#4567 It Takes One To Knoll One

Summary

TBTL #4567: It Takes One To Knoll One

Podcast: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh
Date: October 2, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this lively, winding episode, Luke and Andrew dive deep into the world of home organization, the oddly satisfying art of "knolling," and the strange cultural signals of backyard fire pits and Adirondack chairs. They reminisce about their public radio days (including the lost art of “out cues”), make each other laugh with personal stories and home improvement woes, and celebrate the rituals that keep us grounded—even (or especially) when the world feels wobbly. Listeners are treated to an extended, relatable banter about mugs, clutter, and midlife nesting, all served with TBTL’s trademark blend of gentle ribbing and affectionate absurdity.

---

Key Discussion Points & Segments

Opening Banter & Accidental Poetry

• [00:01–01:15]
  The show opens with spontaneous, playful banter between the two hosts and a brief, comedic reading of a poem.

“I like writing poems, but I wonder whether I will ever get any better at them.” – Luke (00:14)

---

Luke’s Obsession with Organizing (A.K.A. Knolling)

• [02:03–03:37]
  Luke talks about getting deep into home organization, discovering "knolling" (the art of arranging related objects in parallel or 90-degree angles), and how a single organized drawer led to a household-wide campaign.
• He references iconic films like ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and Wes Anderson's work for that knolling aesthetic.
• Andrew chimes in with support and a quip:

“Now I’m knolling on a river, folks. Clean as your mama’s son!” – Luke (02:32)

---

Statues That Go Wrong & The New York Times Changes

• [02:40–03:42]
  The hosts tease a future discussion about badly made statues and lament the imminent removal of a feature from the New York Times, which Luke describes as “really bunk journalism.”

---

Reminiscing on Public Radio & The Art of the “Out Cue”

• [03:42–15:41]
  Andrew reminisces about his days in public radio, especially the lost craft of writing “out cues” (the last words of a tape piece to signal hosts when to come back on air).
• The guys riff on the many layers of radio production, sometimes to an absurd degree.
• Luke laments how public radio sometimes propped up hosts with too much support, coddling those not naturally suited to "think on their feet" live.

“I feel like a lot of people back in the day got into public radio, people who were not actually wired for the fact that it is both an entertainment medium and something where you’ve got to think on your feet when the microphone is open.” – Luke (11:02)

• Andrew recalls his own goal to bring more authenticity and improv to radio hosting:

“You’re trying so hard not to fall. You can fall. Just learn how to get back up.” – Andrew (14:21)

---

Life Lessons from a Wisconsin Waitress

• [15:41–17:15]
  Luke recalls advice from a “Jackie” in Friendship, Wisconsin, about the secret to carrying a large tray without spilling: "Don’t look at the ground—keep your head up. Your feet know.”
• This becomes a metaphor for confidently navigating broadcasting and life.

---

Organizing Mania: Drawers, Hearts of Palm, and the Allure of Order

• [19:10–26:04]
  Luke shares how organizing one drawer spiraled into an obsessive mission:
• Stockpiling “20 cans of hearts of palm” as aspirational cooking, not actual consumption.

“For some reason, I feel like hearts of palm represents… a lifestyle I want to be in or something.” – Luke (21:45)

• Overbuying dish and hand soap due to hidden stockpiles, prompting a solution with “clear plastic tubs.”
• The domino effect: organizing Tupperware/glassware lids leading to a full-scale declutter army.

---

Andrew’s Organizing Realities & Clutter Commonalities

• [21:45–25:38]
  Andrew empathizes, noting the challenge of maintaining order while sharing space with a partner and the inevitability of “floating” tools and Allen wrenches for furniture assembly:

“We have so many floating tools that are just for one chair.” – Andrew (27:23)

---

Adirondack Chairs & Cultural Coding

• [28:15–37:08]
  Luke describes buying “hybrid Adirondack” chairs (upright, not reclined) for his new fire pit, riffing on how the marketing and associated imagery feels politically “coded” (i.e., certain products giving off a “conservative vibe” without overt signals).
• Andrew relates to not relaxing easily and jokes about his preference for straight-backed seating:

“Those chairs are always… If I see them, I’m like, oh, I see. I only have one choice here. You’re going to force me to relax, aren’t you, chair.” – Andrew (28:41)

---

The Dilemma of Unnecessary Tools & Assembly

• [38:14–39:34]
  Luke laments the abundance of “bonus” screwdriver tools coming with each flat-pack chair:

“Because there was four of these chairs and four boxes, I have four of these black handle grip Phillips head screwdrivers that I cannot bring myself to throw away...” – Luke (39:08)

---

Listener Participation: Rehoming Craft Supplies

• [39:34–41:27]
  Andrew asks listeners for suggestions on donating leftover beads and friendship bracelet supplies to a Seattle-area community group or school.

---

The Coffee Mug Conundrum

• [43:33–50:05]
  Luke explains his decision to streamline and reorder his coffee mug collection, transitioning from a random, sentimental assortment (“looked like the skyline of Manhattan”) to a set of matching, “adult” ceramic mugs in preparation for houseguests.
• Andrew reflects on the emotional importance of certain mugs, such as one given by a late friend:

“My favorite mug right here… was given to me by a friend who's no longer on this earth. So every…every day when I grab this mug, you know, I think of Matt.” – Andrew (49:09)

---

Home Care, Contractors, and the Shame of Booties

• [51:09–54:27]
  Luke debates whether to ask an HVAC contractor to wear protective booties to keep his new white carpet clean, rehearsing the social awkwardness in his head:

“I’m already embarrassed about the fact that I’m going to ask this guy to put those booties on over his boots.” – Luke (53:14)

---

Thanking the Donors & Community Shout-Outs

• [54:43–58:32]
  The hosts call out the day’s donors, weaving in personal memories and running jokes about NPR’s Libby Lewis and the similarly-named (and infamous) Scooter Libby from the Bush era.

---

Public Radio Lingo & “Sock Outs”

• [60:06–61:14]
  The pair riff on public radio lingo, debating “sock out,” “SOQ,” and “SOT,” revealing more about the sometimes comically bureaucratic world of radio scripting.

---

Blursday Shoutouts

• [62:32–70:59]
  Listeners and their loved ones get “blursday” (birthday) shoutouts. Andrew and Luke weave in more classic TBTL inside jokes and regional references (from Seattle’s Pike Place Market to Manhattan Beach to the movie ‘Inherent Vice’).

---

Closing Moments: Reflections on Happiness in a Wobbly World

• [69:54–71:26]
  The episode closes on a moment of real talk, as listeners and hosts alike acknowledge the “wobbly world” of today but encourage holding onto small joys and routines.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Public Radio Coddling:
  “You can fall. Just learn how to get back up.” – Andrew (14:21)

• On Organizing as Coping:
  “I’m clearly trying to organize parts of my life because other parts of my life feel out of my control.” – Luke (26:04)

• On Conservative-Coded Furniture:
  “For some reason I might be the only Democrat who has one of these in his yard.” – Luke (36:15)

• On the Emotional Life of Mugs:
  “Literally every day when I grab this mug, I think of Matt.” – Andrew (49:09)

• On Navigating Joy During Unrest:
  “My partner of a decade is still not a convert to TBTL but perks up at the sound of Strong Bad. Still, she’s the best thing that's ever happened to me and I’m really feeling good fortune in a wobbly world right now.” – Listener Sean (69:28)

---

Key Timestamps

• 00:01–01:15 – Cold open, accidental poetry
• 02:03–03:37 – Luke’s knolling obsession
• 04:07–15:41 – Public radio out cues, nostalgia, and authenticity
• 19:10–26:04 – Organizing spiral: hearts of palm, dish soap, and glassware lids
• 28:15–39:34 – Adirondack chairs, home assembly, and political coding
• 43:33–50:05 – Coffee mug reformation
• 51:09–54:27 – Contractor etiquette, booties debate
• 54:43–59:48 – Donor thanks, community shoutouts
• 60:06–61:14 – Public radio script jargon discussion
• 62:32–70:59 – Blursday messages, pop culture tangents
• 69:54–71:26 – Reflections on happiness in a “wobbly world”

---

Tone & Language

• Warm, self-deprecating, meandering, and affectionate
• A blend of practical life talk and knowing, inside-baseball media banter
• Reliably irreverent—sometimes moving, often laugh-out-loud funny

---

TL;DR

Luke and Andrew “knoll” their way through life’s messiness, both literal and existential. From organizing tubs to the awkwardness of asking for booties on carpet, they find meaning in the mundane and comfort in connection. The episode is a must-listen for anyone who loves relentless, hilarious detail and finds solace in the rituals of home, memory, and community.

Transcript

[A]

You Any secret passions?

[B]

I write poems.

[A]

You don't.

[B]

Yes, I do. I've got one right here. Stand up and let us hear it now.

[A]

Yes. Okay.

[B]

I like writing poems, but I wonder whether I will ever get any better at them.

[A]

Amazing.

[B]

Beautiful, Amazing.

[A]

Thank you so much. Tbtl. Hey, tbtl.

[B]

You, like, are definitely. You're the real thing that a lot of people say. So do you think if you weren't. I mean, if you were less fake.

[A]

Do you think you would be or you could.

[B]

Or you have a desire to.

[A]

If anyone touches my man Kenny G, I. I'mma be up in their face and I'm gonna start some. Sorry, I know that you don't swear, but, like, I love to say, I'm.

[B]

Not trying to be disrespectful or anything.

[A]

But I kind of feel like you're.

[B]

Winging this and it's going bad.

[A]

You should talk more. I like to hear what my man has to say. Just get in there with some sexual jibber jabber. All right.

[B]

Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Is this organic? My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. Yeah, everyone's got a podcast coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where we're looking at a mixed bag today. Right now, it's got a little blue sky, some gray clouds, a lot of rain, a lot of wind the last couple of days. Thankfully, the power has stayed on here at the Madrona Hill studio, unlike earlier in the week. And we're ready to bring you episode 4567 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. I am in the middle of a major organizing project in my house.

[A]

I just.

[B]

For some reason, I think I must have just kind of organized one one drawer of stuff, like a kind of a junk drawer. I did some. I've learned the term now, knolling. That's like the thing you see at the beginning of like a Wes and. Or like, how about this? Like the kind of like the beginning of Napoleon Dynamite. That overhead shot of things being very kind of organized and in their place and whatever I started, I started knolling one one drawer in my house. And, well, now I'm. Now I'm Nolan on a river, folks.

[A]

Clean as your mama's son.

[B]

Believe it or not, I didn't have a plan to say that just came to me. Oh, at some point, I don't think we're gonna have time today but we got to talk about. There's. Speaking of Proud Mary and rolling on a river, there is a new. There's a new player in the really bad statue game. This happens about once every five, six years. A community decides to honor a. A favorite local and it goes very poorly. We'll talk about that at some point this week, I hope. Also, I've been trying to get to this story for a while and it's haven't been able to do it. Maybe today will be the day. The New York Times is getting rid of one of my very favorite things about the New York Times. I'd like to point out to anybody watching. This is really bunk journalism. And something I do know we will do today. Absolutely, for sure. 100% is the blurs days because it's a Thursday. So we'll do all that with the help of this guy. Longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ship.

[A]

I'm here. I'm available for y'.

[B]

All. He's Andrew Welsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[A]

Good morning, Luke. Do you know what I was reminiscing about today?

[B]

What?

[A]

It's related to that intro package we just played. I was reminiscing about out cues. I haven't written a good out cue in a long time. Maybe you're still writing out cues when you're writing your scripts for cbs. But a big part of my life is a publisher. Public radio producer was writing out cues on scripts. You know, you would write a little out cue. Yeah.

[B]

Explain to the listeners. We have over four listeners who don't work in public radio.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

So for those four listeners, explain to them.

[A]

So if you're writing a script that you're gonna hand off to, like let's say a newscaster or a Morning Edition host or somebody sitting in that host chair, you hand them a sheet of paper. I mean, back in the day, it was a sheet of paper. Now it's probably some sort of digi paper, you know, because we're living in the future.

[B]

Power glove.

[A]

Probably some sort of cyber paper. I don't.

[B]

How smart is that? That's not very smart.

[A]

And you write at the top, you know, like this is what you're supposed to say. Hi, my name's Andrew Walsh. And you're listening to Morning Edition. And then you might say, a new sensation is sweeping the local area. It's called squirrel chasing. Here's Luke Burbank with more. And then maybe you. And then you're tossing to a piece of tape, right? Yeah.

[B]

I'm the man who's chased a squirrel and I want to talk about it.

[A]

That's right. Okay, so you're not a reporter here, actually, you're. So this is a clip of tape of you. This is. So we're instead of tossing to a package by Luke, we're now tossing to an actual little clip of tape. Maybe it's going to be 40 seconds of Luke. And it's like a WTBTL caught up with this man who was at Golden Gardens park. That's a place, I think, chasing squirrels.

[B]

And then they trying to say, I was drunk, I chased eight squirrels.

[A]

That's all.

[B]

That was all.

[A]

That's all I chase. And so you would put a little piece.

[B]

What would the out cue be if I ended it with that's all I chase.

[A]

Let's set this up a little bit. So then the host needs to know some information about the tape, right? Like what you've labeled it in the system. I might have labeled mine man chase squirrel. Maybe how long it is. You type in a 0.40because it's a 40 second piece of tape. But what other information might the host need? Well, maybe the very last words in the piece of tape so they know when to jump back in. What were the last words you just offered there, Luke? As man chases squirrel.

[B]

Let's see. They trying to say I was drunk, I chased eight squirrels. That was all I did. So all I did.

[A]

So the out cue would be dot, dot, dot, a little ellipse just for fun. And then all I did. And then you're like, okay, yep, I can see that the tape is over. And the out cue, it's just another way of confirming that you've played the right tape and it's time for you to jump back in. But I was thinking about it today because I thought it was really funny that the outcome for the intro tape, the handoff to you, the host, was sexual jibber jabber. And I don't. And this is what got me thinking about out cues is I hadn't thought of an out cue in so long, except I thought, boy, that's a funny thing for the last thing to be before we hand it to Luke, his sexual jibber jabber. Just find some real authentic sluts and just turn this house into a whore home. And I just thought how funny it'd be if this was my old life and I had to write sexual jibber jabber as an out cue on a script or a digi script. Of course.

[B]

Because it's 25 of the back Porch.

[A]

Yeah, well, the Front Porch. Yeah. The Back Porch is a different show. Right.

[B]

For this. Best known for his depictions of the tall ships, capturing their grace and power. That guy saying, reading the script that says out cue sexual jibber jab.

[A]

John Walters, sexual jibber jabber. Yes. Actually, that was the name, I believe, of a colon. That was his spoken word album.

[B]

I think maybe.

[A]

Maybe he's still working on it.

[B]

I'm not sure. Connect with the listeners the way that he and the label had hoped and.

[A]

That I had expected, honestly. Yeah. So there's a little background on out cues. And I miss them, Luke.

[B]

I miss a lot about that. That world of old timey public radio. But now here is where I'm going to take something that. That you were thinking about and observing that was fairly interesting, and I'm going to take it to a. Not only an uninteresting place, but also an unnecessarily. I don't know, why do I need to go back and get. Why do I need to get in a time machine and go roast public radio hosts of yesteryear? And I don't mean anyone specific, but as you were just saying that, like, the fact that, like. And I was taught the exact same thing. The fact that the person who was reading the script before the tape was activated had both the length of the piece of audio tape and the out cue is excessive.

[A]

In other words, if you know how long the tape is, I think it's a holdover. I think it was because the before, I mean, you. You played in this space a little bit too. Before everything was digi. Everything was on carts. Right. And you just had literally a whole bunch of like, plastic carts that might be mislabeled or whatever. And I think it was just a much more complicated system than playing files off of a computer. And so they just needed kind of like as much like kind of verification that everything was on track, you know?

[B]

See, there's two things that are premised in what you're saying that I guess I was missing or that wasn't my lived experience. One is that the hosts are playing their own cart. So we're talking about local radio here because I'm thinking about your. Your Melissa's block and your Ari's Shapiro. By the way, congrats to Ari Shapiro, who's finished up 10 years at all Things Considered and is now going to go on and explore and do other things. But I'm thinking about, I guess, like a host who's got a script in front of, but there's an engineer on the other side of the glass and they're playing the drops. And you're right. I'm also thinking about a much more of a digital world. I think the other thing is that what. What you're talking about there is the fact that as a producer, you wanted to make sure that the host. This was really confirmation that the correct piece of tape was being played. More so than my experience with this was just knowing when it's time for me to start talking again.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know that what I'm saying holds water too much because by the time you're hearing the out cue, the tape has been played anyway. So I guess, I mean it sort of as a looser kind of. I definitely think it's a holdover from an earlier era when things were a little bit more complicated. And probably that script that you're writing is going into a bunch of different people's hands. It's going into the host's hands, but it's also going into a producer's hands and a director's hands. And so it's just like information that everybody has.

[B]

Absolutely. And why not error on the side of caution like what you're describing. Andrew, is being a very good public radio producer. And I salute this.

[A]

What.

[B]

Where I'm going with this. And this is why. Why did I wake up on this Thursday morning and choose violence? I'm actually having a. Having a wonderful day so far.

[A]

I brought up public radio. This is on me.

[B]

But like, I guess. I guess what. What is sort of what's kind of stuck slightly in my craw again for no good reason. I want to just be very clear with the listeners. I don't know why I'm going so dark on this, so negative, but it's like, I feel like a lot of people back in the day got into public radio, people who were not actually wired for the fact that it is both an entertainment medium and something where you've got to think on your feet when the microphone is open.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

And I'm thinking about the amount of cosseting that would go on in order to make a person. I know this isn't your point and it isn't what you were doing. You're being a good public radio producer. I was a bad. I probably did 50% of this when I had that job. But it's like, it's just. I guess what I'm thinking about is you and me. Let's imagine you're Doing the Andrew Walsh show in Cairo. And you're working your producer at the time, Nick Jarrett.

[A]

Yeah. Are we just getting out of a what's your damage Segment where nobody calls her?

[B]

We're going into a what's your dad. Okay.

[A]

We're going.

[B]

The only damage we could find is to Andrew's ego.

[A]

You didn't feel like it could be.

[B]

Damaged anymore, but, like, I guess what I mean is. And. And I mean this. You know what? I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop criticizing public radio hosts of yore, and I'm going to start patting Andrews and Luke's of today on the back. I think you and I can roll with shit much better than a lot of the people that we were producing for when we were radio producers, because you and I both have talked into these microphones enough with a minimal amount of information or had the wrong thing play or had. You know, like, I would be so shocked if Nick ever handed you a script that had an out cue on it. Maybe he did. But I also think you were able to handle all of that quite. Quite competently and professionally, because you are, despite what you've said, both in the media and in certain legal filings, you are an entertaining person, Andrew. And you can just like, fucking. Sorry.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Where is this coming from? What is happening to me? Why is that where the F word just like, literally. That was like, when Homer gets mad, but he's trying not to be mad and those bumps are coming. Coming out of his neck. Is this because I. Is this because I was banned from NPR for a number of years after the Bryant park project? No, I. I guess what I'm thinking about right now is how many steps were involved in assess. In essentially El Sidding. And by that I mean the book later adapted into the movie starring Charlton Heston. El Sid, where they take a guy who's already dead. I mean, also.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

Adapted into the movie Weekend at Bernie's. You take a person who is not naturally entertaining or comfortable talking into a microphone, and you prop them up into this thing where you create so much structure around them that they're able to override everything the universe is telling them about being on the radio. And then they did it. They were on the radio.

[A]

Elsa Chang right now is like, what the hell did I ever do to Luke Berber?

[B]

What the Elsa Chang is going on here?

[A]

What the hell? No, I'm with you.

[B]

I'm not trying to.

[A]

No, no, listen. What you're speaking was not just a frustration I had during my whole time in public radio. But it was literally my personal and professional mission to change that dynamic. So I am with you. Like, these were the conversations I was having with the people who sort of were sort of like mentors to me in radio who were saying the same things, like, you know what you're talking about, Luke. And it's a. It's a loaded word. And I don't mean it as offensively as it sounds, but, like, coddling. The way we would sort of coddle our public radio hosts. Right. And I remember when we wanted to. When we built this, a show from the ground up, I would. It was my mission to not have that. Not have this. Sort of like, hey, everything is pristine. Everything is perfect. I'm reading directly off this page, and the out cue is going to be this. And then I'm going to say these exact words, Especially if these exact words are supposed to be an actual human emotion relating to the tape, but it's written out, like, in parentheses. In parentheses. Hosts laugh or something like that. I don't know that it's ever gotten that bad.

[B]

Parenthetically, small talk, 40 seconds, right?

[A]

But then script it all out, of course. And so, no, that is definitely something that I remember when we were. You know, we had a job search for a host of the show that I had this vision for. And I remember really trying to get a host who could, like, sort of, like, do what we're talking about, just sort of react and be very human behind the mic. And I remember telling her once we did end up hiring her and trying to get her off of her public radio thing. And it's weird that I'm quoting myself here, but it's something that I said when I was in my probably mid-20s that I still think about, and I actually think I was right about. It was like, you're trying so hard not to fall. You can fall. Just learn how to get back up. Or maybe I didn't say get back up. That's kind of cheesy. But, like, just learn how to fall so that it doesn't bring the whole show down with you. Like, you can stumble and then laugh. In the same way if you were at a dinner party, you could just sort of stumble on something and then just restate what you were saying. Like, radio doesn't have to be that much different, but you're so scared of that stumble that everything is just. Just sound so careful and, like, you're just, like, hanging on to the. You're hanging onto the wall so desperately so that you don't have a little stumble.

[B]

Well, or like that. One waitress in Friendship, Wisconsin explained to us. I believe her name was Jackie. She worked at the cafe that was next to the Historical Society. And she was talking about the secret to carrying a huge tray of margaritas. And it was do not look at the ground.

[A]

Yes. She had this whole thing, don't look at the ground.

[B]

That's what she teach everyone when they start out at the cafe, is don't look at the ground when you're carrying a large tray of stuff that you're trying to not spill, because bizarrely, that will cause you to spill it. You got to keep your head up and you've got to just trust that you're going to get to your destination. And in that, in doing that, you will be less likely to spill.

[A]

She said something like, your feet know. She said something that was like, on the edge. Yeah. She's like, I figured I already down your feet.

[B]

No, I already earned us that explicit writing.

[A]

Yeah, go lean in. That was.

[B]

That was genuinely a weird moment for me because I was not planning or even realizing that the F word was going to burble out of me there. Like, that was a strange.

[A]

Here in the show. You mean in the show. You didn't swear at the server, did you?

[B]

No, Gosh, no. I invited Jackie, I believe, to the barbecue that we had on Friday. I think she was a hard pass on that, which then kind of hurt. It wasn't even like, well, I'll see if I can make it. It was kind of.

[A]

Well, I think John and I invited her after because you left. Right.

[B]

Oh, is that how it happened?

[A]

Yeah. I don't think you were there for that.

[B]

Maybe I thought of inviting.

[A]

She gave a. Maybe, I think. And then. Oh, okay. No show, though. Yeah.

[B]

And it's been noted. No show, no call.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the fact that I winked when I invited her was probably a mistake, honestly. And then John was winking with his other eye. We have a whole new friendship. Yeah. John and I stand next to each other. He winks one eye, I wink the other, and we invite strangers to other places.

[B]

I just want to say that, you know, I apologize to the listeners that I got negative here early in the show. I just. But I also want to clarify with you, Andrew, that if you ever, ever lead me in with the out cue of sexual jibber jabber, and it will be your job, sir.

[A]

You rolled with it nicely. You learned how to fall.

[B]

You know what's funny? Oh, boy. If there's something I've Learned in this business, it's how to fall. What's funny is when that played, I actually thought, oh, should I try to do a sexual jibber jabber here? Like, would that be funny? I've gone. I go back and forth on how much I refer to the audio tape that's been played when I'm then talking. I think there was a period of time where a lot of the stuff that I would say in my little kind of top of the show sort of spiel would be building off of something the drop had played. And then I go through phases where I want them to exist almost in sort of like a distinct universe from what I'm saying. I don't know. It's a weird. It's all a very kind of weird thing that we're doing here. 4567 times. You know, as of today, I do have a. I do have a delivery on the way, Andrew, from the Crate and Barrel company. And they are ceramic coffee mugs. And they are. Because yesterday I decided. I made the call yesterday evening. You know, what, a day where there's no Mariner game is a dangerous day for old lb because, you know, idle, idle eyes will eventually turn towards acquiring something.

[A]

Well, that was. We got a little snarky comment from our friend Taylor over there in Kansas City, really reacting to the almost two and a half hour show that we posted yesterday. And she was like, man, when there's no Mariner games to distract the guys, they'll just go on forever, won't they? Which is fair enough.

[B]

Sounds like someone whose team missed the playoffs.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

That'S why Taylor had time to write that email.

[A]

Ear muffs. Taylor.

[B]

I was just emailing with Taylor the other day.

[A]

We cool. I know.

[B]

But then her email say, we not cool. Phil Dunphy quote. Anyway, it is. It is a dangerous game for me when I don't have, like, when I don't have enough actual stuff to be doing with my evening, I start to get a little squirrely. And. And so I have been on this organizing mission. Andrew, I want to. I. Last night I almost sent you more pictures, but I'm not sure if it's. If it's kind of like if you're enjoying the fact that I'm finally getting my life together or if it's actually like, like mildly annoying because, you know, you do not live by yourself in your home. You live with a partner. You also live with Genevieve.

[A]

And by the way, Bingo did bolt out of here the second I said hello to you. You introduced me and I like you. And I had done a whole warm up before the show, a sound check. Bingo's here. But then the second you said good morning, Andrew, and I started talking. He was like, what the hell? What fresh hell is this? And jumped out of this room. He hates podcasting anyway. Go ahead.

[B]

But. So since you don't have complete and total say over your lived environment, you. You mentioned to me the other day that it's like I'm talking about all this heavy duty organizing that I've been doing. And you were talking about how it kind of. It was hard for you to hear because you don't have. You're not quite as organized as you'd like to be. I bet you you're still more organized than, than you let on. But I'm going to send you a couple of pics. I've already sent you, I think, one of these, but this is some of my recent knolling and I don't, I can't remember how this started. I think it might have been this one drawer that I have where I put a lot of dry goods. And by that I mean, like, I guess canned goods is a better way to put it. So, like soups and tuna and anything that's kind of fairly shelf stable. But also I have these kind of like packets of like lentils and like madras lentils and other things that are. They're kind of a foil pack, you know, that's kind of sealed and you can like. And those things were kind of loose in there because everything, most stuff was cans, but then those things were loose and I didn't like the. I also realized that I had on.

[A]

The bottom, skinny on the top. Right.

[B]

So they don't really.

[A]

You can't stack them. They're slipping and sliding everywhere.

[B]

Exactly. It was kind of unsatisfying and disorganized. And I think really what happened was when I wanted. I told you I made some, like some chili recently and I was looking around for some beans. Don't get me talking about beans, Andrew. I'll be talking your off till sunup. But I went into that drawer and what I realized was, first of all, I have maybe 20 cans of hearts of palm. I went, there's something about hearts of palm that represents for me, I don't know, a lifestyle I want to be in or something. Like, I actually, I very much enjoy eating hearts of palm. I know they're very good for you. I know they're very like low fat and.

[A]

Do you put them on a salad? How do you usually Eat them.

[B]

Well, to be honest with you, Andrew, I eat them infrequently. I think I like the idea of them much more than the practice of like, cutting them up and putting them in things. Because what it seems like has been happening. And you've. I sent you a picture of this drawer.

[A]

Yeah, I'm looking. Oh, here. It just came through. Hearts of palm, by the way. Am I picturing this? Right? They're like kind of pickled almost, right? We have them in a little jar and in the fridge.

[B]

Yes, you can get them in a jar or in a can. And they're. Yeah, they're like a. They're like a long. They almost look like a cheese stick, except they're made out of, I guess maybe the heart of a palm plant. And when. When they're in something, I always really like, I enjoy them. And again, I think, particularly when I was. I'm always looking for something that I could snack on or eat that I think I like. And I also, I think is not terrible for me in the, like, maybe carbohydrates department or whatever. And I think what was going on for a while was whenever I was at the store and I was grabbing other things, maybe some artichoke hearts or some olives or whatever, I would see the can of hearts of palm and I think, oh, I should get some hearts of palm. But then the fact that I'm never eating them, I never opened up a can of hearts of palm and then dice them up means that it's been. We've had a huge influx of cans of hearts of palm, but no outflow. So, like, what I thought was like a decent variety and diversity of canned products there in that drawer. It turned out to be mostly hearts of palm.

[A]

You also have a lot of dish soap. I'm looking at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 things of dish soap, plus like a half gallon refill of dish soap.

[B]

I think the refill, yes. And also one of those refills is hand soap. It's Mrs. Meyer's, but there's also a refill of dish soap in there. See, this is the whole thing. This is what's been happening, Andrew, for the years that I've lived at this house. I will be at the store and I will think, huh, am I getting low on dish soap? And then I'll just grab one because I don't. It's a bit of a process to go to the store. And I'll think, well, I should just get some because I'm here. And because things have been so disorganized. Like that one of those is under my sink. Right. And because the underneath area, the plate, the part under my sink in my cabinet there was so disorganized. What it was was just, like, a bunch of random stuff and then a bunch of, like, reusable shopping bags and also plastic bags that had been thrown under there that were, like, obscuring everything. And so, anyway, it started with this drawer of canned stuff, and it started with these. These containers of madras lentils that I thought, there must be a better way. I was almost like that woman in the infomercial.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She opens the cabinet. Oh. Actually, you know what, Andrew? I actually know what it started with. I believe it did, in fact, start with Tupperware lids. I didn't even send you a picture of my Tupperware lid situation. I bought this little kind of like, bamboo. It's an expandable bamboo tray that has slots in it, so you can basically take your different Tupperware lids and fit them into these different slots.

[A]

Real nice.

[B]

It's so satisfying because I've just had this. I literally had a PI. One drawer was just a pile of loose Tupperware lids, right?

[A]

Yes. Slipping. And so again, all over the place.

[B]

So I got that organized, and then dealing with that, that touched off, and you know how this goes. Once I got that, once I got the Tupperware lids. And by the way, it's not Tupperware, it's glassware, because Becca doesn't want me to use Tupperware because of pfasts. But once I got those lids organized, then I just wanted to keep opening that drawer because it felt really good to look at them and see them in order. I mean, I'm clearly trying to organize parts of my life because other parts of my life feel out of my control.

[A]

Absolutely. That's a real thing.

[B]

Not. Does not. You do not have to have a graduate degree in psychiatry to figure this out. But once that drawer was kind of in shape, then I went to the food drawer, and I was like, I need to know kind of. I need to have a better sense of what's in here so I don't keep buying the same stuff and then not having enough of, like, what I really need are, like, I need a healthy supply of black beans and some kidney beans, stuff like that. I'm good on hearts of palm. And so anyway, what I realized was, oh, if I buy some clear plastic tubs, that will give me something to put the. The loose stuff, the stuff that's not canned goods in. And so of course I ordered some of those. I got them. That's now what the, the lentils and the other things are in. I've also organized those cans to be like one section is like bean related. One section is. And I can't exactly see this is one of the problems with my system is that I'm looking at the tops of the cans. I guess I could label them or something. I haven't gone that far. But basically there are sections now. There's like the section that has like kidney beans and black beans and stuff and chili. There's the part that's hearts of palm and other pickled things. So artichoke hearts and things. Things that are pickled and then whatever. So that drawer is now kind of in shape. Then above it is a junk drawer that I've just been throwing mostly like loose IKEA Allen wrenches into.

[A]

Oh my God, we have so many floating tools that are just for one chair.

[B]

They're so hard to throw away though, because you just think, I mean, by the way, let me just tell you, the Allen wrenches are standard. So if you have a set or what, you know, Allen keys, not to be confused with the conservative commentator for many years in the 90s, shout out to my Allen keys heads. But like, you don't probably have to hang on to now maybe there are some hyper specific tools. But generally speaking, you don't have to hold on to all of those. The little thing that comes like, for instance, you know what I've got right now? I ordered some Adirondack chairs for this fire pit area that I've kind of built out. Each one came in its own box, which by the way was so depressing. Like, these chairs were not particularly cheap. They're real weatherproof. They're made out of like a very hard plastic. So you can leave them outside in the wintertime and they don't get destroyed, they don't split because they're not wood.

[A]

Adirondack means the style too is you're like kind of automatically pushed backwards, right? You kind of lean back. I consider them the recumbent bike of chairs.

[B]

Truer words were never spoken. I have a flag that goes up chair. And you'll catch me with one of those weird, like, it's like a dental dentist mirror that comes off of my hat while I'm sitting there, honestly.

[A]

And I'm not, I'm not dissing on your chairs, but like, there's something about those chairs that don't fit my personality because it forces you into a relaxed position. Like I'm somebody even around a fire. I'm probably sitting on the edge of a chair. Usually, you know, if people are around, not like leaning back like that. So those chairs are always. If I see them, I'm like, oh, I see. I only have one choice here. You're going to force me to relax, aren't you? Chair.

[B]

You know what? Also, I want to be clear, they're kind of hybrid. There's this new hybrid Adirondack chair that's popular. God, I'm really on here.

[A]

Oh, I thought you were laughing. You're like, what are we talking about here?

[B]

Well, no, I'm good with this conversation.

[A]

Okay, good.

[B]

But that's about to get even weirder. There is a. Remember the other day when I was telling you that Sasquatch is becoming conservative coded?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

There's like a type of Adirondack chair that I feel like is kind of conservative coded. And I've sort of. I've kind of bought four of these. They're like, okay, so let me tell you about the journey. We're not even. We're nowhere near coffee mugs, but maybe we'll get there today. So I got this. I got this fire pit that I bought from this company. It's called Brio, and it's a very kind of. It's like a robust fire pit. You've got those kind of those solo stoves that were really popular for a while, and I had one of those, and I used it a lot, but it just got really destroyed from the rain and the elements and also just like burning a fire in it a lot. And so I wanted to get something that was a little bit more durable, something that could kind of like really last for. For years and also could handle the elements and was a little more capacity. Basically, I've got a ton of scrap wood that I'm trying to get rid of. And so my plan over the course of this winter is when it's not raining, to try to go out there and make some fires in this fire pit and really kind of get through a bunch of this. Just little odds and ends of like two by fours and stuff. So I get this brioche thing and I go to their website. I don't know if you've gone to their website, Andrew, but it's like, it's. It's for a kind of a guy. It seems that it's really aimed at a kind of a guy who it's aimed at. Kyle Shanahan, coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

[A]

Okay, I'm listening.

[B]

Just a guy with a kind of like a rock star energy drink hat with a very stiff brim. Like the brim. The brim has never been. Human hands have never touched the brim of his rockstar energy drink hat. That. It's kind of like a. It's a guy who does CrossFit. Again, peace and love to our CrossFitters out there. I did it for a while, but it's like a kind of. It's somebody who might go to Black Rifle Coffee Company. They might, they might take their truck through the drive through at Black Rifle Coffee Company before they come home. And by the way, this brio fire pit situation, it. Part of what I'm both intrigued by and also I'm not sure if it's for me is that they also will sell you all of these add ons where you can basically cook over this thing. The idea is it's not just like a fire, a kind of a, a round fire pit thing that you put in your yard and throw wood into. You can also put like, you can turn it into what's called a schwanker. My brother in law Josh has one.

[A]

Of these, the explicit label today.

[B]

My, my brother in law Jason has made this incredible Schwenker that he has and he has one for my brother in law Josh which is like this. It's like a kind of a German device that like sits over your open fire and is like a, a tray that allows you to cook things on it and lower it closer to the fire and pull it up. It's actually an amazing device. Basically this brio thing has all these aftermarket modifications you can buy that are like metal grates that will sit over it so you can like, like roast your like fresh venison on there and stuff. And like basically all the photos on the website of this company make me feel like it might be owned by Republicans. I don't. It just feels kind of like in the way that when you went into that pilgrim coffee you were like, huh?

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Something about this. This feels like the pilgrim coffee of fire pits to me.

[A]

In the same way you're talking about a different culture, but just like that you just feel like there are little signals or you actually see some overl. Because the coffee shop. Okay, okay, yeah, the coffee shop you're describing, it was like, it's like kind of a Christian coffee shop.

[B]

Yeah, the coffee shop is overt.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Has some overt things. This is nothing overt. It's just a vibe That I get. And then what I saw on there was these hybrid Adirondack chairs that they sell.

[A]

But the chairs are like furniture.

[B]

I'm looking $300 a chair.

[A]

Oh, they don't force you back as much. You're right. They're kind of like the style of an Adirondack chair, but it's more of a. But it sits up more straight. It's more of a straight back chair. Okay.

[B]

It's an Andrew Rondek chair.

[A]

Yeah. Honestly, I could get a little bit more done with this.

[B]

In fact, that's what I have at my house, Andrew. Not those ones. I didn't pay $400 a chair, but I have. I want you to know that you are welcome here and you will enjoy the chairs because you will not be forced to go full Adirondack.

[A]

I think that this is not a coincidence, but the top banner image, which is a very big photo on the Brio furniture tab, shows it looks like four people sitting. One of those stoves that you're talking about, but they're all in this sort of hybrid chair that you just described. And three of the people, or two, it looks like two of the people are sitting back in the chair. And the two people whose profile we're seeing are literally sitting on the edge of the chair, the way I described.

[B]

Very uncomfortably, by the way.

[A]

But I think that's on purpose. I'll bet you that that is signaling to people like me. Like, don't worry, this isn't one of those recumbent chairs.

[B]

I think also the photographer in charge of this promotional shoot realized that when people were sitting in the chairs, normally they looked like they were in a food coma.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Like, laid back.

[B]

And it was just kind of like, okay, so everybody just scooch up a little bit. And you can see this woman who's in the kind of blue sweater with her legs crossed and is looking like she's really enjoying it. Her core is fully engaged.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She's so unrelaxed right now. Okay, so I saw these chairs, right. These hybrid chairs. And I have to admit, I. I was impressed. I liked them, but I also was not going to spend that kind of money. So I went online and I found some sort of knockoffs. They're not exactly like that, but they're. They're close enough. And. And anyway, I guess my whole point in this is that I. For some reason, I feel like the hybrid Adirondack chair is. It's not Republican coded, but it might be like a person who is More open to, to a person who's less put off by the current political climate than I am. That's what I feel like the, the hybrid Adirondack chair signals. And now I'm in the lifestyle, Andrew, because I got these chairs and I'm.

[A]

Sorry to put you on the spot here because it sounds like it's just more of this vague thing that you're putting out there, but can you, can you point to one thing that sort of makes you feel that way? Is it something. Because I'm, I'm looking at it and I think I understand what you're. I, I think I understand what you're talking about. Is it the way the models are styled in Go to Live Fire, Go to Go to Grilling. Okay, but is it the way the models are portrayed? The people in these photos or they products themselves?

[B]

It's the product. It has nothing to do with the models. It has to do with the product. And it has to do with. Because they very carefully selected people from a wide range of backgrounds and ages, etc. Like they're smart. They're not, you know, this isn't a company that like, you know, has got like a blacked out American flag on its logo or anything like that. But when I look at the like grilling of kind of photos and I look at all this like these big stakes and things that are on these whatevers, what I imagine is that, and like in the background of one of these photos, they've also got clearly like the, they've staged it so that people also have an infrared sauna in the background. You see that wood roundish thing? It just, they're, they're not saying it with the photographs, but I'm imagining that this Brio also, by the way, I saw it in like Home Depot. That was the first place I saw it. I feel like for some reason I might be the only Democrat who has one of these in his yard. That's my feeling. I can't, I can't. I don't have any evidence, I don't have any solid evidence to prove that case. But that's what I feel like. I feel like I might be the only, the only progressive person who, who's in the brio lifestyle and has a hybrid Adirondack chair, which the whole point of this was when they came finally in the mail and again these, I did not buy the real ones, but the ones I bought were still not cheap. They might have been.

[A]

You bought the ones with the Punisher logo on it?

[B]

Yeah, both Sides.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, right. Okay, good.

[B]

I think both sides says it all. It's the Punisher on. On the. On the sort of where your back goes and then the back of the chair so that people can see it when they walk up. Just says, let's go. Brandon.

[A]

Y. Right.

[B]

But when these things came in the mail, this is now the dilemma. And this is actually, Andrew, where I think your lifestyle of not ordering as much stuff online, certainly not ordering things from Amazon and, and buying things in real life, or in Genevieve's case maybe buying things that are pre owned, I think is really smart. My entire life is freaking assembling shit that came in the mail that I didn't realize was going to need assembling. And these chairs are pretty robust. Like they. Each one weighs a lot. And I get this when I was in Minnesota last week, I see that I have a delivery from FedEx and it's these chairs. And again, they weren't cheap. I kind of expected that in paying the amount that I had to pay for each chair, maybe part of what I was paying was that someone had put it together for me and it was going to be folded up, but then I would take it out of its box and then it would unfold. Like, think about a typical folded chair that you buy.

[A]

Do these folders. I didn't know. Okay. Yeah, right.

[B]

Yeah, I guess that also. You know what, that's a really good point in looking at them. Why would I have ever thought that they folded? They're extremely. They're like I said, they're pretty sturdy. But somehow in my mind I thought they would be folded up and I would unfold them. That was, that was incorrect because when they got here and then they were. The boxes were so heavy. And then I get. It's a box with two boxes in it. And then I open that and I pull out one box and then open that and then that's got pieces of a hybrid Adirondack chair fully surrounded by like Styrofoam bits and plastic and. And Andrew, this particular kind of Phillips head screwdriver that has like a handle grip.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You know what I'm talking about?

[A]

Yes, I do. Is it black?

[B]

Black handle grip. And because there was four of these chairs and four boxes, I have four of these black handle grip Phillips head screwdrivers that I cannot bring myself to.

[A]

Throw away because they're generally useful. They're not a specific head. It's just a Phillips head. And how do you throw that away? Somebody could use one.

[B]

I get. I Mean, I. I cannot. And by the way, I already have a couple of other ones from some other crap that I ordered years ago. You know what I mean? It's a fairly standard thing for them to include when you get this kind of furniture or what have you. But like what am I to do with all of these random, like you said, tools that have come along with stuff that I've ordered.

[A]

Hey, that reminds me of something by the way. And I'm going, I don't. This might be somewhat inappropriate and I have not run this by you and John, but I think I need the listeners help with something because you're talking about having a bunch of leftover starting.

[B]

To go fund me.

[A]

I'm starting a go feet me which is a combination of. It's kind of. What was the wikifeet. It's like wikifeet, Meet only fans.

[B]

I'm listening.

[A]

Anyway, putting that aside for a second, I still have in my garage a box of things that I'm looking for a good home for. And I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions in the Seattle area for a school or some sort of a community center that would have a use for all of the extra beads and bead bees.

[B]

Bees.

[A]

I'm looking for a beekeeper. No, we still have a box of many, many, all the things you need to make bees. Beads, a lot of friendship bracelets. Right. Like from our friendship bracelet making party which was now over a year ago at the Eagles. I have so many like bags of brand new beads, bees and the string that you tie it together with and scissors and anyway, I just like, I wanted to hang onto it for a little bit, make sure that our project was truly over. And it is. And now I just sort of think, think there is some community group that it works with kids or anybody who just like wants to like have an activity and they're just sitting in my garage and I should really get them into the hands of somebody who could use them.

[B]

And also we need to distribute those before the friendship bracelet craze fades.

[A]

I feel like it might have already though, right?

[B]

Probably so. But try to give it to a school that hasn't figured that out yet.

[A]

Yeah, give it to a real nerdy school. Give it to it.

[B]

Or hang on to it for 20 years because it'll come back around.

[A]

They'll come back like doc.

[B]

They'll be cyber. They'll be cyber crash, cyber beads, cyber beads, cyber bees. But let me. Okay, so I'll. I'll sort of, I guess wrap this up by Saying, I have now forget everything I said about the Adirondack chairs. I am now, like, done. We were, like, way ahead of you. You're like, I wasn't listening when you were first talking about it.

[A]

But.

[B]

But I've been on this whole. I've been on this whole jag. So then I get. I get a bunch of these clear plastic tubs, and then I'm putting them under my sink as well. Because the area under my sink is kind of. There's a. A garbage disposal. There's other things that were kind of in the way. I was gonna buy one of those systems where it's got the drawers, you know, like, it's like a kind of a wire system that has some drawers that kind of pull out and stuff. But there I. There's not enough room to do that. So I was like, well, what can I do? And I was like, well, basically, my whole organizing sort of principle and mantra now is just like, get something to put it in. You know what I mean? Like, I just get. I bought a bunch of these clear plastic tubs. And then. It's incredible how much of that small.

[A]

When you say tubs, you mean almost like little separators all like. No, I think you're right. But, like, small that you can put inside of a drawer. And you can kind of not nest them, but arrange them all together?

[B]

Yes, yes. Tub is. People think of, like a big kind of big thing. It's smaller. But what it is, is like. Like that under my sink area was just. Again, it was like. This is why I was buying so much dish soap. Because I was never aware of how much dish soap. Dish soap there was. And then. God, I just fell down. Andrew, I'm gonna get that.

[A]

You ruined the show. Now nobody's gonna listen.

[B]

Three, two. And. As if they didn't tune out when I started.

[A]

Wait, wait, hold on.

[B]

Declaring that Adirondack chairs are Republican code.

[A]

I know you said to forget about the Adirondack chairs, and you're kind of on a lot of tangents here, but.

[B]

Like the listeners, you can't forget.

[A]

I can't forget. I tried to forget, but, hon, were going somewhere with those chairs that you forgot, which was the feeling you got when you saw all of the packaging that came with it. Was that. Was that part of this organizing thing? This idea of all this crap coming into your life?

[B]

Well, I don't like that at all. But. But mostly, I guess I was. What I was talking about were those little screwdrivers, because I bought four chairs from the same company. Instead of sending me one screwdriver, they send me four complete, you know, standalone sets of everything and four boxes and all the garbage that comes with those boxes. And like, you know, there's the cardboard, which I can recycle, but the rest of it, which is just garbage, which I. I don't like that feeling, by the way. And. But anyway, all that is to say on this journey of organizational purity that I've been on, which, again, it's like now it's like I couldn't just stop with the drawer of cans and the area under the sink. I then, you know, started organizing and sort of figuring out what is my situation with my coffee mugs. Because my entire life. I mean, I guess that's not true. I guess here's what it is, Andrew. When I've been married, the people I've been married to have bought sets of coffee mugs that match. And I don't think it ever occurred to me in my life as a person who's unmarried and who lives alone, that that's a thing people do. Like, I guess I just thought they just were around. Those are just, just. And so in my, you know, in this version of my life, I guess I'm a little. I'm not a bachelor per se, but I'm a little more bachelor y like. And also my daughter has gotten in this tradition of buying me really fun coffee mugs over the years. Like, she bought me this one that I love so much, which is Lucy from Peanuts. She's doing her little advice stand, her psychiatry $0.05, but she's quoting the band Pavement, and she's telling the person, darling, don't you go and cut your hair. Do you think it's going to make him change? You know, real up my alley. And so I've got some mugs that are really meaningful to me, like if they were a gift. Or I've got the TBTL ceramic mugs, coffee lover mugs from some years ago, which are. I mean, those are really, really cool pieces of. Of art. So I've got. I've got these. But then I've also just got these random ones that are just kind of like. Like I've got a Barsook Records coffee mug, but it's way too big. It's like more. It's.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It. The capacity of it is enormous.

[A]

I was. My brain as soon as you said.

[B]

Capacity enormity of Debussuk coffee mug. I've just got. And it's all kind of. And listen, I've got one that I think was a prototype. I don't know if we sold it or not, but it's like a. About slaying part of the day. Like I've just got this very random.

[A]

You have one of those?

[B]

I've got one. Do you want it?

[A]

I mean, no. I mean we have a lot of mugs here, but I. You had to buy that off of the thing. Did somebody buy it for you or you bought it?

[B]

I think it might have been the prototype. Oh, maybe I bought it.

[A]

Sample. Oh, okay.

[B]

Yeah, I've got a whole different. A series of different sized mugs with different writing. I've got this one from the Tattletale that used to be my very favorite coffee cup in the world coffee mug. But because Roger spared every expense, the guy who owned that bar, the Tattletale, all of the writing has washed off. If I showed you this mug, Andrew, you'd go, cool, you have a blank. I'm talking completely blank beige coffee mug. And I'm like, yeah, but it used to say tattletail from the 1980s or whatever. I washed it too many times. So anyway, I've decided I was, I was in my quest for everything being consistent and not just having like a random. Like it looked like the, it looked like the skyline of Manhattan, Andrew. It just was a series of jutting coffee cups of different sizes. And like some of them were those kind of ceramic, those green ceramic ones you like, which I also like, but they're kind of. They don't really match. It was just, it felt, felt. It felt chaotic to me. And so I have now ordered a set of eight matching ceramic coffee mugs that are going to go on this shelf where the coffee mugs go. And when people come over, like I'm having a bunch of family over at different points this weekend. We're going to be having coffee on Saturday morning and Sunday morning. I will hopefully. I don't know if it'll get here in time, but ideally I'll be able to bring out a little setup for coffee with the half and half and the sweeteners and some nice consistent coffee mugs.

[A]

Mugs.

[B]

Is that.

[A]

Now what is that? The big question is, I can see it both ways. We could spend. I could, I could actually spend hours on this conversation, but I know that we're a little bit tight on time. But let me ask you this. What is your plan for the other mugs?

[B]

Well, thank you for asking. So that's already been enacted. Even though it's like I'm setting a Place for Elisha. Like, the coffee mugs aren't even here, and there's a cleared, empty shelf waiting for them when they get here.

[A]

Have you killed the fatted calf yet as you wait?

[B]

Yes, I have. Yes, the prodigal son has returned. What I did was last night, I pulled out all of the coffee mugs, and I made two categories. The one was ones that are getting donated to goodwill. Just, like, I'm not gonna use these. I'm not using this Barsook Records coffee mug that's very large. I like the little dog logo, but, like, it's too big.

[A]

Yep. I'm not gonna make some individual decisions. You're not throwing them all away, but you're doing a little bit of thinning. You're thinning. You're asking about some. You're. And then you're gonna keep the other ones because, yeah, life. Also, like, I like what you're saying about the uniformity of having that option, but also, you know, me, like, my favorite mug right here. I have two favorite mugs I use. This one says vacation in Cleveland. You're gonna love it. And this was given me by. This was given to me by a friend who's no longer on this earth. So every. Literally every day when I grab this mug, you know, I think of Matt. And then, you know, my other big mug is the. Is my Walsh manufacturer Every day is garbage day mug that listener Jay gave me with little possum on it.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

And so I have a little moment every day, even if it's kind of far in the back of my head, I have a little moment when I'm choosing the mug to think about the backstory of the mug and the person who gave it to me a little bit. So you don't want to totally get rid of that. But also, you want some room in your life so that if people are coming over, it doesn't have to feel like you're, like, you know, in college again, and you're having a tea party off of an upside down milk crate.

[B]

Exactly. Now you're right. So I certainly hung onto the ones that were gifts from my daughter. I hung onto the TBTL ones, and then the rest of them. So there was the going to Goodwill. There's actually three categories. There was the going to Goodwill, There was the handful of ones that were gonna stay in the house on a different shelf, and then there are the ones that I just brought out here to the Madrona Hill studio because I didn't have any coffee mugs out Here. And this does not have to be some extremely curated environment out here.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so that actually helped. There's been times where I wanted to get coffee or have some coffee out here, and I realized, oh, I don't even have, like, a proper coffee cup or coffee mug, rather. So that's, that's the plan. That's where I'm, that's where I'm at with that. And, and that's where I'm at with the organization of my life. And I, I, to be honest with you, I'm feeling pretty good now. I may be taking it too far, Andrew, because do you know what I picked up at Home Depot yesterday?

[A]

I wanted to guess, but is it about organizing? Is it about organizing?

[B]

It's not organizing. It's about whatever is going on with me right now where I'm descending into this. Remember Julianne Moore in the movie Safe?

[A]

Unfortunately, it's a very upsetting role.

[B]

I feel like I'm doing something in my home environment. Between the organizing and the cleaning and the, like, it's getting a little. Something's getting a little funky, like, I've got the guy. Remember I said there's a dude that's coming over later today to look at my H VAC system. Excuse me, at my mini split.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, I had just got the stairs carpeted, going upstairs to the. Where the mini split is, where the, the interior part of it is. And I got this white Berber carpet, which is high traffic. It's meant for people to walk on it. But I was, like, cleaning it and vacuuming it the other day because the other guys, the guys from Felton Heating and Cooling had been up there and tracked a bunch of, like, dirt up and down. I got it all clean, by the way.

[A]

You have. I just thought to check your review of them has gotten so much action because you talked about it on the show yesterday. Thank you. Did you see this? Do you get updates?

[B]

No, I, I haven't.

[A]

14 people have tagged it as helpful. Helpful. 8 have tagged it as thanks. One person tagged it as love this. And then seven people other than myself. So eight of us all together tagged it with oh, no.

[B]

Oh, no. Thank you, everyone. Now please stand down. Actually, I don't know. Don't stand down. That was that. I thought that was bad customer service.

[A]

Oh, hanging out with somebody who just gave you a bunch of money and they provided no service to you. Yeah.

[B]

And we heard from our friend Roden today. You and I, Andrew and Roden works in the industry.

[A]

Oh, yeah. And said sniffer industry.

[B]

Explained what the sniffer is. And it turns out it's not a person in a zip up leather suit. It sounds like a pretty small portable device that Roden said it's inexcusable. They wouldn't have just had it in the truck. So there you go. I'm, you know, I thank you everyone who's getting my back on this. But here's the thing that I'm. Here's what I'm going to be doing later today when the guy comes over or what I'm debating doing. And it feels like a lot. I bought yesterday, Andrew, a box of those booties that you put over your shoes when you're going in and out. And I'm considering when the guy comes over today to go upstairs to look because I know he's going to be going up and down and many trips and because I just got the carpet all nice and clean again. My sister Hannah and my niece are coming over on Friday and my brother DFTB and his wife and kid are coming over on Saturday. I'm trying to kind of get the house together and like the stairs are like all vacuumed and kind of in good shape. I am already embarrassed about the fact that I'm going to ask this guy to put those booties on over his boots.

[A]

I always thought, is this more of a contractor? Because everybody who's come to our place that works like for a company, like, if I'm thinking of like, what's that place seatown that came out and repaired our furnace and folks like that that are kind of like, you know, they're employees of a larger company.

[B]

They.

[A]

They always put those on their shoes. And sometimes.

[B]

Well, I'll tell you, didn't do it. Felton Heating and Cooling.

[A]

I'm going to write another review right now.

[B]

Thank you. So you. I think you're right. And in fact, I think that that's typically now for a lot of particularly like larger companies that have a number of employees that are trained in a certain way of doing. I do think that that's fairly typical. Most of the work that I've had done here that hasn't been done by Walt has been from very small, you know, basically like trades people who might be a guy and his friend or whatever.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so there's not really that kind of like system of here's what we do when we show up at the client's house. My feeling is that this person who's going to come out will have no problem with this. But I'm already rehearsing I was. As I was checking out at Home Depot, I was already in my mind rehearsing how I was going to try to say, oh, would you? I'm being such a nerd, but would you mind putting these booties on?

[A]

Yeah. I mean, see, I'd also just hang back and see if they brought their own anyway.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good point. I didn't even think about that. You're absolutely right. That's a possibility.

[A]

Thank you, baby.

[B]

All right, let's thank some donors. These incredible, generous, wonderful folks are donating to TBTL in this economy.

[A]

No joke there.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, that's sort of a. That's like a 5% a joke. And 95% of me saying, my goodness, I'm grateful that people are still prioritizing a TBTL donation as part of their monthlies. Because we wouldn't have this show, we wouldn't be here doing this without folks like Max Wolkowitz. Brooklyn, New York. And not just because of Max's financial support, which is incredible, but because Max is an incredibly talented artist, an incredibly talented first time caller on thons. I mean, what can't Max do?

[A]

I mean, Max is the person who made and illustrated and created the Elven and the Chipmunks TBTL logo that is literally on the tambourines that are being shipped out. That reminds me, I gotta go to the post office because when we start shipping out thank you gifts, some of them always kind of get returned to sender. People move or addresses change or addresses are maybe. Maybe there's typos or whatever and they bounce back to my P.O. box or our P.O. box here in Seattle. And sometimes I go around this time of year and the people at the post office are like, you got to check that box, man. You got to check that box. Because it's overflowing with returns.

[B]

So what's in the box?

[A]

What's in the. They say, what's in the box? And they say in this very creepy way that makes me uncomfortable.

[B]

I read a piece last week or an article that said that of the 18 new Broadway shows that debuted this year, all 18 of them are in the red. None of them have made a profit. And I thought, not if Max Wolkowitz has anything to do with it. If you follow Max on Instagram as I do, there is not, there is not a more ardent patron of the theatrical arts in New York City than our buddy Max goes to every show and is. It's just an all around amazing person. Max, thanks. We appreciate you. We Also appreciate Timothy Milligan was out there in Woodinville, Washington, I'm sure. Supporting what The Village Theater in Issaquah might be the closest, the closest theatrical experience of live theater that Tim can get to. But Timothy, thank you very much. Libby Lewis is in Des Moines, Iowa. Libby Lewis of Des Moines, Iowa, the NPR reporter. That was where my brain was going.

[A]

That would be it.

[B]

Incredible. I'm guessing it's a different Libby Lewis, but if you are the Libby Lewis who I used to have, my desk used to be three desks away from Libby Lewis desk at NPR in D.C. at 7th in Massachusetts. Yes.

[A]

Do you remember when Libby Lewis had to cover Lewis Libby? That's not a joke. Do you remember Lewis Libby who was some sort of an official during the Bush administration? I can't remember who was involved in what was it the lying about weapons of mass destruction or something along the lines of that he was some sort of scandalous character. Right. Remember Louis Libby better than I do.

[B]

I do. I know. I remember the name. You've told me now. More about Louis Libby than I remember.

[A]

Probably got a lot wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the Louis Libby was a name that was in the news quite a bit. Yes. And Libby Lewis, the NPR reporter was doing the coverage. Only NPR and they addressed it, I believe.

[B]

Thank God. Well, do you remember the time that Jocelyn Hanlon was covering Hanlon Jocelyn's whole trial?

[A]

Oh, I see. Now that you say that I recall. Yeah.

[B]

It's weird that it's happened to multiple people on today's list. Jocelyn is in Norwood, Massachusetts.

[A]

Hey, thank you, Jocelyn.

[B]

Thanks, Jocelyn. Hey, it's my friend Amelia Ireland. Andrew in Bellingham, Washington.

[A]

Oh, Hamster.

[B]

Amelia, nice to see your name. Thank you so much. Hope you're still listening up there in the Bay City.

[A]

Oh, Louis Libby's name was Scooter. Oh, yes, Scooter Libby. How did I not. Of all the things, how did I forget the best part of him? Him.

[B]

And if I were I miss no Tubby Smith. But yes, if I were, if I were Libby Lewis, I would exclusively call him Scooter Libby to avoid confusion.

[A]

He was part of Cheney's staff, by the way, and he was a. The. He became known as a high ranking staff person to be indicted by a grand jury on charges related to intelligence investigation. He was convicted but later granted clemency.

[B]

I had forgotten that there was a Louis Scooter Libby until you reminded me and I had forgotten whatever the charges were. I promise you, Andrew, I promise you whatever. Lewis Scooter Libby did. It's a one. Yeah, it's a one on the scale compared to things that are happening openly right now. And I don't know what Lewis Libby did or did not do, but I feel confident telling you it was not nearly as bad as whatever is happening right now. Constantly, publicly, every single day, unrelentingly. Unrelentingly, indeed. Which is exactly how Jonathan Clark of Chicago, Illinois was hoping we would be.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

The donations from Jonathan Clark are also unrelenting. And thank you, Jonathan, for not relenting on your donation. Thank you for supporting tbtle. We. We couldn't do it without you. Thanks to our donors for keeping TBTL in business. There's a right way to rock. Get a wrong way to roll.

[A]

You can't just listen to your soul. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun. Just remember that life is no smart. You can be nothing but one. I can't help it. I need to air some dirty laundry right here, Luke. And I was gonna try to just power through it, but I'm a little bit not peeved. That's too strong of a word. But the out cue for that segment was supposed to be supporting tbtl. Thank you for supporting tbtl. You gave me keeping TBTL in business. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do.

[B]

Sock out was wrong.

[A]

What am I supposed to do with that? What am I doing here?

[B]

Did you ever use sock? Did you ever hear sock?

[A]

I think I heard that later in my career. I think maybe that was an LA thing. What's the Sock out? Yes, Sock out. And it wasn't. And it wasn't it. So Q. Sock out. Even though, right?

[B]

Yeah, I always saw it. Soq Capital Soq even though it would.

[A]

Be SoC really standard out key.

[B]

And then at CBS, we call it a SoT S O T. And I don't even know what SoT actually stands for, but SoT means in the script. It's a thing that someone. It's. It's what somebody is saying, you know, who's not me in the piece, but not necessarily an interview person. It's not the person I'm sitting down with. It's like somebody in the wild when they're saying something like. This weekend, Andrew, when I'm filming a piece about dozer days in Vancouver, Washington, there'll be a ton of sots.

[A]

Are you sure they're not just calling you a sod? An old drunken sod? Are you sure?

[B]

Well, I mean, it could have two Meanings?

[A]

Absolutely. I think you should. I assume that's bulldozers. For some reason when you say that I get like strong, it sounds like you're saying it with an accent, even if you're not. Dozer days, you know.

[B]

Oh, dozer days. Oh, you're gonna go down to dozer days.

[A]

Yeah. Right.

[B]

Yeah. It's this thing they do at the fairground where they let. Let kids and adults drive heavy machinery.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And part of it is because then you can actually learn how to drive it if you're an adult and then you can get a job driving heavy machinery. So it's, it's. There's an actual practical thing to it because think about it. If you want to be a person who's driving a piece of heavy equipment, but you've never driven a piece of heavy equipment, how would you ever have the chance to drive a piece of heavy equipment?

[A]

Yeah. Yep. No experience. Then you can't get higher than. You can't get experience. I love it. That sounds like a lot of fun and right up my alley. It is time. And I'm only if I sound a little bit rushed, I'm worried about your timing. I know you need to get out of here. Luckily we don't have too many blurs days to get through today, but they're all very special. If you want to wish somebody, including yourself, a happy Blursday, email me andrewbtl.net and put blurs in the subject line. Write yourself or a loved one a short little message wishing them grief readings. You know who did that, Luke? I'll tell you. Lori and Mukilteo. She wrote. Oh, sure. I am writing to wish a very happy blursey to Sarah of Magpie Mouse fame. Of course, killing it there in Pioneer. Oh, I almost said Pioneer. Pike Place Market. I believe it's.

[B]

They've got a new location. By the way, did I tell you? Becca and I walked by, we popped.

[A]

In and they're next to my favorite hat store now.

[B]

It's a really great. I mean, I'm listening. Listen. No shade on their previous location, which was like a. You needed a friggin the back of the Constitution in Nicolas Cage to help you find it.

[A]

You need a candle and some lemon juice for some reason.

[B]

Exactly. Precisely. No, this new location's amazing. It's right there with great foot traffic. It's just across from where that cool new kind of observation sort of deck is that's over the new aquarium and stuff. It's just. Just they're in such a great spot. I'm really stoked for spot.

[A]

Yeah. And it's a great place to check out. Check out Magpie Mouse Studios there in Pike's Places Market. Is. It's Pike. It's Pike's Places Market. Luke. I didn't want to correct you, but there it is. No.

[B]

Anyway, sorry that I. I heard you. Like, I'm trying to think. I don't know what the Ohio equivalent of that is, but, like, you just heard me. That was like, when.

[A]

Like, I can't let that sit. Pikes.

[B]

It's like, it's. It's basically like. Like when. When Bilbo gives Frodo the ring, but then he wants it back. That was an involuntary Like, Like I heard you say. I didn't know you were joking. And I was just like, cannot let Pike's Place go.

[A]

Yeah, it's not Pike's Place. People say Pike's Place when they're visiting here, but it's Pike Place Market, which is why I was. I was twisting it a little bit there. But Lori says happy birthday to Sarah. Hope you're having a fabulous blurs day. Sarah, Happy birthday from us too. And Vernon. Oh, this is Vern from. I didn't. I didn't cheat. And look ahead like I usually do too. Willa, Right? Tuilla, Utah.

[B]

And now you have a new. By the way, you have a new way to remember it. Just think the Leo DiCaprio's daughter in one battle after another. Her name is Willa.

[A]

Is her name Willa in that. Oh, I forgot that already.

[B]

In the movie, not in the book.

[A]

Oh, okay. Gotcha.

[B]

Read a great Prairie. Her name's Prairie in the book.

[A]

Oh, really? Yeah, I was reading you.

[B]

I'm a TP head.

[A]

That was talking about how Thomas Pynchon often gives his characters kind of goofy names. I had not realized. Which I think I'm gonna read that book.

[B]

By the way, the reason that I. I think I'm gonna watch Inherent Vice. I almost watched it last night.

[A]

I think you should.

[B]

I just ordering coffee mugs.

[A]

I just need your expectations to be in the right place because I love that movie, but it will make no sense sense. It's just.

[B]

I totally am. I'm so prepared for that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you want to know how far down the TP rabbit hole I've been, I've been looking up a street view of his apartment in Manhattan Beach, California, where he wrote a lot of his stuff, which I'm guessing is also kind of referenced in Inherent Vice. Isn't that kind of set in Manhattan Beach?

[A]

Oh, Is it Manhattan Beach? I always thought it was like wet. Like I thought it was Santa Monica for some reason, but maybe it is that. Is that like the same area?

[B]

Yeah, it's a little south of there.

[A]

It's kind of maybe a more.

[B]

A more interesting beach town.

[A]

Okay, yeah, that would make sense. I didn't. I don't know the area that well. I just. In other words, I'm not telling you it was Santa Monica. That was just what I kind of assumed from watching it. But what you're saying makes more sense. I also forgot that PT Anderson is married to Maya Rudolph, right?

[B]

Yes. I think about that constantly.

[A]

Do you? I only think about it when somebody reminds me of it. I'm like, oh, yeah, because somebody.

[B]

Inherent Vice is set in Gordita Beach, a fictional California seaside town that is modeled after the real life Manhattan Beach.

[A]

Manhattan Beach. There you go.

[B]

Where Thomas Pynchon lived. But what was the other thing? Oh, you know, he worked at Boeing.

[A]

No, I didn't know that.

[B]

This is a crazy story. He worked at Boeing in The like maybe 1960s.

[A]

Pinson.

[B]

Okay, Pynxon. And he was doing. I don't. He was part of the team or he was in charge of writing some sort of technical specs, kind of like a technical manual of sorts related to some of the airplane stuff. And now people are such pinch on heads that they've gone back to this particular like technical magazine or technical, whatever you want to call it, newsletter that was released about certain Boeing things. And they try to find things they think Pynchon wrote because it's in his style. But it's about like a wing. It's about like a particular nut that locks down a thing inside an airplane. And he writes about it. And they've. I've been reading some of these excerpts. It's like, oh, this had to be written by him. No one would write about this incredibly dry Boeing airplane technical manual in this way other than Thomas pinchon in the 60s, living in the U District, by the way.

[A]

And you know what I was reminded of at the end of the movie when they showed Gulardi Productions. It's always a reminder that PT Anderson's dad was Ernie Anderson, who played Gulardi on local Cleveland Television the 1970s. He was the, like, he dressed up like a. You know, and.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Introduced a horror movie and stuff. Goulardi, he was a predecessor that was peachy.

[B]

Anderson's dad. I saw that at the end of the movie. I saw Goulardi and I thought, oh, like the guy, the kind of like male Elvira or whatever you want to call him. But like, I didn't know that was his dad.

[A]

Yeah, he was. I'm pretty sure that was in Cleveland and it kind of predated Big Chuck and Little John, which I grew up with. But I always knew of Goulardi, which was their predecessor.

[B]

Incredible.

[A]

Where are we in these blurs days, Vernon? We're in Tooele is where we are. Where Vernon says happy birthday to our wonderful daughter Allie in Salt Lake City. Welcome to your early teens Palmers.

[B]

We love them.

[A]

Let's see here. Early mid to late twenties. May your year be full of fun, adventure, love and of course, lots of cat snuggling love. Mom and dad in Tua love. Ooh, is that battery dying? That had a little.

[B]

Yes, it is.

[A]

Wow. It's tremoring a little.

[B]

It's kind of getting a warble in it.

[A]

It really is. I don't hate it. Sean says. Here's an 11th hour blursday submission for me. Me, I'm 54 and nearly a third of those years have been TBTL years. My claim to. Oh, look at this. My claim to fame is isolating Andrew's marsupial gurgle and christening it as. As such. I went back and listened to that segment all from those many years ago. I think it was 2015, Luke. So Sean was the person who said, what is this weird noise that Andrew made here? Sounds like a marsupial gurgle, and emailed it to you. Anyway, Sean said is is such a.

[B]

That's such a big part of the show.

[A]

It is, of course. And there's a whole website and an archiving process around it now. Thank you, Sean. Sean says my partner of a decade is still not a convert to tbtl but perks up at the sound of strong bad. Still, she's the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm really feeling good fortune in a wobbly world right now. That is such a good, good way of putting that.

[B]

Yeah, this is the wobbly world we're in.

[A]

Because it's weird. I've had such a. I had a really, really, really great veeves. And I keep on asking ourselves, did we have a good summer? Because in so many ways we had such a good summer. But in. We also said goodbye to family members and pets and the world is in. Democracy is burning around us, you know, and it's kind of, it's, it's. Yeah, it's weird to sometimes like feel true happiness during wobbly times, as Sean says. And I like that term.

[B]

Absolutely. We gotta though. I mean, what's the alternative?

[A]

Yeah, if you.

[B]

If you. If you experience happiness, you gotta let it happen, man.

[A]

Yeah. Dave says. And this is the last one. And we're gonna get you out of here. Luke. Dave says. Happy blursday to my actual wife. Aaron, I feel so grateful to have you as my co parent life partner and best friend. I couldn't be happier to make coffee for you every morning and wrangle our goblins together every day. That's so sweet. I love little acts of love. The blurs. Date Aaron and that's it. Andy. All right, Andy out. Okay, that's how I end that segment now.

[B]

I like it. That was good. Happy birthday to everyone. Yeah, nice to actually get this in on a Thursday for the first time in months.

[A]

Happy anniversary to my parents. October 2nd.

[B]

Wow. Nice.

[A]

Now everybody knows.

[B]

And hold on, let me see if I can remember. Bob and I want to say, not Jennifer. Janice.

[A]

No, but you're close. It starts with a J. Julie. No, but it does start with a J. Yes, indeed.

[B]

Julia Jorm.

[A]

Chomp. Julia Jorm. Chomp. Joyce. Happy anniversary, guys.

[B]

Nice. Sweet. All right, everybody, we are going to be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. So if you can join us for the Friday program, please do. In the meantime, have a great Thursday, take care of yourself and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[A]

And good luck to all. Power out.