#4683 Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Summary

TBTL Episode #4683: Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Date: March 13, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Main Theme: Enjoying life’s weird little moments—a snowstorm in March, childhood go-karts, and the peculiar fear of Friday the 13th—while navigating ordinary, often hilarious, challenges.

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Overview

In this Friday episode, Luke and Andrew embrace the snowy, wintry weather (remarkable for March in Seattle) and dive into stories about childhood vehicles, personal resilience, and the unexpected logistics of adult life. The episode’s threads weave together the spirit of TBTL: part deep dive into odd topics like “friggatriskaidekaphobia” (fear of Friday the 13th), part warm celebration of listeners’ milestones, and part wandering nostalgia trip about old go-karts and homemade dune buggies.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Friggatriskaidekaphobia & Friday the 13th

[01:45, 68:35]

• Luke introduces the term Friggatriskaidekaphobia, reading it with some comedic difficulty, and explains it refers to the fear of Friday the 13th.

• 2026 has a peculiar number of Friday the 13ths, which they analyze with playful skepticism, referencing a NYT article by Sopan Deb.

• Andrew explores calendar “symmetry,” relishing the way February 2026 lined up perfectly on the page—a treat for calendar nerds!

  Quote:
  “I feel like in these troubled times, we will take whatever we can get. And as a person who doesn’t suffer from… Friggatriskaidekaphobia—I can’t pronounce it or experience it—I welcome every Friday the 13th.”
  —Luke [72:31]

2. Snow in Seattle in March: Weather Memories

[02:49, 03:34]

• Both hosts marvel at the ongoing snowstorm:
  “It is like real snow coming down from… snow, snow, and more snow. But it’s practically June!” —Andrew [02:49]
• Luke reminisces about an unseasonal April snow in his Seattle childhood, trying to verify it online, uncovering how memory gets foggy around weather events.
• Digression into dated, local online news sources (and their paywalls).

3. Listener Ezra’s Big Day

[08:27]

• Shoutout to 6-year-old listener Ezra, who is finishing 15 months of cancer treatment! His dad, Ty, writes in to share Ezra’s journey—and how TBTL episodes helped lift their spirits during hospital drives.

• The hosts are genuinely moved and send heartfelt congrats to Ezra, with Luke joking about missing golf due to the weather but promising better days ahead.

  Quote:
  “Ezra is wearing a business suit for his final treatment today.”
  —Andrew [09:11]
  “We will see you on the links in no time once the snow melts.”
  —Luke [10:03]

4. Golf: Then (and Now)

[10:03, 11:56, 13:02]

• Luke ponders picking up golf again and describes the generational shift in how people play (“walking 18 holes” vs. the ubiquity of golf carts and even motorized scooters for carrying golf bags).

• Andrew weighs in with a “fancy vs. regular” cart breakdown, and Luke shares a favorite (maybe apocryphal) Twain quote: “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

  Quote:
  “I really do think of it as a good walk spoiled… like you’re walking 18 holes with your Alex P. Keaton suit, stepping through the snow.”
  —Luke [12:35]

5. Andrew’s Childhood—Go-Karts, Dirt Bikes, and Dune Buggies

[15:54, 19:14, 20:00]

• Andrew unpacks a rich tapestry of youthful exploits: driving golf carts at his dad’s shop (“Walsh Manufacturing” on the grounds of Lake Erie Screw), whip-sawing around the family property on go-karts and dirt bikes, and riding in the family-made dune buggy.
• Luke is hilariously envious:
  “You left out the—I would have literally traded any of my siblings for a go-kart.” [22:58]
• Discussion of their different upbringings—Andrew's “moto riches” versus Luke’s more limited access to motorized fun.

6. Homemade Resilience: Braces & Casts Edition

[28:22, 30:17, 31:28]

• Genevieve, Andrew’s partner, once famously removed her own braces with pliers (“That really puts people on notice.” —Luke [28:48])
• Luke counters with a story about prying off his own cast to play kid football in the Kingdome, noting that his parents never mentioned its disappearance.
• Both tales underscore the era’s DIY/problem-solver ethos and the scruffier side of '80s/'90s parenting.

7. Nostalgia, Childhood Photos, and Sharing the Past

[46:48, 49:08, 51:01]

• Andrew multitasks through Tumblr to send Luke old photos of his go-kart and golf cart days.
• A mutual reverence/roasting session:
  “You were a snack. You were a whole snack.” —Luke, about young Andrew in a ride-on car [50:00]
• Genuine affection for childhood memories and the way listeners’ stories intertwine with their own.

8. Dazzling Donor Thank-Yous

[54:21, 59:44, 66:14]

• Gracious acknowledgements of donors Nancy Martin (a mental health/leadership coach in Media, PA) and Irene Park Hill in snowy Seattle—both get personalized gratitude and tangential jokes about their professions.

• Listener shout-outs double as mini-PSAs for mental health support and a chance to riff about orthodontists vs. dentists.

  Quote:
  “What you do is so important. You offer a vacation from worry each day, which is so needed right now.”
  —Nancy [55:19]

9. Pizza Economics & Delivery Culture

[77:32, 82:13]

• The hosts bemoan the soaring costs and logistical oddities of food delivery—$50 for a medium pizza in Seattle!—and riff on the pros/cons of “apps” vs. direct ordering.
• Luke tells of getting “toasted” sandwiches delivered by bike in the Chicago winter, wishing the app had warned him the food would chill en route.

10. Miscellaneous Marvels & Memorable Moments

**- [75:30]: Luke’s empathy for an LA delivery robot being bullied.
**- [74:02]: Shoutout for grocery store clerks, with a vignette:
“There was a reason there was no one in this guy’s line… It was probably a 15-minute adventure of him needing to ask, what’s the code for white onions.”
—Luke

**- [87:04]: Blursday shoutout to Katie Beck, late but heartfelt, compared to the “sweetest bite” of a meal.

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Notable Quotes

• “Seattle is just snow, snow, and more snow. But it’s practically June. Not when spring training is happening. Not during World Baseball Classic!” —Andrew [02:49]
• “Genevieve removed her own braces. That is some David Cronenberg ass shit.” —Luke [28:39]
• “That is why I have a little bit of dirt bag… a combination of both privilege, because look at all these amazing toys, but also in this kind of dirt bag era.” —Andrew [52:04]
• “I think there was a circle on the calendar from before the season started… I’ll be gosh darned if I am not going to get to play on the astroturf of the Kingdome.” —Luke, remembering the football cast story [32:33]
• “You were a snack. You were a whole snack. I love this for you.” —Luke, reacting to Andrew’s childhood photo [50:00]
• “It does make the dirt bike thing make so much more sense because I don’t think of you as a dirt bike guy, but I know that’s a thing you have a little thing…” —Luke [51:09]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:45] – Friggatriskaidekaphobia and the roots of Friday the 13th
• [02:49–04:54] – Snow in Seattle in March & weather memory sleuthing
• [08:27] – Listener Ezra finishes cancer treatment; special listener moment
• [10:03] – Luke’s rekindled interest in golf, “good walk spoiled”
• [15:54] – Andrew’s golf cart and go-kart memories
• [28:22] – DIY medical procedures: Braces and casts
• [46:48–51:09] – Photo nostalgia: go-karts, trikes, and golden youth
• [54:21, 59:44] – Dazzling donor Thanks: Nancy Martin and Irene Park Hill
• [77:32] – Pizza delivery economics in Seattle
• [68:35] – Deep dive: Three Friday the 13ths in 2026
• [87:04] – Listener birthday (Blursday) shoutout for Katie Beck

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The Tone and Vibes

Warm, nostalgic, and a little mischievous—the hosts riff, reminisce, poke fun at themselves (and each other), and let tangents bloom into full stories. The tone remains irreverent and conversational, with affectionate jabs (“You were a snack!”) and deadpan confessions (DIY cast removal, self-surgery on dental appliances, $50 pizzas that don’t hit right). Listeners’ landmarks and hardships are honored with genuine care.

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Bottom Line:
This episode exemplifies TBTL at its best: meandering, heartfelt, and funny. It’s about snow and luck and the weirdness of childhood, but mostly it’s about how little things—good and bad—add up to a life worth laughing about, especially with friends.

Transcript

[A]

Did you hear the one about the guy couldn't afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L2404?

[B]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[A]

TBTM. That was a good joke. That's clever.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

It's not clever. It sure as hell isn't a good joke. Guess what day it is. Guess what day it is.

[B]

It's Friday, Friday.

[A]

Gotta get down on Friday Everybody's looking forward to the weekend because you're a chicken, You're a chicken.

[B]

Coo coo kacha cuckoo kacha.

[A]

What are you doing, Michael?

[B]

And women.

[A]

A coodle.

[B]

Doo dag.

[A]

That's what I was just telling him. Kuda ta chung.

[B]

Has anyone in this family ever even seen a chicken? I just might have tacos tonight.

[A]

It's in my cheerio. They think you're awesome they think you're

[B]

number one they think you're the B, E, S T. Wait, that didn't even spell anything. Did. Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Friday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[A]

Hey, Lloyd.

[B]

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host.

[A]

I like turtles.

[B]

Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where I'm sorry about the delay on that first audio drop, but my actual hands are actually numb because of how cold and rainy and wet and didn't know you like to get wet, though potentially snowy. It's going to be here at the Madrona Hill studio.

[A]

Snow, snow, and more snow.

[B]

But we are going to try to make it through, my friends. And arrive at episode 4683 in a collector series.

[A]

Let the fun begin.

[B]

So, you know, there's actually a term for being afraid of Friday the 13th. I am petrified.

[A]

Petrified with this story.

[B]

It is called being. I don't know if this is real. I don't know if the Seattle Times is trolling me. Frigatris kaidekh phobic. Frigatriskophobic means you are petrified. Petrified of it being Friday the 13th. And guess what, my friends, it is. And we have apparently a lot of them in 2026. A weird amount of Friday the 13th are happening. We will talk about that. Also, time permitting, we'll talk about the treasure hunter who found all of this treasure under the sea. Give me the gold.

[A]

I want to go.

[B]

And then wouldn't tell anyone where the treasure was. And then did 10 years in jail and is now out of jail. And yeah, we'll get into that, too, and talk to this guy. Longest running Cobra. The show may be best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[A]

Good morning, Luke. I cannot believe what I'm seeing outside my window. It is. It is like real snow coming down from. Snow. Snow and more snow. Real snow, Luke. Like, it's collecting everything, man. But it's. It's practically June. I wouldn't have minded. I mean, I. I don't hate the snow. It's fine. It's not going to get in my way too much. It'll probably clear up pretty quickly. But I don't mind one, like, snow event in Seattle per year. But I did not expect it in mid March, to be honest with you. Not when spring training is happening. Not during World Baseball Classic.

[B]

I mean, not when Italy is beating Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

[A]

How could it be snowing?

[B]

It's so weird how this stuff works in. In one's memory, in one's mind. But when I think about when I'm thinking about spring in Seattle and also when we've reached the point where there shouldn't be snow, I have this extremely specific kind of mental picture. And it is. You know that golf course that's at Green Lake, the short nine?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I remember it snowing in April, and I wanted to go play golf at that golf course, and there was snow everywhere. And it was not late April, but probably early April.

[A]

You were 8 years old, by the way. You had just gotten done reading the Wall Street Journal and you were going to go to school.

[B]

I had Alex P. Keaton to my way right out of class, had a golf bag over my shoulder.

[A]

Honestly, at first, when you were telling the story, because you grew up in Seattle and Green Lake is where you spent a lot of your youth. When you started that story, I was picturing you as a little kid.

[B]

So hearing that going, I was probably, like, 14, maybe.

[A]

Oh, okay. So that is pretty young. I guess. I was picturing you a little bit younger than that, though. And now I was picturing, like, a little. Like a little businessman who is going on a little golf trip in the middle of the day.

[B]

Latest snow ever, Seattle. Not gonna really help. I'm gonna see if I can verify this. I remember it being April and that golf course having snow blanketing it, and there being a. Like a sign, like a hastily made sign that said closed for snow.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

And I remember thinking, it's April. It's closed for snow. How can that be.

[A]

And you think this is in the 1990s? I was googling around a little bit. I thought it would delight you if I could find a headline. No, I don't think it was.

[B]

Maybe not even the 90s. It might have been the late 80s.

[A]

And you were. You were 14 in the 80s.

[B]

There's a lot you don't know about me, Andrew.

[A]

Wow. What is happening?

[B]

Well, okay, I don't know if I don't listen, I'm. Have I not established one thing in these 4683 episodes?

[A]

No, I know that. No, no, no, you're. No, I guess you could be right. Like, whatever, I'm terrible with math. I shouldn't have done that. Maybe I was super hard, but I just sort of. I guess in night. If I was born in 76, by 1990, I guess I was 14.

[B]

See, while this is AI, can we trust it?

[A]

Nope.

[B]

While rare accumulating snow has occurred in Seattle during April, with notable cold snaps bringing snow and hail as late as mid-April 2022, back when I was 14, marking some of the coldest back to back April days on record, says Fox 13. Generally, the chance of measurable snow in Seattle drops significantly after. Oh, did you find it?

[A]

I think I found it, but it's a Washington Post piece and I can't log in and it's doing that thing where send it to me every time I'm seeing the. Okay, so here's what. Here's the headline from it. Maybe you can. This will work.

[B]

I love that. The Washington Post, but not the Seattle Times or Post Intelligencer. We're covering this.

[A]

Well, this is what just popped up first. But here's Here, let me walk you through my journey here. I saw a headline once again, Reddit to the rescue. The first usable headline I saw was a reposting of something on Reddit from the Washington Post. It says, democracy dies in darkness. Which now just feels like trolling. It says, storm paralyzes Seattle with 14 inches of snow. Then parenthetically 1990. You would be 14 in 1990. The question is exactly 14. When did this article publish? Like what month? And let's see. And the thing is, I saw like the date line, but then. Right.

[B]

I don't remember this April snow being paralyzing.

[A]

It wasn't paralyzing. It wasn't 14.

[B]

At the time it seemed Golf canceling.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Which is different than paralyzing.

[A]

Wait, hold on. You know what? I misread that. It says storm golf cancels Seattle with 14.

[B]

Now that sounds like the storm I'm talking about.

[A]

But what I have to do here, no joke, is when I first click on it, I can see the front page really quickly. But then a big shield comes up from the bottom of the screen to cover up the dateline. So I have approximately a half a second to see if I can tell you if this happened in April or not. Before the shield hides.

[B]

Just send me the link. Isn't Christy Noem in charge of that now?

[A]

Let me see here.

[B]

The order of shield.

[A]

Oh, it was December, God darn it. That was a December snowstorm. So that could long December, man. But that would have been amazing. God, I would have wish, I wish I could, I wish I couldn't have seen the date because I would have just gone through today's show happy knowing that we had found the exact story that you were talking about.

[B]

Well, what I do know and some listeners, because you know, we got a lot of folks in Seattle, some listeners will confirmed this, that it did snow in April at some point in my childhood and I do remember that happening and I went and now always like even now, I'm thinking, is it going to snow down here in Southern Washington? And I'm like, it could because it did once in April when I was a kid of 14.

[A]

That's right, when you were, when you were the world's 14 year old businessman. You were the world best 14 year old businessman.

[B]

Speaking of kids, Andrew, did you know that there is a kid in our listening audience who is having an incredible Friday right now?

[A]

I did know that because I got a note from Ezra's dad, Ty. That's right. This is really exciting. So we got a note from a listener named Ty saying he wants to congratulate his son Ezra because today is a huge day. Ezra is finishing up his his cancer treatment today. Nasira is six years old. He's gone through. There it is, there it is. Play the long version.

[B]

Six is the new 14, Andrew.

[A]

That's what I hear. Ezra is wearing a business suit for his final treatment today. Let me read this little message that Ty sent in. It says, Ezra, 6 years old, has gone through 15 months of chemo, oh my gosh. Radiation, stem cell implant and immunotherapy. And if everything goes as we hope, today is his last day of inpatient treatment. He's been great through all the ups and downs, says his dad, Ty. And listen to this. One thing that's been a constant is listening to TBTL on drives to the hospital. You could give him a little shout out that would make his day. And it makes our day to kind of be a part of this journey too.

[B]

Absolutely. Ezra, congratulations. Sorry that probably, again, the golf is not going to happen today, but you've got, you know, other things on your mind, so that's buddy.

[A]

But we will.

[B]

Super happy for you.

[A]

Luke will see you on the links in no time once the snow melts.

[B]

You know that I am. I am really, like, all joking aside, all of Ezra's recovery aside, I really am trying to maybe become a golfer.

[A]

No, I'm actually interested in this saga because, I mean, I don't know if this sparked it, but there was a little talk of golf last season when Sam.

[B]

I played some golf last summer with Sammy, and that was. And believe you me, I will not ever miss the chance to remind folks, I did hit par on the first hole, so it was like par five. And. And I did do it in five strokes. And that it lit a fire in me of thinking about maybe getting more into golf. It seems like a healthy thing to do when the weather's nice. It's just nice to be outdoors. I was talking to somebody. Oh, when I was in Chicago, it was after. Wait, wait, like last week or a couple weeks ago, and I was talking to some women who had been at the show and I was deploying my, like, my number one kind of go to on golf, which is a way of describing golf course. Are you familiar with this? Yes. Luckily, they had cut a hole in the stage and I was able to stand about mid knee and they. When I, like, leaned back on the putting green, Andrew. And it looked like I was doing that from the feet. They didn't know what to do.

[A]

I love that this is our lane again.

[B]

Can't get much more current than DORF on golf. I know. I was talking to these women after the show, and somehow golf came up. And this is the thing I always say typically when. When we're talking, when one is talking about golf and I'm trying to, I don't know, expound on why it's a cool thing to do. I say a quote that I think is from Mark Twain, but I actually don't even know which is. Golf is a good walk spoiled.

[A]

Oh, yes.

[B]

Right. You know, I mean, it's like taking a walk, but it's like. But it's been spoiled by the fact that you're doing this thing called golf.

[A]

I looked it up. Benjamin Franklin. Here's in that.

[B]

Okay, you have currently reached the end of your Benjamin Franklin golf quotes. So I like, you know, I. I Say this and. And usually there's a certain kind of. I would say I would use the term admiration that crosses the eyes of the people that I've used it with. They're like, this guy knows Mark Twain. And also, he said something extremely relevant about golf. And these women said, what do you mean, walk? I was like, oh, you know, like, when you walk, they go, oh, no, we use a cart, of course.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, oh, am I the last person? I mean, I have again? I played golf last summer with my brother, and we did have a card, actually. And then previous to that, it was like 10 years, and I had never used a golf cart. I think of golf, I really do, as a good walk spoiled, because I think of it as being a thing where I'm walking 18 holes of golf with my bag and my Alex P. Keaton suit, stepping through the snow. But that's, like, totally antiquated. Nobody. Nobody walks the golf course anymore, really.

[A]

See, I have no insight to that at all. I was going to ask you. I think I would have guessed that Maybe it's a 5050 breakdown, but I don't know what I based that on.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think that also these were. These. These gals seem kind of on the fancier side. Maybe. Maybe it's just a DuPage county thing if, you know, you know. But. But yeah, I was like, oh, right. I guess that is the default setting for most people. But when I was coming up in the golf game, first of all, to rent the cart was as much as to, like, you know, play the round of golf. I used to play. We. Me and my buddy Hugo Kugia, we would play West Seattle all the time. And Jefferson on Beacon hill, it was $18.50 to play 18 holes of golf. And. And then I think the cart was

[A]

18 over a dollar. They couldn't have just made it $18 even, you know, because how do you do. Google that?

[B]

When was the last time it was 18.50? Play golf in the snow in Seattle, Washington. Washington Post. Look it up.

[A]

What about Valley Girl? View on Facebook posting that. A Snowstorm in Seattle, April 1982. Wait, why would it be. It says 9 inches.

[B]

6.

[A]

Also, I can. I can.

[B]

I'd be. I'd be Ezra's age.

[A]

Yeah, that's right. Okay, go ahead. Sorry.

[B]

Anyway, just like, I have. Like, I have a very antiquated sense of what golf even is in 2026, because I think of it as being a thing that costs eight or Costas, that costs $18.50. And you just carry your bag for all 18 holes and that is. I've never been more. Made more aware of how out of step I was with things when the, the look of confusion on the face of those women going like, what do you mean? Walk spoiled. We have a cart. We do a cart.

[A]

And carts. Has the cart technology changed much? No, I wouldn't guess it's because they were always electric vehicles. They were on the EV tip long before cars. Yes.

[B]

Yeah. So real Nikola Tesla stuff.

[A]

Yeah. Trying to think maybe self driving carts.

[B]

I feel like you would like that aspect of golf that could get you into it as a, like being like

[A]

a cart driver for other people.

[B]

I guess the fact that there is a cart driving aspect to it, which is, I gotta be honest with you, it was when Sammy and I did that, it was really fun. I got the hype. I understood why people tend to do that along with laziness. It's just like it is very fun. And the other thing I think I told you about this maybe in the days after I'd done that golf. But the big, the new thing now that people have are like motorized scooters that can hold a golf bag.

[A]

Oh, like a two wheel scooter.

[B]

Like a two wheel scooter that can. But you can put your golf bag on it. These are scooters that are, I think and they have big like kind of BMX wheels on them or you know, like off road wheels. And I think this is a thing that, that like people love these, these scooters that you can go anywhere on the golf course with and you can put your golf bag right on the back of them.

[A]

Do you know that golf carts kind of played. I don't want to say large, but I would say larger than it would be for most people part of my childhood. Because my dad drive them around the property. Well, yes, sort of. There are two different examples of this, but it all stems from Walsh Manufacturing, as most things do. And of course that was my dad's company. And growing up my dad's company was. They rented space for their shop from a larger company which I've talked about on the show before called Lake Erie Screw, which was like this, you know, big. They literally made bolts and screws and nuts and stuff like that. And so it's this, you know, kind of biggish property in Lakewood, Ohio. And I would go and as a little kid, before I was old enough to work for my dad as a little kid, sometimes he would take me there on like a Saturday. So there would Be some work going on. Maybe he's going in to meet with a couple of guys who are working on this or that or whatever. So I would wake up.

[B]

Prince needs new microphone stands.

[A]

That's right. The world's famous premier print almost microphone stand maker. But. And so there were various things to keep me entertained at this time. Now, in later years, computers would come around, and I would be older, and maybe I would be playing some of the earliest video games on old. Old computers in my dad's shop. But at this point, I think he would just kind of give me, like, it was like a golf cart, but like a work golf cart, you know, like, they would drive these little electric golf carts that were, like, kind of. They were probably heavier, and they maybe had like a. They. You could carry things around the property in them, you know, like the parking lot or whatever. So it had, like, a bed kind of like.

[B]

They're called gators now. Do they basically like vehicles. A gator. Like, vehicles that are. They look like a golf cart, but they're more for, like, work stuff.

[A]

Yeah, I could see. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm looking at gators, and these things look a little bit more John Deerey than what I'm talking about this. The thing I'm talking about is more like a. It's more like a golf cart, like, with a bed in the back. And it's like, if a golf cart went to war, Luke, it was like, kind of like that, like in a heavy steel or whatever. And you would. But you. And I would just whip these things around the parking lot. Now, if. If there was security footage of me, I don't know how much you would sign off on the verb whipping. Like, it might have been slower than it felt, but as a little kid driving this thing, and it would have, like, chains in the back. There'll be, like, rattling around or whatever. And I'm just whipping around the parking lot because there's some activity going on. But it's a Saturday, so it's not so busy that I can't be out there, because otherwise there'd be tons of forklifts or tow motors or whatever you want to call them, like, zipping around. And it wouldn't be safe for me to do it. But, like, it was my. It was my playground. It was a dream.

[B]

You've talked about your childhood a lot on the show, and there are aspects of it or elements of it that I'm, you know, I'm not jealous of because it sounds like, you know, out in the country, there were Some times that were kind of felt lonely and stuff to you. But, man, your access to motorized vehicles. Yeah, I'm super jealous about.

[A]

Well, that's the other. That's the other thing I was going to mention is. And this is where I really sound like Richie Rich or who was the kid from Silver Spoons that wasn't Richie Rich?

[B]

Ricky Stratton.

[A]

Ricky Stroder.

[B]

Oh, wait, his name was Ricky Schroeder, but I forgot.

[A]

Okay, okay. Yeah. I don't think I would know his actually character's name, but name. But because we grew up out in the country, we did have, like, a lot of.

[B]

Nailed it.

[A]

Nice. Stratton. That's what it is. Ricky Stratton. Nice. Nice. So we grew out in the. Grew up in the country. My dad had like, a dirt bike, like a Suzuki 250 or something. And I ended up having a dirt bike when I got to a certain age. But it was like a tiny little Honda 50. And so we had stuff like that. My dad.

[B]

The fact you just throw around ccs

[A]

like that just tells me you grew up.

[B]

You grew up in a moto family.

[A]

And then we had a dune buggy that my dad made at the shop. I've told you about that. I have photos.

[B]

Are there photos of this? And have I seen them and have I forgotten them?

[A]

I think so. Yeah. I can. Later on in the show, I'll dig one up and I'll send it to you. And so. And that was always on the fritz. So, like, the clutch was always going out. Like, my dad and some guys at the shop basically made this thing out of an old Volkswagen. They took apart a Volkswagen, then rebuilt it with, like.

[B]

I think it's Volkswagen, but okay, really

[A]

heavy metal pipes where you could still see the welds. And they painted it. They painted it orange and blue at first and then green and yellow later. And I liked green and yellow. And it was one of those things where I was always begging my dad take me on a ride in the. In the dune buggy. But it was like, well, the clutch is bad or whatever. But I had fun memories of that. But then also, like, one of the lesser via. And then we had all kinds of, like, you know, tractors and stuff. And then one of the lesser vehicles, the one that just was in the shed called the Birdhouse, was a golf cart, like, kind of like one of those golf carts from work. And I think I have some photos of me in that as well that I can send your way. And that one, if I wanted to, I could just zip around our property in Valley City, Ohio, in that thing. I was a little spoiled when it came to that stuff.

[B]

Only in that. In that sort of element. I don't want to, you know, but like. So you called the shed the birdhouse.

[A]

I think we called it the birdhouse. Is that there was the shed next to a pond. So they probably built this thing. I think the pond in the backyard is probably a man made. Yeah, it was almost certainly a man made pond at some point. And whoever owned this property made like a little, like, it was almost like a little. Little beach house sort of like with little changing rooms and stuff. At some point, it would have been a cute little thing. But by the time I see I was a kid, it was like one of the scariest places to be. Like, you would go into one of these little changing rooms. It was just like old fishing lures and cobwebs. It was just like nature had taken it over.

[B]

A guy in there casually muttering, I know what you did.

[A]

Last summer, there was a bottle opener on the wall. Like a dusty bottle opener on the wall that had it said. I think that's where it said, may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead. And it was a Southern Comfort. It was like a southern. Why would Southern Comfort have a bottle opener on the wall? I don't know, but I swear there was something. I don't know. But anyway, it was just like this weird thing that was like. Now that I'm old enough to understand what that was probably built for originally, you think, wow, that's so cool. Like a little beach house next to a pond. But by the time I was a kid, the pond was all mucky and filled with muskra and all kinds of stuff. Was that the pond that your dad

[B]

would have to go chop ice to get the pump working?

[A]

Before I was born, it's my understanding that that was where the water came from. And then it went through some sort of filter.

[B]

Explains a lot.

[A]

I know, I know. I think they were really roughing it when they first moved out there. But by the time I was around, I think they had city. We had city water. Luke, by the time I was around and you had not to. What would you drive?

[B]

What would you drive in circles when you would emphasize that girl that. The go kart.

[A]

I never even. I didn't even mention the go kart.

[B]

See, I mean, this is an embarrassment.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Of Moto Riches. You left out the. I would have literally traded any of my siblings for a go kart. How about.

[A]

Yeah. You would have given up an arm for just one go kart at a minimum. Yeah, I know.

[B]

So you would drive this go kart around like a. Did you guys. Was there like a dirt tracker was just kind of like a little. I don't know, a path that you had kind of worn where you would do it and you would save the world and hope that this gal from your middle school would be seeing it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Elementary or college? I don't know what age this was for you.

[A]

Well, I was. Or now I was at Kent State university. I was 14 years old, and I loved golf. For the go kart, I would just whip that thing all in this time. I mean that. I say that with purpose and confidence.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Whip that thing all over the yard. And sometimes I would, like. Yeah. At one point, we had a pool, and I would just drive it around and around and around the pool. I would imagine, like, well, what. What if Amanda Cook drives by and just sees me, like, race car Johnny over here or Elizabeth Carroll or any of the people who, like, kind of came in to play that Rachel Caroline to tame. Who's that?

[B]

No, that was. You know what? Sorry. I was thinking of Rachel Carson, who wrote the book Silent Spring about ddt.

[A]

Yeah, I don't. Do you think she thinks about me much?

[B]

Not enough. Not as much as I would.

[A]

Probably didn't see me on that go kart. That's the.

[B]

Like, I'm not a moto guy, but when I was just in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis airport has all of these, and I'm going to. I know that I'm going to misdescribe these, but they looked to me like. Like what I would call, like, Indy cars. Right. You know, I mean, the race cars that have the big, particular kind of wheels. If you've ever watched the Indianapolis 500, that's what I'm thinking of. And they were everywhere in the airport, and they were so cool. And I was like. Something inside of me was like, oh, this is why people get into this stuff. Like, I was imagining myself. You know, here's what I was thinking was like, there's got to be. And I know there is. Like, in Vegas and other places, there's a place. There are places where you can go and pay some kind of amount of money to drive one of these. Like, either F1 cars. I'm sure F1 cars and Indy cars are probably different for some reason.

[A]

I was going to ask you, because when you said Indy, I wasn't sure which one to picture if I was picturing NASCAR car or the F1?

[B]

Definitely not NASCAR.

[A]

All right. But the.

[B]

So like open wheel, I think it's called, you know, so like nascar. That's like a house. What's that?

[A]

They look like bugs. Well, maybe that's just my own interpretation of it, but they're kind of like funny looking cars.

[B]

No, I'm. Well, just define funny. I mean like, like look, just Google. Like Indianapolis 500.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know why I said bugs.

[B]

Like, did you mean a V Dub bug or just.

[A]

Oh, no, no, I meant an insect. It reminds me of some living insects thing. But I'm looking at it now. I don't know why I said that, but yes.

[B]

No, no, they do look like an insect. I, when I heard that, I thought you meant like a Volks.

[A]

Oh no, Volts.

[B]

Volks with a K. I thought you meant like a Volkswagen, but Bug. But no, yeah, they like those cars. I've, you know, again, I've just never, I've never been intrigued by Formula One or IndyCar or NASCAR or any kind of motorsport. But walking pat, like just being there was just like these little kind of, you know, velvet ropes around them. I think there was an event that was happening and it wasn't the Indy 500, but it was something, you know, motorsport related. So they had them all throughout the airport. And just as I kept walking by them, I became like kind of mildly obsessed. Like, the tires are really interesting. The tires have no tread whatsoever. They are just. They look like my tires in college.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And not the ones where I pulled all of the, the snow. I've told you about this, right?

[A]

No, I don't think so.

[B]

So I had this car and, and, and it somehow came with. And it was a used car, obviously, but it came with, you know, the like snow tires. Like the kind that have like, you know, the little sort of metal, little tread in them. Not, not tread, but little. What do you call those again anyway?

[A]

Studs, maybe?

[B]

Yeah, studs, exactly. So one of my tires went flat and so the only tires I had to replace my flat tire were these, these stud, these snow tires. So I put them on and it was at that time winter, so it was kind of allowed. But you know, there's that point at which you're not allowed to have them anymore because there's not any kind of snow or ice anywhere. And you're just going, you're just like making this crazy sound driving down the road. Well, I did not have money for two new tires. So what I did was. And I'm Actually kind of proud of this as a. Like, I'm not a very. I'm not a problem solver when it comes to things like this, generally speaking, in my life. But I was like, I wonder if these studs are permanently affixed to the rubber or if they're a thing that could be removed. And it turns out they are a thing that could be removed. And I sat there with a pair of pliers and I pulled every single stud. It's basically like a little piece of metal that's kind of got a stem and then the base of it is a little round thing that sits in a pocket in the, you know, in the tire. So the tire has.

[A]

It almost sounds like a tack.

[B]

Yes. Think of a tack that's being placed on its kind of, you know, fat or whatever flat side, and then that's fitted into a little pocket in the rubber that holds it, but does not hold it. At least these ones I had does not hold it permanently. You can, if you have enough time and not enough money and a pair of pliers, you can sit there and pull each stud out of the tire. And I did. I pulled them all out. And then I probably drove on those tires for another five years.

[A]

You know what that sounds like? Genevieve and her braces. You know that I'm thinking about this

[B]

a lot because I have the. I have the book Adult Braces by Lindy West. Right now that I'm reading, I'm thinking about braces more than I usually do.

[A]

But.

[B]

So Genevieve removed her own braces.

[A]

I think that's her most. Yeah. For a while there, whenever she would have to write a bio or something about herself, like a short bio would be like, I removed my own braces as a. I feel like that really

[B]

puts people on notice.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Lets you know exactly who you're dealing.

[B]

It sounds like I did my own surgery. Like, you know, like I am a graduate of. Of Wellesley and also I remove my own appendix.

[A]

Right. Yeah.

[B]

Do not mess with me.

[A]

Do you see why I always think of Genevieve? And to this day she still has these qualities, but I really see her very much as a Ramona Quimby esque character. If you read those Ramona Books, age 8 and there was something going on. I don't know how old Genevieve was in this particular case. Maybe she was probably, maybe a 14 year old businessman at this point too, because you get braces around that age. But she was having a spend the night with her friend. I think it was her friend Becky. I'm a little confused about this. But she stayed the night. But then the next day, Becky, her friend, had to go to school, but Genevieve didn't. So they must have gone to different schools or something. Or maybe her friend had to go do something else. Maybe some music class or something. Whatever it was. But Genevieve was left in her friend's house unsupervised. And I think one of her braces was irritating her.

[B]

I would have been going through those parents underwear closet.

[A]

But of course, I'm sure she checked all those boxes first. And then she's just like, something happened. And she's like, I don't know. I just was like, these things have been on too long. And so she got. Wow. We should just have her tell the story. But she got a pair of pliers and just went to town. Wow. Yeah.

[B]

The closest that I can relate to that was. And I know I've told this story a few times, but that I basically took my own cast off because I wanted to play in this football game. And I didn't want my coaches to say, you can't play in the football game because you have a cast on your arm. So I just took like. So when I was. I think this was going into. I think I was going into maybe eighth grade or something, and I broke my arm playing football. So I missed most of the season. And I had this cast that was like the old school. I don't even know if they give casts like this to kids anymore. But it was like.

[A]

That's a good question.

[B]

Yeah, it started like, mid. Not that I had any biceps then or now, but it was like, you know, from here to all the way to the hand and then wrapped around the hand. Remember that kind of cast? I feel like you don't see those anymore. Yeah.

[A]

You know, I'm wondering, are even plaster casts rarer or do I just not hang out with people who are breaking their limbs as much as we did when we were kids.

[B]

I can't remember even just, you know, being out in life and walking through the mall or whatever, which is where I assume I would see kids of an arm breaking age. But I can't remember the last time I saw someone in a plaster cast. There just must be a much better technology now.

[A]

Yeah, I wonder.

[B]

But I had this plaster cast and, you know, it started very kind of like a full thing going on on my arm. And then I think I like through just like it was also the still kind of the summer when I got this, which sucked. So I couldn't swim. You know, I'd have to like, put a bag on it and stuff. And just through, I think flexing my arm, because it was my forearm was what was broken. So kind of like right here. So I think through flexing it, eventually the part that went from my mid bicep down, that just kind of got weird and I ripped that off. So now it was just a flat forearm cast. And at some point, the part that went over, like in the mid part of my hand, I just had probably, you know, fidgeted with that too much. That was gone now. So it was just this part, just the forearm. And we were. Our team was going to get to play in the Kingdom before Monday Night Football. Like before the Seahawks and the Raiders played. And they were at that time, I don't know if they were the Oakland or the LA Raiders, but we were going to get to play the Ballard Bears. My peewee football team was going to play on the field in the Kingdom before Monday Night Football.

[A]

A full game?

[B]

Not a full game. Kind of like an exhibition.

[A]

Like a half or something. Or a quarter.

[B]

Yeah, something like that. So, yeah, it was not like a. It wasn't, you know, it was not. It didn't relate to anything within the league we were in. I think it was just one of those little promotional things. We're like, let's let the kids do a thing on the field. But I had this circle on the calendar from before the season started. And I was like, I'll be gosh darned if I am not going to get to play on the astroturf of the Kingdom. And so, like, a week before, you know, that game or whatever, I just. At some point, I'd also been itching it a lot, you know, with rulers and other thin implements.

[A]

Even you just describing the area where the cast went up about halfway through your hand. I'm thinking about how nasty that must. That hand area must have been after a few weeks.

[B]

Absolutely grotesque. And so I had cotton in it. And so I had, like, over time of itching and messing with it, I had pretty much removed all the cotton. So now I just had this loose. This loose shell of a. Of a plaster thing on just my forearm. It had been rendered completely and totally, like, not functional. And I remember sitting in my room and being like, and again, this is nothing compared to what Genevieve did. Like, Genevieve, that is. That's some David Cronenberg ass shit that Genevieve did. That's next level. I was just like, kind of like I was doing the math. I was like, it's not touching anything, you know, I mean, it's not, it's not really attached to my arm anymore. I can fly. I can move it up and down. And I was like, what if I just try to slide it off? And so I did a little bit and then, you know, a little bit more and then, you know, pulled it off. And I remember my arm was. My arm looked like. And you probably won't follow this reference, but like in the movie the Little Mermaid, when Ursula the sea witch takes your voice, you turn into a tiny worm person because you've had your voice removed. Basically. She's like a payday lender on voices.

[A]

It was, it was a load bearing voice.

[B]

Apparently she like, I want to rewatch that movie. It's such a crummy day here. I might, after we're done with the show and after I'm done with my other stuff, I might just actually watch the Little Mermaid because it is a solid film.

[A]

Can I please. I'm not trying to be a hater about it. And I don't know if I've ever seen that movie. I don't think I have. I know I saw, I think I saw Beauty and the Beast in the theater.

[B]

But it's better than Beauty and the Beast, by the way.

[A]

But we're saying, oh, she takes away your voice and then you become a worm because you don't have your voice anymore. Shouldn't the headline be she turns people into worms without voices. Like, yes. Why is it, why is it like,

[B]

oh, the Reed Barry.

[A]

Yeah, like it's kind of like, oh, no, you took away my voice. Don't get me wrong, I don't want somebody to take away my voice. It would impact my livelihood. Well, it probably improve some people here.

[B]

Listen, dude, if we're, if we're going with above the fold.

[A]

Yeah, but news.

[B]

Yeah, news bulletins related to the movie. It starts with singing lobster.

[A]

Sure, right.

[B]

Sebastian. Singing lobster. Okay. Wow, that's big. We have identified a lobster who sings.

[A]

Yes, but even in the next one is, even in the context of the movie though, why is it like she's gonna take away your voice? Like that's the main thing. But then also the side effect of that is that you're gonna become a worm. It sort of seems like, oh, yeah, when you become a worm, you no longer have a voice. Like that sort of seems, I don't know, the causality there is sort of.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, you're raising really, I think, really fair questions. Again, the thing is, and this also goes for the payday lending. She's not really Upfront about the apr.

[A]

Sure. Yeah.

[B]

She's offering you an amazing deal. If you're Ariel, she's offering you legs to walk upon, you know, the sand. And then when you don't do the thing you're supposed to do, then she repos it. And now you are a worm. And that is what my arm looked like when I pulled the cast off. It was the worm and tiny. And again, I was hurt. It didn't hurt to remove it, but

[A]

did it hurt once it was removed?

[B]

No. And I was worried about that. It was kind of one of those moments where it's like, I was like, what's this gonna feel like? Is my arm gonna re. Break? Like, if you take the cast off, will it now? But again, this was part of the calculation I was doing was I was like, this is not structurally supporting anything, the cast. So I think I can take it off anyway. I. I took the cast off and I. Again, I. I know that I've complained about this many times on the show, but what was truly remarkable to me was that nobody in the family structure. And by that I mean, my parents commented upon the fact that I no longer had a cast, that I used to have an arm cast and now didn't have an arm cast.

[A]

That was obviously my question. Was your parents reaction to this?

[B]

Non reaction. Still waiting to this day, to March 13th, Andrew. Still waiting. Like, I mean, that just also tells you the chaos in the home environment or maybe the love. Maybe they were so busy loving all of my siblings that nobody was noticing that I didn't have a cast.

[A]

But you didn't have, like an appointment on the calendar, like, well, you'll come in, you know, in three months.

[B]

No, because we didn't have. We didn't have health insurance, and I didn't get the cast from where we went for our kind of, like, public health stuff. I got the cast, Andrew, at Swedish Hospital in Ballard.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

I think is. I don't know if that's where you and your phlebotomist.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Duel it out.

[A]

Yeah. But they.

[B]

Because I was playing football in Ballard, that's where they took me, was to the hospital. And I remember actually asking them to not take me to the hospital because I thought it was gonna be expensive. Like, really? Because I was just like. What I thought was, like, if you. They didn't take me in an ambulance, by the way. I rode in my coach, this guy was named Dick. My coach in his Camaro that was. I remember sitting in the passenger seat of the Camaro going, sorry, it was not a Camaro. It was an IROC Z. I remember sitting in the passenger seat of this IROC Z. Everything in the car was empty Marlboro cigarette packs. Like now we would probably call him a hoarder or something. It was like it was just me and a titanic amount of trash. Again, most of it cigarette related. He was also just smoking heaters the entire time from the Loyal Heights.

[A]

It's good for healing, blowing it on your arm.

[B]

And we don't do that enough these days. We don't use the curative power of cigarettes.

[A]

Oh, we will give them time.

[B]

Exactly. Once his rotator cuff is healed. Did you see that? RFK Jr. Has a torn rotator cuff, probably from working out with Kid Rock.

[A]

I did see that. And people were pointing out that it's interesting that he went the traditional medicine route for that. The traditional healthy root for that.

[B]

And that's the thing, my friend. They all come back, Excuse me. To Western medicine.

[A]

Yeah. Right.

[B]

When they've got a real problem. But yeah, all that is to say nobody asked about the, about the cast being gone. And also I just self reported to football and they were like, your coach.

[A]

Well, your coach, you could just say, yeah. The doctor gave me a thumbs up.

[B]

There was. This was, this was before the time of medical waivers of any kind. I just showed back up at practice. They're like, all right, you're at. You're an inside linebacker. I just literally checked back into a play and then practiced for the next couple days. And then we went to the Kingdome and played football.

[A]

Wow. How was it on the Kingdome?

[B]

It was so much more and less cool than I thought it was going to be. First of all, I thought the Seahawks were going to potentially draft me, but there was a chance that they would not.

[A]

I'm sorry to spoil it. That did not happen, though.

[B]

Much like my parents acknowledgement of my cast, I am still waiting. Get at me, Chuck. Knock. I did think that, like, I did have a weird fantasy that was like, someone's going to see that I'm so good at football that I'm going to. By the way, like, I was probably 4, 10 at this point. I mean, I could not have been five feet in seventh grade. Maybe just barely five feet, maybe barely 80 pounds. No reason to think that I had it in me to become a football player of note. But, but you know, I was, I was delusional. And, and, and so I thought that, that I had a lot of chutzpah. I was like, Rudy, oh, you know, by the way, that whole thing. Are you up on the film, Rudy?

[A]

I know of it. I've never seen it. It doesn't seem like something for me.

[B]

I have lately seen some people who played at Notre Dame around the time of this Rudy guy who are just, like, so annoyed with this movie and him. Because I have a. My. My senses. This is one of these things where they didn't let the truth get in the way of a good story, if that makes sense. Can you imagine being, like, a person who really was good at football and played at Notre Dame in, like, I don't know, the 70s or 80s or whenever this allegedly happened? And like, there was just this one annoying guy who was, you know, the, like, manager or whatever, equipment manager. And then, like, maybe he got in one play in practice or whatever. And then one day, one day you look up, and the number one film in America is the story of this annoying sky. Rudy, the erasure to your Notre Dame career must just be intense and powerful.

[A]

That's an interesting take. That's why. Yeah. Every movie should have, like, kind of three, six versions of it.

[B]

You should give the real people, like, a. It's like the State of the Union. They should get a rebuttal at the end of the film.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

There should be five minutes. That's just the people that lived it, and they're like, well, a lot of that doesn't square with my memory of it.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

But. But so it was. It was very cool to play there. It was. What was uncool was how tall the football players were. And by that, I mean the other cool part of getting to play in the kingdom was that you were. Then our team was going to get to sit on the sideline for the game. I had never been to a Seahawks game, dude. Like, I had literally never been to a Seahawks game. Never been to any kind of a football game, you know, of. Of. Of like, that level. And to sit on the sideline, I was like, this is going, like, again, if they don't pick me to play, Chuck Knox is going to ask me for some, you know, some insight on some of these plays. And I've got thoughts. Stop handing it to Dan Dornick. He's. He's a decent fullback. Give it to Kurt Warner. I was like, I'm on.

[A]

They always say that. Should have given it to Dornick.

[B]

You know, Dan Dornick is a physician, I think, in Eastern Washington now. Really? He played football at that time where it was like, that was not. You were not retiring from football.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

Like that was a thing you did.

[A]

Would it blow your mind to have him as a doctor? Have you considered actually taking your care,

[B]

Considered moving to Spokane, Washington? I think he's a. What do you call a. I always get this, like a neurologist, but not of the brain, but of like a neuro. He's a neurosurgeon, so I think he does like maybe spine stuff. Isn't that weird that they call it neurosurgeon? Doesn't that make your mind think of brain stuff?

[A]

Yeah, but that's all connected, right? Technically.

[B]

What about a podiatrist? I mean, that's connected.

[A]

Well, somebody should write a song about how different body parts are actually all connected.

[B]

I was so excited to sit on the sideline because I was like, I'm going to be so close to the action. This is going to be insane. And it turned out that what we were sitting was behind the Seahawks. So we were sitting in chairs. There was like folding chairs on the sideline at the way back. So it was like the Seahawks, I think, the sea gals and then us. And so I was trying to look between the sea. That was another thing that was. There was like an early lesson for me about dudes being weird, which was my coaches were like obsessed with the seagulls and they were like saying a lot of kind of like, you know, uncool stuff about the. The women who were the.

[A]

The seagull kind of earshot of the women or just.

[B]

No, they were far enough away. They weren't hearing it. But I was hearing.

[A]

I was like, why are you guys first?

[B]

I was like, dude, your IROC z is full of dead Marlboros. You're not getting with a seagull. Yeah, like, it was a. It was a life lesson. But so past the seagulls were then the Seahawks, who were so tall we could not see the field.

[A]

I mean, at first you must be like, this is amazing. I'm looking. I'm so close to my favorite Seahawks. They're like right there in front of me. But then after like a minute or two of that, you're like. But also I would like to see

[B]

the sport and what we did. Me and my buddy Eric Palumbo in our full ass uniforms.

[A]

Oh, I already hear the Mentos music kicking in here.

[B]

We went up to like, I think his parents had had like, maybe. I don't know if they had season tickets or just tickets to this game. But like he said, my parents are in this, like, stadium. And we went. It was at the 300 level, like, and. And believe you me, the Kingdome had some nosebleeds. They've really improved stadium technology. Like, you know, Lumen. There are no bad seats, probably in Lumen, but there were a lot of bad seats at the Kingdom.

[A]

Isn't it amazing how they used to build those things with so many bad seats? It's like, yeah, you're behind an idea.

[B]

No thought about the people attending the event. We went up to the 300 level, and this was totally sold out. It was Monday Night Football, Seahawks, Raiders. We went up and we somehow found his parents, but there was no seats because they had their seats. And so we sat on the steps in our football uniforms, and nobody even messed with us. People like, you know, people. The beer guy was going by the other people. This was an era where you could just have two kids sitting on the steps of the Kingdome watching the game, and everyone's like, yeah, that's fine. We'll allow it.

[A]

That's you. That's you.

[B]

This is when I looked at Eric and I pointed towards the field. Somebody had gone down with a leg injury. And he then held up a Seahawks jersey, and I put it over my Ballard Bear jersey, went running out there. I was out there playing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Why is there a tiny, tiny person out here anyway? Well, I don't know why I needed to tell everybody that story for the 40th time, but.

[A]

Well, I. Well, it gave me some time. I apologize if I seem somewhat distracted. Can I tell you what was going on with me there? I wanted to send you some photos of my go kart and my golf cart for my youth.

[B]

I want to see it.

[A]

And I knew I had put it on a personal blog I had created for my family.

[B]

My gosh.

[A]

But I could not remember the name of Tumblr. I was. I spent most of your story.

[B]

Were you leaving the E In?

[A]

No, I couldn't. Because that whole time you were talking, I was trying to pay attention. Even when I was telling Genevieve. Genevieve's story, I was thinking, I know I have a family blog with some of these photos, but it's not Blogger, it's not blogspot. It's not WordPress. Like, what is the platform? And I could not remember Tumblr. This was on Tumblr. And I now have my. My Tumblr in front of me, and I'm downloading.

[B]

I am sending you some photos. Glad you sent these to me, because I was not picturing, like, this golf cart that you're describing is like. It's like a minesweeper for the battlefield or something. It looks like it's. It's mrapped. It's up armored. Like you could drive over an IED and survive.

[A]

And that isn't even one of the. Like. That was the one that you're seeing? Yeah, that was the white one at home. That has a little. I think it's. I'm not looking at it right now, but I think it's a little. A little green trim on it. But the ones at work would have been, like, you know, like, warning yellow color and like.

[B]

But.

[A]

But, you know, but also very greasy and probably made of, like, that corrugated. Not corrugated, but, you know, that. That steel that has the texture on it sort of like, you can picture that sort of. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And then, dude, this go kart is so freaking cool. And by the way, it has the tires that I was describing in the Indianapolis Airport. If you scaled those up, it's like, no tread on them for some reason. I think it's because the idea is you're going to be on, like, a cement track and you need to Tokyo drift or something. This. Does your dad still have possession of this go kart?

[A]

No, I don't. I think they sold the go kart because eventually we moved out of this property and moved to, like, More like the burgundy bay. Yeah, the. There's more like suburbs or whatever where this was more like the exurbs. More like rural. And so I just sent you another one of me as a very little. No, that was my go kart. They built the. The dune buggy, which I'm looking.

[B]

Wait, okay, so what I'm looking at is the go kart.

[A]

They did not build this go kart. Yeah, that. I have no idea the origin of it. It was. I just grew up with that thing. That was.

[B]

Dude, that is so sick. Again, like, only because I was recently looking at a kind of a version of this car, and it's been in my mind. I want nothing more than to get into this go kart that you're in and just haul ass somewhere and then do some, like, insane turns, you know,

[A]

while we're just doing this. And it is. It is amazing that we are doing this on the air. I'm sending you some photos of me performing as the California Raisins. Another, by the way, probably heard a

[B]

lot, this picture of you. Okay, now the one you just sent me on number 45, right?

[A]

Number 45.

[B]

This was your. Yeah, this is your go kart. No, it had, you know, the go kart had. It's Got a spoiler on the back that says 45.

[A]

Oh. So I sent you two photos that are very different. One is me as a very, very little kid in like a little Toy Story funny car thing. That's the thing. Above that, I'm a bit older. I'm probably like 10 years old. I'm actually driving a motorized go kart.

[B]

Right, right, right, right. But I, I just. The funny car one just came through. And what I want to say is, dude, looking good.

[A]

Yeah, well, I'm a child. Five years. I'm four or five years old.

[B]

I mean, you're tanned, you've got this blonde hair.

[A]

Deeply uncomfortable.

[B]

I just. Hey, I'm. I'm going to call it as I see it.

[A]

Andrew.

[B]

You were a snack. You were a whole. You were a whole snack. I love this for you. And you've got the very. You've got the, like the ride. The. The rideable, like, sort of tractor behind you. Like the, like the, the tricycle.

[A]

Oh, yeah, like the trike. Trike.

[B]

Then the above ground, like, not the above ground pool, but the, like, you know, the pool that everybody had, you know, on their patio or something.

[A]

Yeah. Kitty poodle type of situation.

[B]

Absolutely dated you at this point.

[A]

I am like 4 years old. This is so awful.

[B]

Is this in the. Is this in the vault? Can I share this with people?

[A]

You can share everything. I'm sitting here.

[B]

This is the most badass photo of you have ever seen.

[A]

The one where I was a little child.

[B]

We were an adorable, dateable little child.

[A]

The problem is. And. And also just shout out to Ezra as well, who's probably listening to this on the way home. I can't. Although I'm going through this little blog I made for my family and this is where I'm grabbing all these family photos. I cannot find any photos of the dune buggy, but yeah, we were. We were very rich in motor vehicles. That's for sure.

[B]

It does. Again, not to belabor this, but it makes the, like, the dirt bike thing makes so much more sense because I didn't like knowing you. I don't think of you as a dirt bike guy, but I know that's a thing that you kind of have a little thing.

[A]

I've given up on that now, but.

[B]

Well, let's not. Listen, let's not rollerblade this, buddy.

[A]

Let's not give my dirt bike to Goodwill.

[B]

But no, because you really. It appears that things like cars and bikes and stuff, that things that moved were a big part of your childhood.

[A]

Yeah. I would love of all These photos I'm sending you. I don't think I have any photos of me on my actual little motorcycle. Yeah, look at me on that director that's taking care of business. Like little farmer Andy out there. Dude, this is so bad for the listeners. What am I even doing?

[B]

It really is.

[A]

It's really awful, me looking at photos

[B]

of you and just going. And just muttering under my breath, Kubota.

[A]

I'm just driving this big orange. I'm like, in this one, I'm like 12 or maybe. Yeah, maybe about 11 or 12 years old, driving my dad's orange Kubota with a mower attached to the back of it as I'm mowing big chunks of lawn. The barn is behind me. But yeah, that is why I have a little bit of dirt bag. Well, it's like a combination of both privilege, because look at all these amazing toys that we had. But also in this kind of dirt bag era of. I do know that there are some photos floating around of. And these are adorable. And I will say that even about myself, when I was too young to have my own little motorcycle, my dad was pretty heavily into dirt biking for a while. And he would go on trips or the whole family would go on trips with like, another family out to like, I think, Arizona and stuff. And they would. The. The guys would go out, the adults would go out and like, you know, go up north mountains or whatever, and then like tumbled back down when they couldn't maintain a certain speed or whatever. Sounds very.

[B]

That is, by the way, an entire side of TikTok that I watch a lot.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Any people trying to drive up hills until the vehicle goes backwards?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I'm assuming there's no footage of my dad in there, but not that I've seen. I believe he's got a. I believe he's got a screw in one of his shoulders because from that. Shenanigans like that. Yeah.

[B]

Bob Nanigans.

[A]

At least it used to be. I don't know, maybe it's rusted its way out. I don't know how long those things last. But anyway, what would happen is my dad would take me on rides on the back of his motorcycle, which was like, you know, a dirt bike, A yellow dirt bike. But he had to protect my calves from his kid, like motor.

[B]

The muffler would be so hot.

[A]

Exactly. And so what he did was he would make these cardboard shields for my lower legs. And I've got my little glasses on and I would be up.

[B]

Just tell me there's a Picture?

[A]

Yeah, I don't have it. I don't know where it would be. I'm not seeing text him here.

[B]

He's on the text chain with me and Roden and Genevieve about your guys's basement.

[A]

If I find out my dad has been on Hawk squad this entire time.

[B]

We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.

[A]

Get set. Get set now. Ready?

[B]

Ready?

[A]

Go, everybody.

[B]

Razzle dazzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors. These are the folks keeping us in dune buggy money, and they're dazzling us with their donation of dough, and it is the way that TBTL can't exist. And we want to thank Nancy Martin in Media Kentucky.

[A]

Media in Kentucky.

[B]

Jk, It's Pennsylvania. Nancy. You got me. By the way, that's Nancy's joke. Andrew, I just deployed Nancy's joke on both you and myself, because I don't. I cold read these, and it says media Kentucky. And then parenthetically, it says, jk, it's Pennsylvania.

[A]

I didn't. I'm the one who sent it to you. I didn't even notice that. And I'm actually. I will be honest with you. I found another go kart photo of me, and I'm given blue steel in this one. So I send it to Nancy, and I was Media Kentucky. I was just sort of listening, and I heard media Kentucky, and I freaked out. So that was a joke through you. That absolutely shocked me. Boy, you really got us, Nancy.

[B]

I mean, well played.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And you also knew that we would not ever pre read. Why would we ever take five minutes out of our life to pre read these things? You got us. Okay. Nancy says it can't be said enough. What you do is so important. You offer a vacation from worry each day, which is so needed right now. We all need to find ways to live while we are surviving through stressful times. Thank you. And I'll just sort of reiterate. And this is something that's come up a lot in these dazzling donor messages, which is like. Like the world is very bad. But having a moment of happiness does not mean that you are not acknowledging the badness of the world. So to the degree that TBTL or whatever it is that brings folks a little moment of joy, you know, we salute that and welcome that, and we're glad to be part of that. Nancy says now it's tax deduction time. What do you know, Nancy? And what can I do? I had a lot of Taxes. I got to deduct.

[A]

I had a bit of a panic and we. We have somebody who handles our taxes for us. But it's amazing how much work you still have to do because they you the rub, like, oh, yeah, we'll take care of everything. And then it's like, here, we created a new portal for you. And then it's like, it gets really complicated.

[B]

This is my entire. My guy A is in Michigan, which is weird, but they don't even have a portal. The one I used to have with Carrie, we had a portal, which was annoying as hell until. You know what I used to complain about having having a portal until I met the man with no portal.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

I have to write this crap down on paper and scan it in and send it to them. And I'm like, how is this.

[A]

Wait, hold on. Can I ask you a question? And this is just for clarification. Is this your accountant or your bookie?

[B]

This is my both.

[A]

You know what?

[B]

This is my book countenant. You don't have a book countant.

[A]

I have an accountee.

[B]

I met him on Calshi.

[A]

I have an accountee.

[B]

No, this is my tax guy at like Pure Tax Solutions. He's actually great. I do like this guy and he did get me out of a couple of jams. But it is the weirdest thing that they're like, yeah, this is what we have. It's like you have to print it out and write it in by hand. And it like, if they weren't, they've been really good to me and they're great to work with, but if they were not so good, I would be like, like, you have to be kidding me.

[A]

They must be good. I mean, they must be exactly good.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's like.

[B]

It's like, yeah, if. If somebody in. In a service industry has some part of the service that's so manifestly bad, the only way they can get away with it is that they're actually good on every other metric. So anyway, back to Nancy and her tax deduction time. I am a confidence and mental health coach who helps individuals, groups and organizations identify their goals, then remove the barriers that are getting in the way of accomplishing those goals. Professional clients use me to increase productivity while promoting healthy work. Life balance. And I help subject matter experts transition to leadership positions. I know about this. The subject matter expert. When I used to do those deals for Microsoft, each little video I was in, I would have a subject matter expert from Microsoft who I'd be talking to. And I'll tell You what? They were experts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Nancy says private clients used me to decrease overwhelm, anxiety and procrastination while increasing confidence. My latest offering is for parents to improve their relationships with the kids while reducing problematic behaviors like removing their own casts the outbreak and braces the outcome. Less yelling, whining and negotiating in the kids too. Wow, gilding the lily there a little bit.

[A]

Zingers.

[B]

You got me with media Kentucky, but now I feel like you're just playing with me. Reach out to Nancy MartinCoaching.

[A]

Nancy at Nancy Martin.

[B]

Couse me. [e-mail] My guess also is that the website is probably NancyMartinCoaching.com so if you want to just go to the website. But yeah, if you want to email, it's It's [e-mail] for a free consult or just to meet a new 10.

[A]

Can I say it does look like Nancy Martin Coaching is the website. I and this is Nancy's message. I would not say anything disrespectful.

[B]

Don't you There is a joke about

[A]

media Kentucky lack of photos of me on a go kart on this website. I just moved over to Tumblr where there were. I have a website chockablock of photo.

[B]

Guess who? I'm emailing a bunch of go kart photos of you two right now. Nancy @NancyMartinCoaching.

[A]

Nancy, that that might not be a bad way to get people to come to your website.

[B]

Can you imagine? Let's just think. Sometimes we find ourselves, Andrew, in a predicament where we want to do something. Like a listener reaches out and they said, hey, could you do do X, Y or Z? And we're like, we would love to do that because we love the listeners. But also how does that fit into what we do? Let's imagine you go to Nancy's website, nancymartincoaching.com and there's just pictures of you on the cocart. How does Nancy sort of wrap around that? Like, how does Nancy explain that on the website? Like, I also, along with coaching, I really enjoy this website. This is a guy from the website many years ago on a go kart.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I wonder if there's a way that she can frame this as coaching advice.

[A]

I'm working on this. I'm working on this. I'm not coming up with anything, but I will give a real pitch to some of the professional coaching that Nancy is talking about here. And I want to give a personal example. If you're kind of wondering, oh, how could this fit into my life? Genevieve was. I think I can say this if I just keep it pretty generic. Just if you whisper a long, long time ago. If I do it in slow, like Don McLean. Hear it? Yes. No, this is a long time ago. But Genevieve was up for a position and had gotten very far into the interviewing process and was kind of had applied for this thing, thinking, well, this is probably a couple of notches outside, like, maybe a couple of levels above where I should be professionally right now, but wanted to try it. And she interviews really well and applies for jobs really well because she. She's very likable and comes off as very competent and is very competent. But anyway, I remember she was getting so close to thinking they might offer her the job that she said, what I would need is some coaching to just level me up a little bit. Like, I would take the job, I'd be ready to go, but I would also need a little bit of whatever kind of gets me, close that gap between my experience so far to what this job will probably entail. And I thought that was really cool. And that ended up. Up. She ended up not getting the job, which is why we're canceling the basement project. No, this was a long time ago. That's the reason I wanted to make sure everybody knows Genevieve is not out there looking for jobs right now. I'm assuming everybody that she works with listens to the show. But no, this was a long time ago. But I just thought it was a really, first of all, on Genevieve's part, a very mature way of looking at this and telling them, like, I won't take this job if I don't have the tools that I think I need to do it successfully. And this was exactly the kind of thing that she was looking for.

[B]

Yeah, you're right. That is like, a very, like, mature, professional way to approach a situation in job life is like, okay, I can do this job, but I'm going to need a certain amount of information and coaching and like, to do it. To do it well. And that's exactly where our friend Nancy Martin comes in@nancy martincoaching.com sadly, it wasn't enough to get Genevieve the job, but, you know, everybody tried.

[A]

Well, Genevieve also took a rubber chicken into the final interview, so I'm thinking that had more to do with.

[B]

Was it a rodeo clown job? I could see her doing that. Who uses a rubber chicken? Do rodeo clowns use it?

[A]

I don't even. You know, that's a really good. I think clowns in Gary Larson comics use that. That's the only place, the only place I've ever seen a rubber chicken deployed, I think is a punch in a far side.

[B]

It looms so large in the Gary Larson. It really does kind of canon, if you will. Like, I don't think I've in. Well, no, I mean, I've seen a rubber chicken in real life, but never as much as in the Far side. Yeah, like you would think that it was something people were encountering on an almost everyday basis based on how Gary Larson drew his. His thing. Anyway, Nancy, thank you. We appreciate you. You're the best, everybody. Oh, by the way, speaking of comics, Nancy, like the comic, Martin, like the comic.

[A]

You choose which one for pronouncers. Pretty great.

[B]

Pretty solid, Nance.

[A]

Pretty good.

[B]

Pretty solid. Maestro, on your mark. On your mark.

[A]

Get set, get set now. Ready, ready, go.

[B]

Everybody, Rattle dazzle. We also want to thank Irene Park Hill, who's in Seattle, Washington.

[A]

Hey, Irene.

[B]

Thank you. In the snow

[A]

coming down, by the way. Is it really? Yeah, coming down heavily. Like it is still solidly snowing. And we already have squad is.

[B]

Yeah, my nieces are. My nieces are making friggin snowmens.

[A]

Everybody's pretty excited about it, huh?

[B]

Yeah, except down here it's just rain and mist and jealous. Are you gonna go out? Are you gonna. Are you gonna sled? Are you gonna toboggan? Are you gonna do anything?

[A]

I don't think so. I have totally mismanaged my week and I kind of woke up. I told you I was up way too late last night.

[B]

What was it? Was it the clock? Was it the salt?

[A]

No, it was me, as I told you before the show, spending seven hours on a T shirt design that ended up looking great.

[B]

It was the work. It was the work.

[A]

It really was. I was seriously doing that. But I was. But then I just like, I looked at my final product this morning. I'm like, oh, I feel like I could have spent five seconds on that downloading it from a clipart site instead of trying to build it myself.

[B]

I do not concur with that.

[A]

Okay. But anyway, it's a work in progress. Johnny, listening. The artwork is in process, but I'm not going tobogganing because I'm a dragon ass today. I'm behind on the newsletter. I still want to go to the gym if possible. I honestly think that my attitude towards the snow has to do with my attitude about today and this weekend writ large, because I'm a little bit for me, a little bit over packed on things that I kind of need to get. Get done the next two days.

[B]

It's not a go to. It's not the sort of go to Jackson Golf course and inner tube.

[A]

No day or week for you. No.

[B]

Anyway, Irene is probably right now inner tubing. Is it inner tube or inner tube? It's inner tube. Right. It's the inner tube. I'm not totally joking. I always called it inner tube as a kid.

[A]

Right. Inner tube. Yeah. Inner tube. Right. The inner tube.

[B]

Irene is inner tubing probably at Jackson Golf course right now and. But. But not before sending us a note for the dazzling donor message. A love note to the cobros. I'm listening. Thank you for all you do and keeping us entertained and smiling through it all. We appreciate you heart. P.S. hi to Gabrielle Hung boss 10 and fellow dentist.

[A]

Oh, I love this shout out. That's awesome.

[B]

Sounds like Irene. I know, I know. Dentist. And what's the one that puts the braces on? Those are different jobs. I was going to say orthodontist.

[A]

Orthodontist, yes.

[B]

I know dentists and orthodontists are different, but I think Irene could have helped with those braces for vivs. Could have taken those off probably.

[A]

Yeah. And I don't. I can't remember the fallout. Keep in mind, a lot goes into taking off your own braces or anybody's braces, I would guess. And so it's my understanding if it's

[B]

someone else's, you're in a horror film.

[A]

So it's my understanding that like by the end of the day, Genevieve had like, like the braces, like on her front teeth off the kind that you could just. That were glued on. But then she still had like the bands and stuff she still had to go to. Yeah. The orthodontist or the orthopedist, as I almost said before, to kind of then get it all cleaned up and to get the glue chipped off.

[B]

Sure. Those things are glued to the exterior of your.

[A]

Yeah. That story gives me anxiety. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I mean that was not one. One that was not one of those where she have played it off with her parents, I would imagine. No.

[A]

And it occurred to me, I imagine hear this and I'm not sure if they've ever actually come back. Maybe this will do. Maybe this is a healing opportunity for the family because I don't know that it's ever been like fully reconciled.

[B]

Have they. Have they worked through the fact that she had a piano recital that she never rehearsed? For you know what these are? These are the two most iconic Genevieve child moments in my mind because I identify with them so strongly. Yes.

[A]

And probably also. So two of the, like, probably maybe most dangerous touch points that I could bring up on a show that most of Genevieve's family listens to.

[B]

Right. And sister and donors, brother and mom and people we love.

[A]

Yeah. Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[B]

All right. Our top story on this Friday the 13th is that there are three Friday the 13th in 2026, which I guess is a lot. I did not know this. It's called. I mentioned this at the beginning of the show. Frigatrisk. Triga. Friga. Friga. Triscade Phobic.

[A]

I'm gonna go home and look up those lyrics. Yeah.

[B]

Short, tall and stiff. I mean, by the way, I know Sopan, Deb. He's a great writer. This is a piece in the Times. He did. I've interviewed him in other contexts. I love him. I don't. I mean, I guess it's a party trick that there's a name for this, but I'm mad that I just tried to read that and failed so spectacularly that I'm now angry. This was in the headline.

[A]

Oh, it's actually a headline. Yeah.

[B]

We don't need this. We don't need this word. We get it. Friday 13th is weird. We have bad news and more bad news for you. I'm reading Sopan's piece here. This Friday the 13th is Friday the 13th, a day infamously associated with unlucky things. You might be wondering, didn't we just have one of those? Andrew, I was thinking, didn't we just have one of those? Yes. Last month. We're not done. Then there's another one coming this year in November. So this, it turns out, is. Let's see. They talked to Marty Ross, who's an Australian mathematician and he's an Australian mathematician and the author of, among other books, a Dingo ate My math Book.

[A]

Man, this is Nancy. Levels of humor.

[B]

He's really. I love. Marty is not taking his mathematics or his Australian nationality too seriously. Dingo at my math book to crunch numbers. And it's apparently not simple because, as Ross puts it in an email, calendars are a mess, and in some senses, necessarily so. So this is going to go into the whole, like, Gregorian calendar and a bunch of stuff that I'm not going to go follow. But the essential thing is that because of the day that January 1st falls on in the week, it has that basically, like, increases the chances of having more Friday the 13th. And we happen to. This year, 2026. We happen to hit the exact day of the week that. That January 1st falls on. That makes it the most likely that we're going to have more Friday 13th, and we're having them.

[A]

So that would be. I just looked it up. The January. The January 1st was a Thursday. And you're saying it goes back to January 1st. Is that. Yeah. So January. So I guess we root for that because this has been an. An astounding calendar year so far. And I mean, literally the calendar year.

[B]

Not synchronicity, but the. What do you call it? The. Like, the. Just the way it's laid out for you has made you so happy.

[A]

Right. Why can't I think of that word now?

[B]

Either?

[A]

You put synchronicity in my. In my head. Symmetry. Symmetry. Symmetry.

[B]

Kind of.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I'd be both on the same side of a thing, but.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, but like, sort of the.

[B]

The balance.

[A]

I think it was listener Kennedy who hit me to the fact that February was, like, the perfect month. It was Sunday was the first, and the last day of the month was the 28th, and that was a Saturday. So it just filled up the grid, the calendar grid, perfectly, without any.

[B]

Bingo.

[A]

Empty squares. It was. I was so legitimately tickled by that. Like, legit. And then also the next month, which was this month, March, also had something fun, like, kind of. It was a little bit screwy. But again, the Sunday was the first, I believe. Right. We had another Sunday, the first, which. I prefer Mondays to be the first, because I sort of like the work week to be. I. Like a Monday one, a Tuesday two, a Wednesday three, et cetera. But still, I just feel like we're just getting started on this year, too. I mean, we could use this good news.

[B]

I feel like in these troubled times, we will take whatever we can get. And as a person who doesn't suffer from. I don't. I. I don't suffer from it, nor can I pronounce it. Frigatris. Kaphobic. I welcome every Friday the 13th. I do not. I. It's not a thing that scares me. It's not a thing that worries me. In fact, I kind of like it because it's just like you wake up on your regular. Your regular old Friday, and you just kind of like, go, whatever. And then you go, Friday the 13th. Ooh, I'm gonna get to. I'll have something to talk about at the Safeway in Longview.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

With the person checking me out.

[A]

And what will you say?

[B]

I'll say Friday the 13th. Friga trisca cataphobic. Am I right?

[A]

Yeah. That was me role playing. Yeah.

[B]

Have a guy, I did have a guy yesterday at Safeway who was so awesome. Lee, trying, but he literally said, it's my first day. And it was very apparent he did not know any of the, you know, like, the codes. To put it, by the way, supermarket checker. What a hard job. Like, there's a lot that goes into that. I, I mean, I, I, if you, you know, Quantum leapt me into that, I would be a disaster. And this guy was like so sweet. He also, he looked, he had a neck tattoo, which is the first for the person checking me out at the grocery store. Like, he looked like a person who'd kind of like been through some stuff in life and, and had landed here at this place. And he was just like, he was so nice and he was so apologetic about it. And I really just kept telling him

[A]

what was the problem, not knowing codes or what's going on here, like produce codes or what.

[B]

It was a bunch, it was a bunch of different things. He didn't, he didn't know the codes for things, which again, I wouldn't have known. He kept entering in the produce incorrectly. Like he was trying to enter in like I had a white onion. He was trying to put it in as a sweet yellow onion, which I don't know if that was actually helping me or hurting me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In Price Point. But he just kept having to ask the other checkers who were like overwhelmed. There was a reason there was no one in this guy's line. I was like, ooh, I caught a break here. And I was like, oh, actually no, I'm going to be here for a minute. But again, I had already, like, I'd already taken the position, as I always would, of being like, dude, this is totally fine. Like you're learning. And again, I actually agree with that position. But it was, it was probably a 15 minute adventure of him needing to ask other people, you know, what, how to put in each and everything. And what they should have done is just had somebody come and like, like, you know, shadow him or he should shadow someone or there should be someone standing next to him who goes, like, knows the code for like white onions.

[A]

They should have the self checkout robot shadowing him.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

But what's going on?

[B]

Exactly. That we could have used that. Could have used that. I saw some people on Tick Tock beating up up one of the things in la that's like the little, those little Coolers that drive around. And I felt so protective of that cooler.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was like, don't you do that to Zoomie.

[A]

You don't.

[B]

Whatever.

[A]

You don't want to know what they're doing to its humps. I don't. They were injecting it.

[B]

Lustrous. Injected them. What I don't understand about those little. And if you've been in. In LA or San Francisco, you. Or I think New York might have them, too. Now you've seen these. These. There are these little coolers on wheels. You know, they're autonomous and all that. You always talk about the last mile problem. I don't understand what the last 50 foot is on this. How does it work? I have enough trouble with the door dasher at my hotel. How does the cooler, I guess, does it just stop at the entry to the place where it's bringing the stuff and then you just have to go outside and open it? I guess. I mean, I guess it's actually simpler than I thought. I just. It's like, they're cool. They're roaming around Los Angeles, but it's like I've never used one of them. I've never gone from like, ordering one to then opening it and getting the thing out. And that part, like, opening and getting the thing out seems complicated to me.

[A]

Can I ask you a question? This is a personal question. It's about personal finance, and it's about your personal finance, and that should make

[B]

you very uncomfortable as a frigate phobic on this of all days. Andrew, I can't believe you would ask me a personal finance question.

[A]

This is why. This is why you should, going forward, be afraid of Friday the 13th because it's a day that many believe I will ask inappropriate questions. Yeah. So how much you have in your bank account right now? No, no, I. This is. This is actually kind of a personal question, so my apologies. But you talk about you're on the road a lot and so you're getting stuff delivered. In fact, I was even just thinking that when you're like, well, how does it get into the hotel room? Probably most people ordering things aren't having them delivered to hotels as much as you are. I'm guessing as well, maybe personal. But you're in Washington state, but you're not in Seattle. Here In Seattle, getting something delivered via one of those service apps is so inflated because the companies that run them, which aren't, you know, the companies, like, what are the ones you use?

[B]

Like doordash. I don't use Uber Eats much, but these are the main ones.

[A]

Those aren't based here. But then Seattle has enacted, Seattle, specifically, the city has enacted some worker protection laws to make sure that gig workers are paid fairly. So then I think that these, these companies have added like some pretty, pretty stiff, almost punitive you know, fees here. So it's like so expensive. Is it when you're on the road, is it a little bit more affordable? Or am I just old fashioned? Because that's the thing. I think I'm out of step and like I get, and maybe I am getting just cheap, but like I'm also cheap. But I'm also angry at these just large tech companies, like trying to battle back against like good laws that should be protecting human beings and workers. But it's just like I just can't, I can't justify getting things delivered that much. You know what I mean? I did get a pizza delivered the other night, but I made sure not to use any of that.

[B]

Definitely do not. If you have the option of getting a pizza delivery without the doordash or the Uber eats, do that because that's a whole other layer of.

[A]

Yeah. Although I will say this because I was, I was like, well, we'll see if it's, we'll see if it's more money or not. But. So I hadn't used one of the, the apps in a long time because like honestly, ordering a pizza, I couldn't figure out how to order a reasonable sized pizza for like less than 50 or $60. And that is the truth for people.

[B]

It's so expensive.

[A]

People don't. I think it's. Things are expensive everywhere. But I do think sometimes people who live outside of Seattle, just to give you a real world example of what it's like to live here, I ordered a pizza the other day, didn't use the app from a local chain that you've probably heard us mention on the show, I'm assuming from time to time called Pagliacci's. Right? Pagliacci's Pizza. I'm saying that. Right, right. They don't pronounce the G here. I was trying to think if it's one of those Seattle things where they pronounce the G or something like that.

[B]

It's pronounced speros.

[A]

It's pronounced always in a relationship. We back up, baby. That bill, that weird billboard is back up by my house. But anyway, so Pagi's Pizza. But the thing about Pagliachi is it is like Seattle's sort of like go to middle of the road pizza. This is not a wood Fired pizza place.

[B]

I think of it as fancy, but that's because I haven't lived there in a long time.

[A]

Even still today I.

[B]

Well, fancy delivery. But again, I haven't lived in Seattle in many, many years.

[A]

So they're the only company that I know of that does their own delivery. But again like you don't go to Pagliacci pizza. Like some of them don't even have have like I think Polyati. Some Polyachis are just takeout only places, you know what I mean? To give you the sense of like, I'm not talking about like what was that fancy pizza place that was on Capitol Hill that shuttered recently? Like everybody loved that place. It was an institution or whatever. This is just like, this is like you're gonna go. They some. A lot of their locations have slices. So it'll be a place maybe in. If you take your work lunch and you go grab a slice of Polyachi. It's not a fancy place and they're all over the place and they run their own delivery, which I really truly appreciate. And I think they're a relatively good too. I've been in some meetings. Look, I've been in some meetings with the CEO. Not really. I've sort of watched on Zoom some things regarding whatever just about homelessness and stuff and them trying to partner up with some organizations and stuff in a meaningful way. And so anyway, I just have good feelings towards the company. The other day I'm like, well, I'm going to avoid all of these punitive fees that these outside of Washington apps slap on us to kind of punish us. So I was like, I got their medium sized pizza. And again, this is not slamming them. This is just to tell people the cost of doing business here. Medium sized pizza with a couple of toppings on it, like basic toppings, you know. But it was like I think 13 inches. So it's not like some super large pizza. And again and it arrives and it's a very, very basic pizza. But it's like the pizza itself was 30 something. And then delivery fee, $7 taxes and tip. It was like 51 or $52 just to get a very. And again, I'm not slamming the company. I don't think that they're like, I don't know but what their finances are. I don't think they're making tons of money, but I think they have to charge a delivery fee. It cost them money to send drivers out, you know what I mean? But it just racks up so quickly and it's kind of like, I don't know. There's a couple of different ways of looking at it. That same night I bought a book that. I just got a notification by the way, my new paperback is apparently in my mailbox. Some vacation reading I'm looking forward to. And that was $20. And I was sort of in the same night I bought a $50 pizza, which I ate almost all of in one night. Cheers to me. $50 gone like that. And then a book that will be on my shelf probably forever and in my brain.

[B]

Is it Murder in Dupont Circle?

[A]

It is not. It is not. It's another Pinchon, though. I always say his name. Pinchon.

[B]

It's the Lodge.

[A]

It's the. It's Pinchin.

[B]

I think that's how the Crying of

[A]

Lodge a lot 49. Yeah, yeah, that's the one. I, I got, I tried to read

[B]

that book because somebody who I was with really loved it and yeah, no good. Didn't get through it. But, but again, that's, that's on me. That's not on pinching.

[A]

Yeah, well, I just read Inherent Vice, which I guess I'm now learning is not, is not considered one of. I think it's maybe considered one of his lesser works. But I gotta say it's one of my favorite books. I mean I could.

[B]

What's supposed to be the good one? Gravity's Rainbow or something?

[A]

Gravity's Rainbows is. I, I don't know, think it's his very, very first. But I think it's his breakout one. And people say that's one of those books where you kind of got to read with a reference guide next to you the whole time. I really want to read that. But I was like, that might not be good pool reading if I need a reference guide. So this is vacation reading. I'm like, well, I've heard the Lodge 49 or whatever it's called, and I know that I watched a little bit of the TV show it was based on. I thought it might be because it's kind of a fun mystery, right? Isn't it kind of a fun, surreal mystery?

[B]

Listen, Andrew, if you really want to, if you want to be a real head when it comes to pinch and you need to read the Boeing technical manuals that may or may not have been written by him.

[A]

I was thinking about that as I was reading Inherent Vice. I'm like, what are the characteristics of his style of writing? Because I know it's not going to be like pothead humor, which Inherent Vice was a lot of.

[B]

Uh huh. Well, my friend.

[A]

Anyway, do you find when you're on the road just to close this up and you can just give me literally any answer and then we can just wrap up. But would you find that when you're on the road getting things delivered, like, that is less expensive? Is that. Or is it just kind of like this? The modern way of just living.

[B]

$50 for a medium pizza sounds pretty high. Yeah, I do think that that, like. And I usually. If I'm door dashing, I'm usually in a city. I mean, honestly, what I do. It's a lot when I'm traveling for work and I've had a long day and I'm at the hotel, but I don't want to, like, go down to the hotel bar or I don't want to leave the hotel again to, you know, know. And oftentimes it's a. It's an urban environment where there's a lot of people, you know, doing the delivery. So it comes pretty fast. Maybe the prices are slightly depressed by the availability of delivery people. Like, if I were to get something delivered out here, where I am right now, I think it would cost kind of a lot because I'm just not near anything.

[A]

You're in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.

[B]

I will tell you, I was a little. Not at the person, God bless them. I was a little miffed in Chicago recently. Recently, because I ordered. I ordered like a. A sandwich.

[A]

Was it.

[B]

Where was. Was. I ordered something from a place that was. I wanted it to be warm. I think it must have been like a. Like a, you know, a sandwich, but the kind that they like. What do you call it? Like, bake it or something?

[A]

You know, I mean, toasted.

[B]

Toasted. It was like a toasted sandwich. And I ordered it, and I got my little sides with it and my whatever. And then when. So I ordered it, and then they were sending it to me, and then when they showed me the person bringing it, they were on a bike. But this was actually pretty far away from me in Chicago. It wasn't like. Like in New York City, if you're in Manhattan, everything is being brought on a bike pretty much because it's just geographically very compact. This person was really far away on the bike. And I was like. All I could think of was how the toasted sandwich was. Just the heat was radiating off of the toasted sandwich as this person. And by the way, wintertime in Chicago was biking it to me. And I kind of thought, like, they should tell you if it's being brought on a bike. You know, and that's no shade on the person, the hard working person who rode their bike with my sandwich on it. But it's like that felt like a little bit of a switcheroo.

[A]

I'm trying to think of a. They were coming in from. Where were all of the. Were they the John Hughes movies? Were they set in like the faraway suburbs of Chicago?

[B]

Yeah, it was like when at Naperville

[A]

or something like that. I don't know if I have that right, but yeah, totally. Yeah.

[B]

That's where they're come alone house.

[A]

Yeah, that's what I'm picturing.

[B]

It was crazy when the kid showed up with my sandwich. He was just doing this.

[A]

Both hands on the side of his face.

[B]

Thank you for describing that to the radio listeners.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

All right, look at that. Another week of TBTL has come to an end.

[A]

But.

[B]

But we're just two days away from another week of TBTL starting.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Hate to break it to you, Andrew. We're just two days away from another week of tbtl.

[A]

What do you think? Will I be well rested on Monday? That is something that people should listen

[B]

if you watch your salt intake.

[A]

Yes, exactly. I'm not gonna get high change for clocks. Not gonna sniff any salt.

[B]

Don't try to photoshop up more TBT merch. If you eliminate all of those. What, What WBC games are on Sunday?

[A]

That's a good question. You know, I think I'm gonna miss. We're celebrating a friend's birthday tonight, actually. Oh, you know what? Happy blursday to our friend Katie. Katie Beck. Happy blurs.

[B]

Oh my gosh. It's on my calendar. I gotta send her a message.

[A]

That's right. Yeah, I should have shouted her out in the blurs days yesterday. Sorry about that, Katie. But here you are in the honored last moments of the week of broadcast.

[B]

This is like the sweetest bite. Katie of the. And Katie will appreciate this as a foodie. This is like you've eaten the whole sandwich and there's one or the whole burger and there's one bite left and it's a corner of the crust and a little bit of the meat and it's just.

[A]

Just like.

[B]

It's perfect. It is so perky. I love that that is where we put your birthday message, Katie. Love you. By the way, I need to re up my Eagles thing because they're really mad at me at the Eagles and Rainier. More to discuss on Monday.

[A]

Oh, okay. Interesting. We'll talk about that on Monday.

[B]

Yeah, we'll. We'll get into that on Monday. I'm not going to trouble Katie with this on her birthday of all days. Anyway, we'll be back here on Monday with more imaginary radio. In the meantime, have a great weekend everybody. Try to stay dry or stay cool or stay day. Whatever you need. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[A]

And good luck to all. Still really snowing, man.

[B]

Dude, it is so rainy here.

[A]

Power out.