TBTL #4654: "The Leap Day of Normal Years"

Date: February 2, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

Episode Overview

On this Monday episode, Luke and Andrew bounce from playful “Groundhog Day” banter to their personal rituals, calendar quirks, baseball anxieties, awkward grocery store encounters, and philosophical discussions about sleep, scams, and Wordle habits. As always, the tone is light-hearted, goofy, and conversational, with deep dives into the mundane and the universal.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Groundhog Day and Leap Day: The Holidays for Podcast Weirdos

• Opening Banter: Luke and Andrew open with a “Groundhog Day” movie reenactment, setting the episode’s recurring theme of time loops and calendar oddities.
• Andrew’s Cold Take:
  • “Groundhog Day is the leap day of normal years.” (07:09)
  • Both hosts riff on how these two holidays are more about drops and podcast in-jokes than real-world tradition.
• Luke’s Confusion over Groundhog Rules:
  • “I never know what the rules are. If he sees the shadow, is it good? If he doesn’t, is it good?” (04:08)
  • Ultimately, they agree: it’s all “a jib jab,” i.e., it doesn’t matter, but somehow still stirs strong feelings.
• Leap Day and Calendar Aesthetics:
  • Andrew celebrates February 2026 as "the perfect month" because the dates form a clean grid, and Sunday lands flawlessly on the 1st and March 1st. (10:01)
  • Luke compares this to a “palindrome career” in baseball—a neatly symmetrical trajectory.

2. Baseball: Mariners Hot Stove & Palindrome Careers

• Mariners Talk:
  • Luke and Andrew digress into Mariners third-base anxieties, prospects, and fondness for players like Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor.
  • “We love the vibes and we love the guy... but boy, was it tough to watch him.” —Luke on Suarez’s rough season (13:07)
• Spring Training:
  • Realization that spring training is near sparks excitement and comfort during bleak winter months. (14:21)

3. Soothing Sounds and Sleep Tech

• Luke’s Sonic Obsession:
  • Luke reveals his near addiction to the “Bedtime Fan” app and the soothing sound "Soothe," which he listens to for up to 11 hours a day.
  • “It’s very clearly something that is quieting something inside my brain... it’s like I’m sleeping so hard.” (23:27)
• High-Tech Sleep Solutions:
  • Luke bought special Oslo sleep earbuds to accommodate his partner, Becca, who prefers silence.
  • Andrew laments that he can no longer use most earbuds due to ear problems, likening it to lactose intolerance for headphones. (28:16)
• Social Implications of Headphones:
  • Both admit sometimes they wear headphones just as a social shield, even with nothing playing. “It’s nature’s way of saying, ‘do not touch.’” —Luke (31:07)

4. Grocery Store Encounters & The Ethics of Giving

• Andrew’s Awkward Ask:
  • He recalls being approached by a woman asking for help buying groceries while he was shaken by a run-in with his least favorite phlebotomist. (37:28)
  • He gives her $20, then later wonders if he’s “a rube,” or if it’s a scam, referencing recent trends of coordinated panhandling involving women and children, sometimes as covered in local news. (41:53–47:42)
  • “I’d rather have a little itch in the back of my head... than turn my back on someone who needed help.” (44:38)
• Luke’s Context:
  • Luke offers insight: While there may be organized efforts, the money generally still goes to folks genuinely in need—not elaborate scams. (43:26–49:03)
• Philosophical Ruminations:
  • Both agree they’d rather risk being “a soft touch” than becoming cynical or closed off.
  • “Going through life thinking everyone’s out to get me... that’s a much worse way to go.” —Luke (49:03)

5. Text Chain Pandemonium & iOS Hijinks

• Family Group Texts:
  • Chaos erupts when a new iOS feature allows custom backgrounds in group chats, and Luke’s brother David starts swapping in confusing, cluttered images, making the text conversations unreadable. (69:04–78:48)
  • After a cascade of family members posting children’s photos and screen-capped collages, the text chain devolves into “outsider art.”
  • “We just ended up with 30 layers of photos... until, eventually, we just had to delete the entire Hawk Squad.” —Luke (78:24)
• Revelation:
  • Any group member can change the background image in iOS group chats—a realization that alarms Luke. Andrew walks Luke through how to change it back. (73:17)

6. Sasquatch Symbolism: From Hippies to MAGA Trucks

• Barry’s Hawaiian Lyft Story:
  • Listener Barry sends a photo of his Hawaiian Lyft featuring a “Sasquatch” doing the rock-on gesture.
  • Luke connects this to a “right-wing coded” trend of “libertarian Sasquatch” stickers on trucks, but acknowledges it might be a bigger, multi-political tent than he first thought. (61:01–65:09)
  • “Maybe it’s just about not being part of the mainstream. That’s the throughline.” —Andrew

7. Smoking Urges, Nihilism, and Health

• Andrew’s Cigarette Cravings:
  • He confesses recent cravings, theorizing it’s partly cultural influences and partly “nihilism” fueled by world events.
  • “What would make this worse? Having more of those surgeries... I don’t want that.” (86:00–87:07)
• Luke’s Reflection:
  • Luke relates: self-sabotaging impulses often strike “when nothing matters anyway,” but he recognizes these urges for what they are—fleeting.

8. Words, Games, and Group Diplomacy: The Wordle Segment

• Becca’s Question for Andrew:
  • Becca wants to know: Does Andrew play Wordle on “hard mode”?
  • Andrew launches into an explanation of hard mode—which requires using previously revealed correct letters in subsequent guesses. (96:36–99:27)
    • “If you put an R down right in the middle and it’s green ... you can’t pretend you don’t know that on hard mode.” —Andrew (96:36)
  • He usually plays hard mode, arguing it helps discipline rather than hinder game play.
• Wordle News Flash:
  • BREAKING (101:23): Today is the first day Wordle may start reusing previous answers. This prompts Andrew and Luke to announce the "perfect month" for Wordle in February 2026.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Groundhog Day is the leap day of normal years.”
  – Andrew (07:09)

• “It’s none of it’s a jib jab. None of it’s real... Why do I care? Why does it ruin my Monday morning?”
  – Luke (04:08)

• "I need that fear that is going to keep me alive. That's going to keep Addie alive."
  – Luke, on innate fear of snakes (21:05)

• “It’s nature’s way of saying, ‘do not touch.’”
  – Luke, on the social function of headphones (31:07)

• “I’d rather have a little itch in the back of my head being, ‘I don’t know, maybe somebody scammed me out of $20’... versus turning my back on someone who needed help.”
  – Andrew (44:38)

• “We just ended up with 30 layers of photos that were being screen capped and then made the background photo, until eventually we just had to delete the entire Hawk Squad.”
  – Luke, on text chain chaos (78:24)

• “Maybe it’s just about not being part of the mainstream. That’s the throughline.”
  – Andrew, on Sasquatch-as-symbol (65:19)

• “If you put an R down right in the middle and it’s green... you can’t pretend you don’t know that. Hard mode says, ‘Get out of that bounce, bounce. You know this.’”
  – Andrew, Wordle strategy (97:43)

• “BREAKING: Today is the first day Wordle may start reusing previous answers.”
  – Group consensus (101:23)

• “God bless the broken road that led us to this thing.”
  – Luke, on their meandering conversational path (103:21)

Useful Timestamps

• 00:00–01:17 — "Groundhog Day" movie riff and intro
• 03:41–08:41 — Groundhog Day and Leap Day connections; drops and holidays with no traditions
• 10:01–12:07 — February as the "perfect month" on the 2026 calendar
• 13:07–16:46 — Mariners baseball talk; spring training excitement
• 21:57–29:07 — Luke’s extreme white noise/Soothe app habit and sleep technology
• 31:07–34:52 — Headphones as social signaling; Andrew’s grocery store encounter set-up
• 37:28–49:03 — Grocery store story and ethics of giving; scams and organized panhandling
• 69:04–78:24 — Text chain background-image confusion and family group chat chaos
• 61:01–65:09 — Sasquatch symbolism: from libertarian vibes to hippie Jeeps
• 82:24–87:36 — Andrew’s cigarette cravings & ruminations on health/nature of addiction
• 96:36–101:23 — Wordle on hard mode explained; today’s announcement about reusing words
• 101:23–end — Closing, reflecting on “the perfect February” and Wordle revelations

Tone & Style

• Language/Tone:
  Playful, rambling, self-deprecating, highly referential; the hosts riff off each other, building humor out of minutiae and personal observations.

• Podcast “Feel”:
  Like an extended chat with two witty, slightly obsessive friends who make the everyday fascinating.

For First-Time or Casual Listeners

This episode showcases TBTL’s core strengths—long-form, often goofy banter tethered to pop culture, sports, the tiny frustrations of modern life, and deep dives into the mundane (sleep hygiene, texting, Wordle strategies). You'll laugh, you'll cringe, and you may learn a surprising amount about both calendar aesthetics and how to handle awkward moments with grace.

Power Out.

[End of Summary]