out to a bunch. It's not somebody, you know, it's not Oli who's working in the lumber department, who comes over and works on your house. It's some whole other company. And basically what you're doing is you're paying a premium price for the. For Home Depot to kind of indemnify the whole process and source it for you.

[Andrew Walsh]

You don't have to go to the yellow, the modern equivalent of the yellow Pages and do all the sourcing of the service providers.

[Luke Burbank]

But. So I was gonna. I was getting an estimate for these windows and I kind of knew. I was like, this is probably will not be the cheapest way to go on this, but maybe it'll be, you know, it'll be. It'll be. It will be good quality. And I know that they'll stand behind the work, etc. So I just wanted to see what their price was. And the guy who showed up who's like the window sales guy for the Home Depot, he was the exact opposite of the grumpus today. This is. This was a couple months ago, but he's like, just so friendly. And again, he's the sales guy. His job is to come out and measure the windows and then sell me on all of the different, you know, features that their windows come with and try to get me to go up, you know, to the special argon gas in the whatever. Like, this is straight up sales guy. And he was so friendly and he know, like, I have a guitar. Like, I have a little Taylor travel guitar that's up on a hook in my house. Because I am a truly one of a kind white guy of a certain age who's decided to display a guitar. It's a totally original move that no one before me or after me will ever think to do. So of course he's like, oh, you play guitar? And I was like, no, I play like a Few chords or whatever. And then he's telling me about how he plays drums. I'm like, oh, cool. But then he's like, it was just like everything he was. It was like everything that I said to him. So he was like, do you play guitar? And I was like, oh, I play some chords. He's like, oh, I bet you're pretty good. I bet you're. I bet you're a pretty. It was like everything that I said to him was like the funniest, coolest, most interesting thing that anyone's ever said to anybody. And that energy also stressed me out. Before he finally gave me the price on the windows, the quote, he had to go into this whole spiel that he obviously had practiced a lot that was preparing me for the fact that it was not going to be the lowest estimate that I was going to receive. And it was so transparent what he was doing and that he had been trained to do this whole. Again, rigmarole. Because usually, I guess people's jaws might fall off when they get the quote.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, kind of a little bit of level setting, a little expectation, a ton.

[Luke Burbank]

Of level setting and a ton of like, we're not going to be the cheapest, but that's not why you hire us. And you know, and I just. I think I also had to. It was like late for something. So I was just kind of like, that actually really saved me was he was running a little bit late and then I had to leave at about, I don't know, whatever, 10am and so he knew I had a hard out. So that, by the way, this is what I would recommend because you. You said you and Genevieve had somebody to come out to talk about flooring or something that one time, and it got a little weird. If you're ever going to have somebody come into your home environment to try.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way, can I just be very clear about something? We've had a few.

[Luke Burbank]

We.

[Andrew Walsh]

We've kind of dropped the project for now, but we had a few people coming out who gave us estimates on flooring in our basement, one of whom was a 10. And so I want to make it very, very clear that you are not referring to that person. It was this person from a big national chain who had come that I talked about on the show. He was just a little. Was very salesman y. And then, like, it was one of those things where the more after he was gone, the conversation lived in my head for a long time. And I talked about that all on the show. I just don't want the person who came out here, who would be listening to TVTL to have any inclination that I was talking behind their back or anything. I wish I was not.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't realize how actually perfect this was, but because I had a hard out again, I believe it was maybe like 10am and he got there. He was supposed to be there at nine, but he had a flat tire and. Which at first I thought was probably a lie, but then I. When I met him, I was like, no, this guy definitely got a flat tire. Like, he doesn't like the kind of guy who would lie about that. And. But it was so great. I would highly recommend, if you're going to have a home consult, also tell them when they walk in that you have to leave in 30 minutes for, I don't know, a doctor's appointment or a bris or whatever, because it was so great. There was none of that. After he presented it to me, I was like, well, can you put all this in an email? Because I can see, you know, And I go, you know, this is very intriguing, by the way. It was. I still haven't even decided what I'm going to do. But the beauty part was he knew that I had to be out of there at 10. So it's 9:59, and he's doing his sales pitch and then he's presenting me with this, you know, folder of stuff. And I'm like, can you put this all in? Was like, absolutely. And I go, well, that's great. Do you have a card? And he says, yeah. He gives me his card and I go, well, as you know, I really have to be on the road at 10. So I stand up and I shake his hand and we're walking out to my car. And he almost does. I don't know how. Well you remember the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but there's a point at which they go to, like, rent a car from a car lot in la. I think they're gonna drive to Vegas in it, obviously. And they, like, are like, they're borderline destroying the car in the lot. And the guy who's selling the car is like, so. So do you think. Do you think you'll be able to bring it back in one piece? And he's kind of running around after the car.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And then like, they have his pen and they drive out of that. He's like, what? My pen? And he's like, gosh dang it, he's all mad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is he wearing a pillbox hat for some reason or am I picturing I think I'm picturing.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you're thinking of when they're at the be Beverly Heights Hotel.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that would make sense.

[Luke Burbank]

Brings out the phone.

[Andrew Walsh]

That would make so much more sense. Yeah, because that would be a bell.

[Luke Burbank]

If you want to get into the supreme weeds. On it. The guy who is in that scene, in the scene at the car lot in Fear and Logan in Las Vegas was also one of the actors that was on the show Square One. He was on a show, I believe, called Math Net, which was a parody of Dragnet, except they solved math problems. So when I saw him in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I immediately clocked him because he was the guy from square one. But here's the point. I'm walking out to my car. He's kind of doing these, like, what do you think you're gonna. You think you're gonna go with these windows? And I said, you know what? I'm gonna take a look at that email and I'm gonna get right back to you. And I got in my car and I started it up and I drove away. And he's standing in my driveway. I'm gone now. And he's in my driveway. Just like, gonna get in his car and keep going.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just settling around him. You're like, just could very picture you looking in your rear view mirror and he's just standing there as your car's dust sort of falls down around him.

[Luke Burbank]

It was the perfect crime. Andrew. Can't tell you how great it was. But anyway, all that is. Say, that was a little too friendly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, that's also.

[Luke Burbank]

This guy today wasn't friendly enough.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's also this salesmanship stuff, too. That is a little bit that. You know what I mean? He's trying to make the sale, and that can be a little bit much, but it does. You know, it also reminds me of a server that I had recently at Red Robin. You know me that I love good service, but sometimes somebody just comes with too much energy and you feel like, I mean, to quote that viral video out of Philly, like, sometimes I just can't match your energy, dude. Like, I just, like, I appreciate that you're really working your ass off for real like this. I was in Arizona. I was having a, you know, after. It's a very tough week. We were sort of winding down, and I was having some. Having some burgers with family, and this person came by, like, doing his job.

[Luke Burbank]

Couldn't find a Chili's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Couldn't find a Chili's Anywhere. Anyway, he was doing his job. It ended up being an incredibly busy day at the Red Robin. We couldn't figure out why suddenly the place was so buzzy. And then one of the servers told us that, like, oh, today's National Burger Day. And we didn't have any sales, but the corporate sent out some sort of promotional email the middle in the morning, but didn't like, tell anyone, tell any of us that we are going to need the extra staff and that we.

[Luke Burbank]

Shouldn'T worry about the bird in charge of your company. About.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you tell me that recently that that is the. The logo?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think I came up in some piece of tape or somebody was talking about red. I think like the robin.

[Andrew Walsh]

Red Robin, which makes sense. Red Robin. But anyway, all that is to say this. This guy was like a young, young guy just working his ass off doing a really, really good job. But it was just like a little bit too much friendly energy in the way he talked that made it like it. Somehow I felt pressure by his friendliness. That made it a little uncomfortable.

[Luke Burbank]

It can be stressful when somebody is. Got an energy level that is, again, you know, coming from a good place. But it's like when. When you're kind of like they're approaching your table and you're sort of trying to get your shtick together because there's gonna be some callback to, you know, the whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess. I guess we didn't like this at all.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Or like, and you start to be like, you feel like, oh my God, I have to like, I better be ready with something when this person gets back to the table.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right, Right. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That's pressure. Well, anyway, all that is to say, I was almost tempted. I'm probably not now, but I was almost tempted to, like when I called. Well, one thing. When I called the dispatchers, I want to know why they didn't bring the sniffer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, in other words, like, why did.

[Andrew Walsh]

You bring the tools that you need?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, exactly. All human subjugation aside and jokes about the. The character from. From Pulp Fiction, why did you not have the. Because I'm guessing I'm gonna have to pay again now for this next trip. Yeah, but this trip. This trip, we should have sussed out the leak. We should have brought the tool to suss out the leak and figure out what's actually going on with it. And. And so that's a little bit frustrating. I was. There were a couple moments when he was what. What. I basically realized by the end, Andrew and I I. That when I said, I think I know what you're gonna say, I thought you'd maybe overheard enough of our conversation to hear that he actually said thank you at the end in a totally normal person way. I actually really think that this guy doesn't understand how he's coming off or he doesn't mean it the way that it felt to me. Like, I don't think this guy is at his core a bad person. I think he's one of those people whose just general demeanor is like, kind of over it ness. But he does not know how he's coming off. And I almost wanted to call the company to be like, hey, let me just let you know that this guy is kind of not doing y' all any favors. And I don't think he's doing it on purpose. I don't think he's. I don't think he's trying to be a turn off. But, like, particularly if his sidekick hadn't been here, like, if it was a call that he just showed up on, I would have been like, really, really over this. And, and, and so I don't know, I'm not going to drop a dime on him because I'm not trying to get the guy in trouble, but I also am like, I don't know. Here's my current plan. I'm going to just hope that this thing kind of recovers. I don't know, it was at 50% last time we talked. I'm going to hope that it just kind of bounces back and we just never have to talk about it again. Now, is there any scientific reason to think that'll happen? No, but I choose to believe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I think that's a somewhat fair thing. Or at least, I mean, at least you do sort of have an opportunity here to run it for a while and sort of monitor its performance. I wish you had the ability to measure the pressure yourself so that you could sort of keep. Is.

[Luke Burbank]

You're. Yeah, that's a special tool. Yeah, it's a whole.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's gauges and like, that's not the sniffer, it's the pumper, right?

[Luke Burbank]

No, this sniffer used to be a pump and he got promoted to sniffer. And. But yeah, no, I mean, this is not something that Walt or I could do. It's very specialized equipment, which is also. That was the other thing. I need to just put this to rest. We need to thank some donors because I gotta. I gotta make me a $279 stat, Andrew, because that check I wrote that Ain't gonna clear. But like, just the fact that he was like, he kept going back to the fact that they don't work on these kind. And I'm like, okay, I know you don't work on this exact model. But by the way, this is. Other than Mr. Cool Guy, this is the other main one that they sell in the marketplace. That's how I ended up with it. It's not some bespoke thing. It's like. And by the way, these things are fairly straightforward. If I worked on them all day, I would know how to fix all of them. They're a fan, they're a cooling thing, they're a connection tube, and then they're another fan. That's like, if I worked on them all day, I would understand how they all work. I would get you in two months. I would know how to fix every single one of these. I don't work on them. That's why I had to call you. But it was just like, there were so many things about the experience that left me. And I also thought maybe he was going to be like, well, we're not going to charge you for this because we actually didn't solve any of the problem and we didn't even tell you what the problem was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Although, I mean, I guess any house call, a lot of them are just like, even just to. But they gotta be straightforward about that. But I know that when we had a furnace guy come out like late last winter or whatever, like, they're always upfront about like, hey, listen, no matter what we find, like, it's this amount of money even just to send somebody out there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I'm not really even mad about that. I understand. If you're gonna drive out and you're gonna have two guys and one of them goes up on a ladder, like, that's not free. No, but I. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

We'll.

[Luke Burbank]

We'll see what happens. Happens.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you, baby.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, here's how I'm getting that $279, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not coming out of the TBTL account. I would need to make that very.

[Luke Burbank]

Very clear coming from my paycheck.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's true.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not even coming from. It's not coming from like today's show specifically, but in a larger sense of that. This is my job and your job and John's job. That's how we pay for these things in life. And it's thanks to the listener donations. This is 100% listener supported podcasting.

[Andrew Walsh]

It is.

[Luke Burbank]

If Trump knew about this show, he would try to take it off the air, but he couldn't. Why? Because we're not like. We're not reliant on local television station owners or Bob Iger or any. We're relying on Rob Rumberg of Philadelphia Penns.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, Rob. Thank you. Thank you for keeping us employed and giving us a heat shield around the politics of the moment.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks, Rob, for running interference. I had such a fun time talking to Rob and his wife at the Philly event.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice.

[Luke Burbank]

When we had the event there at the Quaker Center. That was great. Thank you, Rob. Appreciate you. Thanks also to Neil Hodges from Seattle, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Where are you, Neil? Where are you in Seattle? I wish I knew. I wish I knew.

[Luke Burbank]

Me and the Sniffer are going to show up later today. Neil the Sniffer will just send up a bat signal. We'll be there.

[Andrew Walsh]

The Sniffer will find you, Neil, don't get too comfortable.

[Luke Burbank]

The Sniffer sounds like one of your old timey radio dramas. Right after Johnny Paycheck or Johnny Dollar.

[Andrew Walsh]

Johnny Dollar. You're absolutely right.

[Luke Burbank]

He's the one who sniffs.

[Andrew Walsh]

The adventures of the Sniffer.

[Luke Burbank]

Matthew Thomas in Denver is loving all.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of this and loving the fact that he's not in Seattle where he has to worry about me coming after him with this.

[Luke Burbank]

He's far away from Andrew the Sniffer, thankfully. How fall. How far away is Chagrin Falls, Ohio? That's where Chris V is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, thank you. Thank you, Chris. Chagrin Falls.

[Luke Burbank]

That name. I don't know if it's been. I was gonna say I don't know if Chris. If last year Chris was our friend in Chagrin Falls. But I know that Chagrin Falls has come up for years and years on the donation list. And I just think it's such an outstanding name for a place.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is. And it is kind of south, just slightly south, but very far east. And I feel like. I mean, I feel like I should know Chagrin Falls better, but I might only know it in name.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm looking it up right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

It also Grin river goes right through it.

[Luke Burbank]

The Chagrin Fall. Chagrin Falls sounds like a show that was on the CW that was about a town where, like there was magic teenagers or teenagers that superpowers interesting. I think that's because there was really a show called Gravity Falls. Was like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that funny? Is Gravity Falls. I think I've heard that before. That's a location, huh? That's a reference to like a look like we live in Gravity.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I think it was a city that was called. Wait, is Gravity Falls animated? Was it always animated? My. Let's see here. What's IMDb have to say about it? Looks like it's always been animated. And I don't know if it has anything to do with superpowers. Twin siblings Dipper and Mabel Pine spend the summer at their great uncle's tourist trap in the enigmatic Gravity Falls, Oregon.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay. There you go.

[Luke Burbank]

So I feel like there was something else that had falls in the name and it was a town and for some reason I think it had teen superheroes. But anyway, I don't know. Aaron Crabtree might know. Aaron Crabtree is in Olympia, Washington, the state capital of Washington State.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm sorry that I'm stuck on Chagrin Falls, but just because I grew up in that area of Cleveland, I'm like kind of a little bit, well, you might say chagrined that I don't know more about it. But Bill Watterson was from Chagrin Falls.

[Luke Burbank]

Calvin and Hobbes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. And apparently Chagrin Falls downtown area is featured on the back of the 1988 Calvin and Hobbs collection called the Essential Calvin and Hobbes. I should have. I feel like I should have known that.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, Gravity Falls, Oregon, a mysterious town rife with paranormal incidents and supernatural creatures.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you go.

[Luke Burbank]

So I think my suspicions. And by the way, I can watch it now because I. I've un. Cancelled my Disney subscription.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, did you cancel yours too? I didn't even know that.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think I even had one.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I told you. Oh, Disney. Yeah, I told you that. I didn't realize that Genevieve had paused our Hulu and now has unpaused it. But I know you already thanked Aaron. Because I sort of stepped on Aaron's thank you by going back to Chagrin Falls. Thank you again, Aaron Crabtree.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you, Aaron. We really appreciate you there in Olympia, Washington. And also thank you to Megan Hamilton. Megan is in St. Louis, Lewis, Missouri. Hey, beautiful. St. Louis, Missouri, where St. Louis Arch is. We love that thing. By Aero Saarinen.

[Andrew Walsh]

I need to.

[Luke Burbank]

What is that designed by Aero Saarinen? Oh, the famous mid century architect. He designed the. The St. Louis Arch.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought you were making a Lord of the Rings joke.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that does sound like you know, Sauron or whatever. No, Aerosar. And in real person also designed the TWA terminal at jfk, which is now the very cool TWA hotel passing through jfk. And you for some reason need to stay there. Which would be suboptimal. That TWA hotel is Friggin Sweet.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's the one that has, like, the. Like the very small but very designy little pool area. Am I right about that?

[Luke Burbank]

Precisely. Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I did.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. On my way out, I think, to maybe Europe a couple of summers ago. It's very cool. Anyway, thank you to our donors. Thanks for making TBT possible. I really do appreciate having this for my job. As I was watching the guys go up and down the ladder, I was thinking I would be bad at that job. I'm not saying I'm good at this job, but I'm grateful to have it as a job. So thank you to our donors for making this possible.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

We didn't get, to my disappointment with the New York Times. Maybe for tomorrow we can talk about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that sounds. In the meantime, I'm interested in that and your other story about the Zach Galifianakis.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. We've been pushing that all week, but I do think it kind of gets into some interesting generational stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, we can do some cleanup tomorrow. Let's make Friday cleanup day, where we just try to hit on everything that we promoted and didn't get to.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, I'm getting a spam email, Andrew. It says, I'm going to LA on a business trip next month. Do you have time to go hiking or play golf with me? How would you answer this question?

[Andrew Walsh]

This is a text message or an email?

[Luke Burbank]

Text message.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. I was gonna say that's a weird thing to come through email. So here. Okay, well, let's talk about this quickly. And then I do want to share this email with you that we got from a listener. I know now what they want, but it's so unfun. I think you're supposed to say, oops.

[Luke Burbank]

Can I WhatsApp you about the tea time?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Then you're supposed to say, whoops, I think you have the wrong number. And then they'll say, oh, I'm so sorry to interrupt your beautiful day, but you sound like a nice person. And then they'll try to string you along. So I think you're supposed to say, oops, I think you have the wrong number, but what a boring response. Have you already done that? I think you. It's more fun just to say. What was the actual question again? When is the tea time?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm going to LA on a business trip next month. Do you have time to go hiking or play golf with Me, question mark?

[Andrew Walsh]

How about, I would love to, but my clubs are in the shop.

[Luke Burbank]

I would love to, but I'm having my glove, my clubs re. Gold plated. That's your whole.

[Andrew Walsh]

You need to make it. Oh, say, I would love to, but I'm going to be an ass.

[Luke Burbank]

Too late. I'm too late. It's too late. Andrew, it's already working. I said, oops, I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. And we've got a response. Of course I'm elena. This isn't Ms. Bella's phone number.

[Andrew Walsh]

Uh huh. And you say no, I'm trying to understand. It's fun.

[Luke Burbank]

Ms. Bella's been dead for years.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you writing that?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I'm starting to understand why this is.

[Andrew Walsh]

So fun for you, actually. Isn't it?

[Luke Burbank]

I've now crossed the Rubicon. They know that this is a live number, which is a thing I was always trying to avoid. You know what I mean? I never wanted them to know there was a live. There was a heartbeat on the other end of this number. But now that I'm doing it, it's, it's, it's really. This is this. I can see why this is so fun for you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, yeah, but the problem is, I mean, I guess I, I guess I've solved the problem. Which is even though I wasn't trying.

[Luke Burbank]

To annoy them, be more than back.

[Andrew Walsh]

To death, be more annoying than them. Yes. I'm always like, oh good, a new friend. And they're always like, you know what? I think I'm going to pick up my lunch tray and maybe move to another table just for a little bit and talk to these guys. All right, Luke, we were talking a lot about Kimmel on the show this week, but this isn't Kimmel related. But I found this, I found this email that we got from listener Charles so interesting because it really plays to my interests. But it's about David Letterman. And what got Charles to write in is actually we brought up breakfast pizza on the show somewhat recently.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh yeah?

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm gonna guess. Was that a QT thing? Yeah, it was a quick trip, a quick trip situation. They were talking about breakfast pizza, how it's famous there or something. But anyway, Charles writes, hey, it's Charles the Silent 10. I've been here since the radio show, which is cool. Thank you, Charles. I heard your story about breakfast pizza and I want to say I first heard the term breakfast pizza in 1988. It was my third year at the UW and I was in a singles dorm. Hansea Hall. Luke, do you know Hansey Hall?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, yeah, actually. Ooh, Hansy. Yeah, that fancy, is it? Yeah, Hansy. I was very jealous of that came online I think after I had lived there because I lived in the sort of the dorms that I was in was called McMahon. There were these very brutalist kind of, you know, somewhat inhospitable dorms that they had of Hansie and I think one was old, McMahon was one I was in and a few others. But then Hansey looked more like a cool apartment building that they opened up over by, I think where the drama department was.

[Andrew Walsh]

If I remember right at Kent I stayed in Hansey hall and I bet.

[Luke Burbank]

You did you and the sniffer uncomfortable.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll tell you that much. Anyway, Charles says it was my third year at the uw. I was in a singles dorm, Hansey Hall, Hansea hall, and was mostly not studying for three months. Sometime around March to May, I recorded the audio for all of the current David Letterman shows. I did this with my little 13 inch Emerson TV. A mono out converted to stereo and a stereo split to right and left. RCA fed into a premium.

[Luke Burbank]

I can see why this email picked up your interest, sir.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then back into my dual tape deck. I know the listeners might not have followed all that, but I did Charles. I recorded. But here's what I love about this. Charles is recording just the audio of David Letterman. And then Charles says, I recorded all of the week's shows onto cassette tape. And then over the weekend I listened for the funniest bits. And then using the dual tape machine, I created a mixtape of the best of Letterman for 1988. This eventually became eight hours. I had four 120 minute tapes that I then played back for over 20 years on long car trips. I'm sorry to say that I threw them out in my 40s. Only too soon to wish that I had them back. I think I said that wrong. Only too soon Wish I had them back. They were Letterman gold. One bit was kid inventors. And one of those inventions was breakfast pizza, which Dave ate even though it was cold eggs, bacon, sausage right there on the pizza. That's from Charles. And that's when he first heard the term breakfast pizza in 1988, when he was doing things that I can only describe as very Andrew esque.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, this is also unfortunately a story about, I don't want to say hoarding, but a story about not throwing things out. And the whole the voice inside our head when we're debating tossing something out is what if I Want this? Later, Charles tossed out those Letterman tapes and then was like, God, I wish I had those Letterman tapes.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am so quick. I've lived my life, especially my adult life, on erring on the side of not keeping things, even though I am a nostalgia freak. And it's hard for me to separate some things from my life, even if they would seem meaningless to somebody else. And I do have just a couple regrets of things I've gotten rid of. I don't mean things that I've lost. I'm still deeply upset that I cannot find whatever box had my original NES and all of my cassettes in it or all my cartridges, because I had that up until my last apartment. It must have gotten lost in the last move. And it kills me. I mean, that's a collector's item that also, I could be playing with right now. Instead of doing this show. I could be playing Rampage, one of the most meaningless NES games I ever played. But anyway, one of the things that I really regret getting rid of. And of course, I would have gotten rid of this, like, it was such a silly thing to even do and then have. And then I've moved probably 20 times in my life since then. But I think I told you. I know I've told you this before. When I worked at New Hampshire Public Radio. Back then, the show. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Wasn't done in front of a live studio audience, except for occasionally. The main show was they had all their panelists in different cities at public radio stations in different cities, and they would hire those radio stations to, like, just host one of the people. And we got everybody together via isdn, which is that technology that sort of sounds like everybody is in the same room together. And we had a guy in New Hampshire. Most people would know him, I think, PJ o', Rourke, who would come to New Hampshire Public Radio, RIP R I P J, R I P R O.

[Luke Burbank]

Apostrophe R O.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, and so he would come and. But after a while, you know, I kind of. It would be farmed out as to who would engineer these sessions, but then I just started kind of doing them all because I really like doing it. And I got to know PJ a little bit, and. But my favorite thing was, like, before the show started, everybody would be dialing in, and it's like, okay, so and so, you know, Felber's here from Boston. Okay, great. We got PJ over here. And there'd be, like, a lot of talk, a lot of crosstalk. This is before you were on the show. I know I would remember if you had been on one.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, I hadn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would.

[Luke Burbank]

The first time I was ever on it was well, on its journey of being in front of a live audience.

[Andrew Walsh]

Live at all times. Yeah. Okay. And I would record these, but I would also start recording almost immediately. And I guess that sounds a little sketchy, but everybody knew that they were talking down microphone lines into radio stations. Have to be pretty. You know, nobody. Nobody's like, talking shit about stuff. And I wasn't leaking this stuff, but I just loved the banter between everybody before the show actually being began. And, you know, you know, this. Luke. Working at a radio station back then, there were just like. You just had cases and cases of these generic white cassette tapes. Right. They were very low quality. They were mostly. I think they were used for what they would call like. Like reels, Right. Or, like, what would you call it? Test.

[Luke Burbank]

What would you call, like, a demo?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, not a demo, but every now and then the program director would say, okay, air checks. Air checks, yes. I could just record a low quality and then bring it in and we'll air check how our talent is doing on the air or whatever. And they're very low quality, plain white cassette tapes. And I would record those, and I would record everything that happened before and after and the whole show. And it was like a raw mix that I had. And I had a whole bunch of those, and I had a whole bunch of this American Life that I. I would just record off of the DAT tapes. There was nothing behind the scenes about that. And I had this little briefcase of cassettes. And those conversations are literally lost to history now. I sort of miss the this American Life stuff, but I have access to that digitally, online. But just so many conversations, including ones with people who have passed, you know, that would sort of mean. It's just like now you just can't carry stuff with you throughout your life from place to place to place to place. And in fact, the opposite of that really does concern me. If, you know, people who have a really hard time throwing things away, you can look around and say, that's an uncomfortable way to live. And it's also not fair to the people who have to maybe clean that up after you're gone, you know?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And very much, in fact, like, I don't want to get into it now because I think it's still a little bit too close and I'll get too emotional. But, like, I really want to talk to you at some point when I Can about the experience of clean. After my mom died, cleaning out her. She did not have a big house or anything. She was in a care facility for a long time before she died. So her life had already been very minimalized as far as the things that she had gotten rid of. And you'd think that the things that she had left wouldn't be that much. But even three of us, three people, worked two full days of sorting and organizing. And again, my mom, she was living in one room in a care facility and she was not a hoarder. But it's a whole life. It's 81 years. I'll tell you more about some of the experiences of making some tough decisions at another time. But when you think about people who have, you know, if their death comes more suddenly or something, and they have a whole house full of stuff, it actually, it scares me to think about. It scares me to think about, like, having to go through all of that. Not me personally, but for people who do have to deal with that, I.

[Luke Burbank]

Think about that with my house and like Addie, like, you know, I really do try to think, like, what is it going to be like for. If some, If I were to pass away suddenly? What is it going to be like for people, people, whoever has to come here and I guess box things up and move them. And I do try to use that as a motivation to keep the, you know, to keep the items that I'm sort of hanging on to, to sort of, I wouldn't say a minimum. I'm not a minimalist at all, but I'm. I'm trying to think about that a little bit and keep things pretty organized and, you know, not just like piles and piles and piles and piles of stuff. Like, if I think that I'm not going to need something, I'm trying to err on the side of probably getting rid of it so someone else doesn't have to deal with it.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's nice, but it's also nice to know that you have somebo has some connection to your life. And I'm not. I do not live a life of regretting my decisions. You know, Genevieve and I decided. Well, I decided before I was even with Genevieve that I did not care to have children. And we were on the same page from the get go. And both of us are very happy with that decision. But going through my mom's stuff, including a lot of, like, photos and stuff, not even a lot, but, you know, going through photos and other things, like me and my sister were there going through her Stuff. And. And me and my sister were able to have a moment with them and then figure out, well, what do we do with this? This stuff only means stuff to me and my sister, right? Like, especially photos. But she doesn't have kids and I don't have kids. And so it also got me thinking about, like, well, right now we're collecting this stuff, just me and her, right? Let's just say me and her photos of us growing up in Valley City with our family or whatever. Photos of our parents and all this stuff. Well, right now we're sort of dividing that up between us. And actually, I shouldn't even say that she took the bulk of that responsibility, which I truly appreciate. But eventually, when she and I scuttle off this mortal coil, I don't know if I plan on scuttle.

[Luke Burbank]

I assume it will be crab, like, when you do it.

[Andrew Walsh]

When I sniff myself off this mortal coil. Sorry, those mean nothing to anybody. You know what I mean? So we're going through all of it. And by the way, this still isn't even the stuff that I feel like is too emotional to talk about. I'm in safe ground here. But I'm thinking about some other things that I'll tell you about some other time. But, like, it's about the personal value we put in things that when it only means something to one person, then that person is gone. What is the value of it anymore? But eventually, if I had kids or my sister had kids, you'd be like, well, you could at least say, well, let's keep these photos. We'll get rid of half of them, but we'll keep these. And we can say, this is Grandma and Grandpa or great Grandma and Grandpa, but knowing that there's no. Like, when we pass on, these things have zero value value. Like zero value. I mean, bingo. I mean, is a.

[Luke Burbank]

Is a real nostalgia freak.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I guess so. I'm God. I mean, with all due respect to my cat, who I love dearly and don't like to think about him not being here, I am hoping that I can kind of outlive him, but we'll see how that goes.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, ideally. By the way, sorry to cut in on this. Actually very. I'm being serious. Interesting conversation, but we do have some TBTL breaking news. If you remember when I got this text about the LA business trip and also the possible golf outing, and I said, I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. And they said, I'm elena. Isn't this Ms. Bella's phone number? And I said, Ms. Bella's been dead for years. And then Elena said, are you cursing my friend? I just met her last month. And I responded, she's been emotionally dead for years.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I thought you were gonna go with a large Marge thing. Oh, okay.

[Luke Burbank]

But just physically dead for about 11 days. And that's where we're at with.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nothing.

[Luke Burbank]

I think I did it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

I pulled a real Andrew and they trail has gone cold.

[Andrew Walsh]

My only concern is I'm treating you like I'm treating the scammers, which is I am annoying you away as well.

[Luke Burbank]

No, but I mean, this is. I'm. First of all, I completely. Now that I've. Now that I've just submitted to the idea that unfortunately some. Some scammer somewhere is going to know that. That my cell phone telephone number is a real number that actually connects to a human being now that I've just committed to that or allowed that to happen. This is really fun. And I am really bummed that they're not texting me anymore. I'll just go back to what I think I said last time this came up. Or when the first time is that you were on air live, kind of relaying what you were saying, which is like, I cannot believe this person has now stopped talking to me. Because how many of these spam texts do they send a day? Or does the system send a day that do not get a proper response? Certainly don't get multiple responses? I would think that I would be at the top right now of their leaderboard, that somewhere there is a room where a bunch of people are sitting at computers and on phones. And as I said, I said this exact reference where I feel like someone should be pulling a lever that just like blows a horn and everyone gathers around that person's desk because they're talking to a live person.

[Andrew Walsh]

Got a live one here.

[Luke Burbank]

We got a live one here. That should be. This should be big news in the scam community. And yet they're just, like, not even going to follow up. They don't make scammers like they used to.

[Andrew Walsh]

They, you know, scammers don't have the get up and go that our generation did.

[Luke Burbank]

We used to scam seven days a week. We would scam uphill both ways.

[Andrew Walsh]

We had a gas. We had a gas can that we would carry around, tell people.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, we knew how to scam and we knew what. And we, you know what? We took pride in it.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. These days are lazy. Gen Z.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, well, guess what? Tomorrow I will be checking in from St. Paul, Minnesota. So that'll be exciting. And I have to fly there. And you know what? That means something that I'll be complaining about. What it is, I don't know yet. But I do know it'll be happening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I'm not even gonna close Hex Empire.

[Luke Burbank]

Then I would say don't even log in for the show tomorrow. I'll just take it from. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. We will see you tomorrow with more of this imaginary radio. In the meantime, have a great Thursday, everybody. Take care of yourselves, and please remember, no Mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.