#4727 Hacky Sack Is Backy Sack

Summary

TBTL Episode #4727: Hacky Sack Is Backy Sack

Date: May 14, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

In this playful Thursday installment of TBTL, Luke and Andrew catch up on quirky neighborhood stories, reminisce about lost (and found) technology and traditions, debate retail etiquette, and celebrate the resurgence of hacky sack among Gen Z. From heartfelt blur's day messages to a saga about pet cameras and some deep dives into yard care technology, the episode weaves together nostalgia, humor, and a touch of earnestness about connection and change.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andrew’s Neighborhood Cat Saga (03:06–12:44)

• Andrew recounts a neighborhood story about a lost cat, Donatello (parenthetically "named after the Ninja Turtle"), which escaped during a move.
• The hosts riff on the emotional (and competitive!) world of lost pet posters, with Andrew describing his growing empathy as he gets older.
• A "dazzling detail": The importance of including "named after the Ninja Turtle" in the neighborhood email chain, and how it transforms the urgency and endearment for the missing cat.
  • Quote: "The cat's name is Donatello, named after the Ninja Turtle in parentheses. And those... parentheses hold is so special to me because that isn't relevant information at all for this cat emergency situation... but it is important because to me, it just makes me want to die for this cat." – Andrew (08:20)
• The story also touches on surveillance state humor (Ring cameras spotting the cat) and segues into a broader chat about home cameras.

2. Pet Camera Retail Odyssey & Customer Service Gripes (12:00–22:44)

• Andrew shares a comically detailed story about his quest to buy a new pet camera, struggling with unhelpful (and overly friendly) pet store employees and digital shopping annoyances.
• The pitfalls of smart gadgets: security vs. pet-specific cams, app privacy issues, and the generational divide in retail etiquette.
  • Quote: "Somebody who's being so outwardly friendly that you know that they're a bit of a pain in the ass." – Andrew (13:25)
• Discussion veers into the PetSmart vs. Pets Mart branding debate (“Is it a smart way to shop for your pet or is it a mart run by pets?”)
• Luke jokes about over-surveilled American homes and losing the plot with unreliable technology.

3. Riding Lawnmower Craigslist Chronicles (27:09–37:21)

• Luke provides a comedic behind-the-scenes account of selling his electric riding mower, leading to musings on Craigslist etiquette and haggling culture.
• They compare experiences buying and selling used cars and the psychological benefit of sometimes underpricing to attract serious, hassle-free buyers.
  • Quote: "What I realized is if you don't want to have to deal with the hassle and the dicker... that alone had some value to it for me." – Luke (35:18)
• The unique positioning (and possible market mismatch) of an electric riding mower among "gas-mower guys."
• Battery technology discussions morph into a reflection on generational and technological shifts for both vehicles and yard equipment.

4. Generational Technology: Gas vs. Electric & Aqua Scooter Nostalgia (37:21–47:00)

• Andrew reminisces about growing up with a garage full of gasoline cans and small engines, and the smell of cut grass mixed with gasoline.
• They detour into fond memories of aqua scooters—old-school, gas-powered water toys. Andrew shares a deep nostalgia for their smell and feel, and Luke reads modern electric equivalents.
  • Memorable Moment: Andrew texting Luke a Google result for a vintage aqua scooter, prompting the two to marvel at its design and value as a collectible.

5. Blur's Days and Listener Community (47:14–53:27)

• Mid-episode features the show’s "dazzling donor" messages—in particular, recognizing Professor Dāren Lone Fight’s work on indigenous education and JC Clark’s uplifting note.
• Listeners contribute words of encouragement, joy, and community-building—where "tens" (TBTL superfans) help other tens and share life milestones.
  • Quote: "All we can do is get on our aqua scooters and head out into the lake to feel better." – JC Clark (51:43)
• An especially heartwarming segment highlights the ongoing support for each other among listeners.

6. Main Story: Hacky Sack's Comeback (54:27–66:20)

• Luke reports seeing teens hacky sacking at the Oregon coast—it’s back!—prompting a discussion of a New York Times article on hacky sack’s Gen Z resurgence.
• The hosts explore how teens are reviving the pastime, often via TikTok, and reimagining it playfully and socially (including “commitment bits” about where they’ll "play” in college).
  • Quote: “They've created all these like hacky sack team clubs and varsity and junior varsity. Like, these are completely made up. These are not real school sports, but there's just this whole imaginary life of hacky sack where kids are announcing what school they're going to go to to play hacky sack at.” – Luke (56:40)
• They praise both the healthy irony and renewed earnestness in Gen Z humor, and celebrate the intergenerational spirit—an old school footbag hall-of-famer mails balls to new TikTok fandoms.
  • Quote: "It would be really easy for me to look at this and say, hey, that’s not the way you play hacky sack, but... I’d rather let a new generation make the game its own." – Derek Fogle, quoted by Luke (60:44)
• Luke proposes acquiring leather “legit” hacky sacks for their next TBTL get-together.

7. Blursdays & Community Celebrations (71:11–79:34)

• The episode features heartfelt “Blursday” birthday shout-outs for listeners, their family members, and even pets, cementing TBTL’s friendly, inclusive micro-community.
• Anecdotes about dogs half-in, half-out of beds, traditions around puppy kindergarten, and listeners’ MCAT endeavors.

8. Outro: The Lawnmower Man & Culture Ephemera (79:44–83:51)

• Luke’s impending lawnmower handoff triggers a tangent on "The Lawnmower Man" movie, Jeff Fahey’s career, and the persistent randomness of what pop culture trivia our brains decide to retain.
• General laughter about recutting “Psycho III” as a rom-com, and the overall absurdity and joy in finding community through odd stories.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• "The cat's name is Donatello, named after the Ninja Turtle in parentheses. And those... parentheses hold is so special to me because that isn't relevant information at all for this cat emergency situation... but it is important because... it just makes me want to die for this cat." – Andrew (08:20)
• "Somebody who's being so outwardly friendly that you know that they're a bit of a pain in the ass." – Andrew (13:25)
• "What I realized is if you don't want to have to deal with the hassle and the dicker... that alone had some value to it for me." – Luke (35:18)
• "All we can do is get on our aqua scooters and head out into the lake to feel better." – JC Clark (51:43, Dazzling Donor message)
• "They've created all these like hacky sack team clubs and varsity and junior varsity... There's just this whole imaginary life of hacky sack where kids are announcing what school they're going to go to to play hacky sack at." – Luke (56:40)
• "It would be really easy for me to look at this and say, hey, that’s not the way you play hacky sack... but I'd rather let a new generation make the game its own." – Hacky Sack HOFer Derek Fogle, quoted by Luke (60:44)

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Timestamps for Segment Navigation

• 00:02–03:06: Opening laughs, weird body stuff, hot cheeto chat.
• 03:06–12:44: Neighborhood lost cat saga ("Donatello, named after the Ninja Turtle").
• 12:44–22:44: Pet camera saga & retail anecdotes.
• 22:44–27:09: Surveillance, delivery etiquette, more on pet tech.
• 27:09–37:21: Selling a riding mower on Craigslist & negotiation strategies.
• 37:21–47:00: Gasoline nostalgia, aqua scooter memories, gender norms in home security.
• 47:14–53:27: Dazzling donor messages (esp. indigenous education, JC Clark).
• 56:20–66:20: Hacky sack/footbag resurgence—culture, TikTok, generational shifts.
• 71:11–79:34: Blursdays (listener birthdays and community updates).
• 79:44–83:51: "Lawnmower Man," random pop trivia, episode sign-off.

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Tone & Style

• The episode is a blend of affectionate ribbing, earnest nostalgia, and quirky humor.
• While the hosts riff and digress, genuine affection for listeners and one another permeates the conversation.
• The language is informal, self-deprecating, occasionally absurd, but always driven by curiosity and connection.

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For New Listeners

Even if you’ve never tuned in before, this episode offers a warm window into TBTL’s oddball universe—where the search for a lost cat is elevated by Ninja Turtle references, the plight of selling a lawnmower becomes a pop-sociology lesson, and retro trends are both lampooned and lovingly embraced. The underlying message: daily life’s weirdness is easier to bear (and much funnier) in good company.

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“No mountain too tall…”

Transcript

[Andrew]

I'm gross now. I've been talking through burps. I never used to do this. When I was a kid and I wanted to burp, I'd be like, silence, blah. Now I'm trying to, like, push them down and muscle through them. I'll be at dinner just doing the bread and the seltzer, filling up like a hot air balloon. And then I'm like, did you say that you were going to Italy? We have a travel agent. She has a travel agent. I'm going to the kitchen. Does anyone need anything for the. Does anyone need anything? Just take a pause, John. Tbtm. Is what we experience real? Or is reality a computer simulation constructed by an advanced alien race? For more, our sports reporter, Jim Caputo. Oh, won't see somebody, please think of the children.

[Luke]

When I eat hot cheetos, I get crazy.

[Andrew]

I just love hot cheetos. I love you so much. Remember that time you left a comment

[Luke]

underneath that YouTube video when someone replied and called you a dumbass?

[Andrew]

So you replied and told them, it takes one to know one.

[Luke]

And then you stayed up all night

[Andrew]

hitting refresh on your browser, waiting for them to reply, and then you fell asleep crying. I remember it differently. This is like that.

[Luke]

All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Hey, Lloyd, do some delivery for the truck to the airport. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. I'm an activist and house party enthusiast coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia. Hi, everyone. Welcome to my farm where, I swear to God, a flock of parrots. Maybe it's. Welcome to my aviary. I swear to God, a flock of parrots just flew by. Like, 20 of them. Is that a thing? I'm still digging out from my porpoise sighting in the river that nobody believed me on, but I. I think. I think some parrots just flew by. Anyway, I'll try to focus on the important things, like episode 4727 in a collector series, let the Fun Begin, which we've arrived at today. We were going on a hike last weekend down in Manzanita on the Oregon coast and saw a bunch of kids playing hacky sack. Kids and fantasy. Technically, they were playing foot bag. Hacky sack is a brand name of a particular kind of foot bag. Turns out it's the whole thing that the kids are doing now. It's back, baby. I could break out my foot bag and maybe impress the kids down at the local park. It's also a Thursday, AKA blursday. So we'll, we'll do the blursday messages and we'll talk to this guy. Longest running co bro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's a prisoner of his own grievances. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew]

Good morning, Luke. I want to share with you a little story that's been unfolding in the neighborhood for the past several days. And it's a little no joke, it's a little bit of a sad story. It's about a lost person pet. I am happy to say it is not one of our pets. But it's kind of the, Well, I won't say the worst case scenario because I think we know what the worst case scenario is when you lose a pet. But it, it apparently happened when somebody was moving into the neighborhood this weekend. And that always really bums me out because when you're moving and you have

[Luke]

animals, you know, pet does not know the lay of the land.

[Andrew]

They don't know the lay of the land. But it's also a highly, it's a much more likely time to lose track of a pet. You know what I mean? Because your doors are open that aren't usually open. You know, again, my experience mostly with cats, so, you know, when we're. And I've also moved in and out of a lot of places and I've had cats most of my adult life and there's like, oh, we gotta prop doors open for the movers, we gotta move the cat into this room or this, everything gets disrupted and the chance of a cat getting lost. And it is a scenario and the animal in this case is a cat. And yes, then you add on the layer of, well, if you lose this cat in the new neighborhood, well, the cat doesn't know what it's coming home to or where its new home is, I should say. And if you lose it in your old neighborhood, well, you're not there anymore to wait for your cat to get home. And those stories are really heartbreaking. And unfortunately that's where we begin today. But there's a, there's a little glimmer of hope in this story. But there's a dazzling detail in one of the initial emails that went around that I just cannot let go of. That I think is so funny and maybe one of the reasons why I want to find this cat so bad. So we got a note on Sunday from one of Our neighbors that says, I just spoke to a man who lost his cat. He says that he's moving in and his cat jumped out the window of his car near our inner. Near our neighborhood. He's walking around the neighborhood right now to see if anybody has seen his cat. The cat is orange and white with a white head and an orange and black tail. I've now seen photos of this cat, Lucas. Absolutely adorable. Let's see here we have his contact information. If anybody sees him, you know, let him know. So anyway, so that was the original email. And I get really invested in these things. I was driving as I had to drop something off at our friend Phyllis's house the other day, and I noticed that there were, like, big lost cat, like, a lot of lost cat posters, all for one particular cat in her neighborhood. And I am such a. I guess I'm just getting. I have so much empathy now for people who are in those situations. I'm like.

[Luke]

So I think of it more as a hero complex.

[Andrew]

No, because I haven't done any. I haven't found any cats or anything. I haven't done anything heroic. But when I see those signs now, like, somebody put. Just absolutely plastered Phyllis's neighborhood with signs. And you're just like, if you're doing. And they were all handmade. They weren't like, photocopied or anything. I'm like, oh, my God. This is a. This is a family that is just really, really, really missing their cat right now.

[Luke]

And imagine being a cat that goes missing and you don't get the full treatment.

[Andrew]

I know. And you're just like, cigarettes behind the 7 11.

[Luke]

Just like, can I get one. Can I get one decent poster? Look at those other people.

[Andrew]

Yeah, look at.

[Luke]

Look at Meow Mix's parents. Mr. Meow Mix. He's everywhere.

[Andrew]

He's.

[Luke]

They've.

[Andrew]

They're.

[Luke]

They're going crazy. And you guys aren't doing anything for me. Now.

[Andrew]

My family put up one sign, and it's on their porch, and it's a bad angle of me. You can totally. You can totally see my white spot.

[Luke]

Exactly. Now, you said that there was a dazzling detail.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So anyway, so when I saw that first note, I was already, like, pretty invested in this. And then not long after, like, a few hours later, somebody responded or added to this text chain or this email chain and said, I also met this new neighbor. Here's some additional context. He says he was driving west on Northgate. Now we live near Northgate, which is like a big through fair. And I really Hate that road. It's a. It's a four lane road that has a lot of. It's kind of. It weaves between residential neighborhoods like ours, but it's like, it's supposed to be like 25 miles an hour, but cars go at least 45 miles an hour. They. People just see it as like a east, west little highway almost. And it just drives me bananas as a pedestrian around there. I cannot tell you how many times a car has just blown through the crosswalk and almost killed me and Genevieve. And it's just. I hate that road. And I hate thinking about a cat jumping out of a car window on that road. But anyway, this says additional context. He was driving west on north Gate. Cat jumped out the window. He immediately turned into the first street. So kind of giving us some idea of where to look for this cat. And then the next line is, the cat's name is Donatello, named after the Ninja Turtle in parentheses. And those. What those parentheses hold is so special to me because that isn't relevant information at all for this cat emergency situation. Even having the cat's name is important. Yeah, well, that's named after the Ninja Turtle. So what I.

[Luke]

Its shell.

[Andrew]

Did. Did the person with the lost cat volunteer this? Did my neighbor in conversation with this person say, oh, like the Ninja Turtle? And then the new neighbor confirmed it. How did. How did we arrive at in parentheses named after the Ninja Turtle? And why is that important for the. For this email thread? But it is important because to me, it is. It just makes me want to die for this cat. I want to go out there, and there's where the hero complex comes in. I want to find this cat.

[Luke]

Let me tell you some more about this cat. Donatello, named for the Ninja Turtle. If it has any of Donatello the Ninja Turtle's characteristics.

[Andrew]

Oh, good with computers.

[Luke]

He is the smartest and often gentlest of his brothers, wearing a purple mask over his eyes. If you see a cat with a purple mask in your neighborhood, probably this is the cat we're looking for.

[Andrew]

And a BO staff, probably.

[Luke]

Nice memory, Burple.

[Andrew]

BO staff works on technology.

[Luke]

Yes, he's the adoptive and mutated son of Master Splinter. What do we have on the guy who was moving? Is he a really large rat, which still makes him a small human, but way larger than.

[Andrew]

A little crossed over, but seems wise somehow. Yeah, yeah.

[Luke]

So the person who lost the cat, they're also living in your neighborhood, or were they on their way somewhere else? And unfortunately, this is where the cat. This is about ejected from the vehicle.

[Andrew]

This is where we're bumping up against my knowledge here, or the extent of my knowledge, I should say. But from the context here, I'm sort of getting the impression that this person was close to home. So I'm close to home. So I'm guessing in the area. I don't know exactly where this person's home is if I end up. But I do know that one of the streets that they are saying that the cat. The kind of cross street that the cat maybe jumped onto is one very near my house, about a block from where I live. So when I'm. And I. I've been taking Lucy on block, like, walks around the block, she's finally getting that mode where she can kind of actually walk. At first, she just went outside and had no idea what a walk was. But we're finally able to actually take a walk around the block. And so I end up on the street, and so I keep an eye out for the cat. Although with Lucy on the leash with me, I. I worry that I'm not in the best position to be cat spotting, because I would.

[Luke]

But if you could at least. Well, you maybe the cow be hiding or something loose. Well, I think, honestly, this could really raise your standing in the neighborhood. If you can crack this case.

[Andrew]

It. Oh, I told you. There's a glimmer of hope. I had sort of forgotten about this. I did want to, because I saw the email about Donatello named after the Ninja Turtle on Sunday, and I meant to mention this to you earlier in the week. I found that so endearing. The reason it popped up right now on the show is because just as we were beginning the show, somebody thinks that they might have seen the cat on their ring camera, I believe maybe around either on my side.

[Luke]

Do you agree with the surveillance state

[Andrew]

or on the street next door. Exactly. And so you know what that was.

[Luke]

That cat was. I just. I'm getting late. Breaking news. That cat on the ring camera was Donatello, named for the Renaissance sculptor.

[Andrew]

Right.

[Luke]

Totally different Donatello. Parenthetically named for the sculptor.

[Andrew]

Yes. Oh, geez. Oh, no. Another orange cat with a white spot.

[Luke]

Oh, well, have you. I don't want to put you in a. A weird position or anything, but, like, now that you've. I know you've got. You've got a Lucy cam that's inside your house. I know, like, your dad gave you a ring cam or something that you. I don't think you ever actual.

[Andrew]

Yeah, like, the thing that. The thing that is literally like a doorbell. But I Have not installed it yet or had it installed yet.

[Luke]

Well, I wonder. Here's the thing I wonder about, because I know that, like, you know, when you're getting a delivery, you really want to make sure it's. You know, that it's. The thing isn't. You know, I'm not.

[Andrew]

You're. Listen, we've literally not had any issues with delivery yet. Thank goodness. We've been showing Luke my. This is a whole ordeal. I bought a different cam, and I returned it yesterday.

[Luke]

She's all curled up in her dog bed. Is that the dog bed west gave you?

[Andrew]

Yes, it is. I have a. I. So what Luke is looking at is the. My phone that I'm holding up to the screen for Luke, and it has the security cam that we have in the kitchen. The pet cam, really? And it was a little bit weird. I originally bought a camera that was specifically for pets. Like, what's the difference between a security camp? But I bought it at the pet store, but it was like, this whole mishigask, because I made sure that they had the one I was looking for in stock. I did all of my research, and then I show up, and there's, like, this sort of obsequious guy at the front who I just did not like his kind of tone. It was one of those, like, at the pet store. Yeah. Like, I know most of the workers of the pet store, because I'm there so often. I don't, like, have a rapport with them or anything. I just recognize their faces and. But there was somebody new on the weekend, and I just heard he was one of those guys I could just tell was a pain in the ass by the way he was being extra friendly to everybody. Does that make sense to you? Like, you hear somebody who's being so outwardly friendly that you know that they're a bit of a pain in the ass.

[Luke]

I'm trying to picture them. I mean, I know what it's like when someone seems like they're being phony, I guess. Yeah.

[Andrew]

Just sort of had a little bit of a. Yeah. If I can maybe get, you know, everybody's hero Holden Caulfield on the face. There's just something about him. I heard him, like.

[Luke]

I don't know.

[Andrew]

Anyway, I heard him talking to customers before me in the line, and there's just something about his tone. I'm like, oh, this guy's a bit much. And then I get up there and I say, hey, I'm here to pick up this camera. I hadn't ordered or anything. But I was on the website, and I wanted this particular camera. It was about $100. And I thought that's just basically what they ran. And then I said, and look, it says here that you guys have it in stock. And it even says, like, it's in this store. This store, and not in this store, or whatever. So I show him my phone because I just know this is gonna be a pain in the ass. And then he does that thing where he start. He. He pinches something on his collar or whatever. His little radio. Yeah, his little radio. And he starts talking to some. He doesn't tell me he's going to do this, so it's unclear when he's talking to me and when he's talking to somebody else in the store, assuming he's talking to somebody else in the store and not just pretending he's looking for help elsewhere. But I can just immediately tell from his body language that he's going to tell me they don't have what I'm looking for. Which he does say, oh, we don't have that one. I say, well, it says right here that it's in stock in the store. And he says, yeah, you know, I used to work at Verizon. That stuff's wrong all the time. And I'm just like, why are you bringing Verizon into this conversation? I don't care about your work history and don't talk down to me. And then your system's broken, and you can say, oh, sorry about that. But also, I didn't believe him. So anyway, he said, we can, you know, we have other models go to the end of this, you know, aisle and look there. Which I'd already been there, and I couldn't find anything. So I said, could you have somebody meet me there and help. Help me find what I'm looking for? So he reluctantly does that. An employee who is so much nicer than him.

[Luke]

Thank God he's him.

[Andrew]

No, he did say. He's like, well, head over there. He's like, somebody will meet you over there. If nobody shows up, I'll be there in a little bit. I was like, oh, God, help us all. And so then I'm standing over there, and then another employee comes up, and she's the opposite of him. She seems to actually care and is. And doesn't talk down to me. And she's like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm sorry. I'm the one he was talking to. We don't have that one that it says we have in stock, but here's one. I have this one, and she's just showing me the empty box that sits on the shelf. Because they don't put the actual technology in the boxes for thieves to take.

[Luke]

No, the technology is back with the razors and the birth control.

[Andrew]

Yes, exactly. And the diapers. And the cool thing about the camera I was looking at is it can remotely distribute birth control to your pet

[Luke]

while you're gone for the time being, depending on what the Supreme Court has

[Andrew]

recently ruled, you can talk to your pet, you can listen to your pet, you can push a button.

[Luke]

Methylpristone. Available on demand. I guess that's okay. Technically birth control. But anyway.

[Andrew]

Okay, anyway, so I like her better. And she's like, oh, I actually like this one here. She's like, I use this one. And it was like a different brand. And I was like, oh, that's great. I'm like, I'll take that one. It's like literally a quarter of the price of the one I was going to buy. And also just looks, like, handier and better for me anyway, so I'm like, great, I'll take that one. She's like, all right, come. We'll come with me. We'll go up to the cash register and I'll unlock it and get it to you. So then I'm standing there by the cash register now I'm in sight of my, for some reason, mortal enemy now, and he and I are kind of making some small talk.

[Luke]

And then I really wish I could have been a bomb on the wall.

[Andrew]

I don't know why I didn't like this.

[Luke]

What about this guy? So. Rubbed you the wrong way.

[Andrew]

Seemed, like, obsequious in this way that seemed very, like you said, sort of phony and whatever. And so. And also just being like, oh, yeah, no, these things are wrong all the time. Not like, oh, I'm sorry, there must be a mistake in this. You're, like, telling me about your old job. I just don't care, man. And somehow I knew he was gonna be pain in the ass before I got there, and he was. So anyway, then. So I'm waiting for her to, you know, get the camera, my new camera, out of the lockbox. She comes and she's got this look on her face. I know immediately what she's gonna say. She's like, we don't have that one.

[Luke]

We have. You know what they need? They need a camera that's continuously monitoring the supply of cameras so she can just look at it and go, yeah, there's no cameras back There. I'm sorry.

[Andrew]

So anyway, so I'm excited about this one. I can't remember the name of the brand now, but it's like something360, right? The one that she's talked me into, which is like, I don't know, like 35 bucks or something compared to the hundred dollar one I was gonna buy. And now I'm like, excited for this $35 camera that wiggles around and you can, you know, kind of trace the. Not track the movement of your animal, but you can remote. Can remotely control what the camera is looking at and. Or aimed at. And anyway, so she. She's got this hang doll look on her face, and she's like, we don't have that one. And what is she holding in her hand is a smaller version of that. Like that one that she liked, only the mini version, which immediately. Which was like $28. But I was like, I just have a feeling. That's too cheap. I just have a feeling.

[Luke]

Then she brought out an even smaller one that they pay you to take.

[Andrew]

No, she was holding in another hand the one that I showed up for, the one that I knew was in the store, the one that I tapped on my phone and said, it's right here on your website. And he said, oh, y. Worked at Verizon. That's often wrong. I'm like, what the hell does that. I knew they were wrong. Now, technically, it was the nice employee's mistake, so I want to somehow continue to channel my anger towards this guy, even though it was.

[Luke]

I never let the reality of the situation affect who I'm mad at.

[Andrew]

Andrew, I'm so sorry. I don't. I did not mean to get this deep into this saga, but clearly I needed to get this off my chest. But at this point, I don't want to buy the hundred dollar model anymore.

[Luke]

You've seen the light. You know that there is, in theory, a $35 version.

[Andrew]

So then I. So then I get the mini one. She's like, it's the same brand as the one I have. It just. You can't remotely control where the camera is aimed. I'm like, I'll give it a shot, but what's your return policy? She's like 60 days or something. All right, I'll just take it home. So I take it home and I set it up, and I hate the app immediately. Like, it will not even let me test the camera until I give Lucy's, like, all of her personal information. Like, literally, not just my name and email address, but, like, Literally you could not advance to using the camera until you gave type of dog. Which I was like, that's complicated. Age, size, name, like. And I know the reason this app is doing this is because they sell cheap cameras just to suck up as much personal information as possible and then sell it to marketers, right? And the app was like, it was designed in this very cheap way. Wherever, whenever you'd hit the button that is always the back button on every other app, it just opens up some sort of sales page to sell you more cloud storage. I just hated this thing from the get go. So I'm like, I'm gonn. I'm going to go ahead and replace this with a better one. So instead of going to Pet Smart, I went to Petco two days ago and I wandered around the store for about 15 minutes looking for the place where they keep all the cameras. I finally go to the front of the store where there's a person, a young person, some young people working at the front. And I said, where are your pet cams? And she literally did not look up from her phone, literally did not look up from her phone and said, pet cams? We don't have anything like that. You mean like she said you can go across the street to like Target and get like a baby cam. I'm like, they make pet cams. I said, I'm replacing a pet cam that I have. She's meh. And I was just like, what is with the world these days? I'm just a cranky, cranky old man. What I did was I went to Best Buy, I bought a security cam that also had a cat on the box. So I'm like this. This straddles the line between security cam and animal cam. And it's more of a security cam because when you set it on the counter, it will its point of view. Even though you can control where it aims, it doesn't really aim at the floor the way the pet specific one did. Like, the pet specific one knows you want this thing aimed at the floor where the pets are. This is more like if there's an intruder, you're going to see him walk or her walk through the door.

[Luke]

The intruder could be a woman.

[Andrew]

That's right. Women can be anything these days, Luke. So what I've got going on in my kitchen right now, and I should take a picture of this monstrosity and send it to you, is I had to get this thing up off the counter and on some sort of gooseneck situation. So I came down here to my Studio and I found some old gooseneck for a microphone that is now like clamped to the corner of my counter. And putting this camera about, I don't know, eye level with me. Right now it looks like an eye in the sky. And then on the gooseneck I can kind of bend it downwards towards the floor and then remotely kind of control where the camera is looking from my phone. And it looks like it looks something. We use the analogy of the movie Brazil. It looks kind of like some sort of a Brazil esque situation in my kitchen with this. With this futuristic eye on top of

[Luke]

a very little tiniest bit of subservient chicken energy.

[Andrew]

It just.

[Luke]

The whole thing seems very 24 hour webcam.

[Andrew]

It works well. I love being able to like right now I can look at Lucy again. It looks like she maybe just finished eating her frozen yogurt tray. But she's calm now. She's in bed. She only ate half of her yogurt. So that's an interesting update for everybody. So.

[Luke]

But you know about the Pet Smart Petsmart debate, right?

[Andrew]

Petco versus Pet Smart.

[Luke]

No. Pet Smart. Is it. Is it pet smart. Oh. Or is it Pets Mart? Is it a mart that the pets are. Or is it being smart with your pet? Is it.

[Andrew]

Lord, I don't know if I'm smart about this.

[Luke]

Or is it pet smart?

[Andrew]

I think I've been. I don't know if you can even tell in the way.

[Luke]

I don't know the answer.

[Andrew]

But I think. I think I always think of it as pet Smart.

[Luke]

But you're right, it's not a place to get your pet stuff.

[Andrew]

Or is it.

[Luke]

Or are the pets running the mart? Is it?

[Andrew]

That's interesting. Yeah.

[Luke]

Mart possessive.

[Andrew]

I will say. I kind of didn't mention that this is cashier. I didn't like was a Goldendoodle. I mentioned that. Really obsequious.

[Luke]

Was it an F1 golden doodle?

[Andrew]

So anyway, thank you for putting up with that, Luke. I did not intend to tell that whole story and I clearly needed to tell you about my retail experience.

[Luke]

Okay. But back to my. And I'm glad that I heard about it and I'm glad that it's kind of working out. But I'm still curious. You have no interest in putting up that ring cam or something like it just for the convenience of like if something gets dropped off, if friends are coming over, et cetera. Are you still. Do you still feel like it's part of the surveillance state that you are kind of. You sort of are not a particular fan Of.

[Andrew]

No, this is just inertia. Like, okay, if I were to go. If I were to go out and get a doorbell, would I buy one with a camera? I don't know. To be honest with you. Maybe I would. I'm not. I'm not, like, resisting that. I am sort of resisting putting cameras all around our yard because I do think it'll end up making me just more paranoid. Also, we do have. We have a. We have a bird cam now that sort of looks towards our door because Genevieve has it hanging. She calls it bird creep. We have a camera outside called bird creep.

[Luke]

That's made by Raytheon.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it's made by the people who are behind Partyful. I don't know. But anyway. Yeah, so I'm. It's not about. Yeah, I'm not, like, fully resisting. It's just like. I just don't get anything done. I just. Like, this ring cam has been sitting in the drawer now for three years just because I just haven't. Maybe I should ask our colleagues.

[Luke]

Well, I did the worst of all

[Andrew]

worlds contractor to install it for me.

[Luke]

Yeah, that's. The people from Auburn, by election day, make it three inches too tall, but then they'll fix it. I did the worst of all worlds, which is rigged this whole joint up with security cameras like a real good paranoid American homeowner, but managed to buy the wrong ones that are just constantly. I cannot not recommend the blink camera system enough. Too many negatives in there. Don't get the blink camera system is my point. Because they're. They're constantly going offline. They're constantly like, you know, there's. Because they're. I didn't. I didn't want to do the whole thing where they're wired, you know, permanently, like their power source, because they're kind of spread out. So I just have a whole. This is telling people now. I guess they can come over and rob me stupid. But it's like I have all these cameras. I mean, they're pretty discreet, but I have all these cameras up, and none of them are ever working. So I both look like a kind of some sort of paranoid case. And they're not actually producing. They're actually doing what I sort of bought them to do.

[Andrew]

But you know what a secondary purpose of this new camera is? And I might have mentioned this to you on the show. I think. I think it was yesterday, whatever, the first morning that I woke up with this new camera, I looked at my phone and it said, lucy, cam is offline. And I was like, what's going on with this new camera? Is it, is it broken? Turns out, no. The Internet was down. And so it ended up being a leading indicator that I had Internet issues that I had to get fixed before the show started. So that's kind of like what is the. Was it Viagra? That was supposed to be a heart medication, but then it also helped with other things. I sort of feel like this is now not just a Lucy cam, but also an Internet is down detector.

[Luke]

I think it was the Viagra. It's. So that might be the origin story. And if it is, it's the funniest one there was, the one that was supposed to be for something. I think it was before reducing your prostate size. I think that was finasteride. And then they just noticed that it was growing more hair for the guys.

[Andrew]

Oh, that's probably what I'm thinking of. That's probably what I'm thinking because the

[Luke]

idea that like you take a heart medicine, you go to the doctor and it's like, how's, how's the heart situation? Not great. But I am no, like a teenager

[Andrew]

again, I got good news and I got great news news.

[Luke]

I've had seven heart attacks just because I have been an absolute animal in the sack with my wife. Sorry that if I seem distracted there because there is. And I'm also sorry that I just keep narrating things that are out of the frame for. Well, everything's out of the frame for the listeners because this isn't a visual thing. But there is a bird that is now sitting. I know I was talking. I don't know if you were paying attention, but I do think a flock of wild parrots flew by earlier, which I do think is a thing. There is this little red kind of breasted bird that is sitting on the bamboo in my yard that is the most brilliant. Like it's plumage. I mean, it's teeny tiny. It might even be a hummingbird, but it's. It's like metallic, the red in its, in its body. Like the sun is hitting it in just such a way. And I was trying to get a picture of it to send it to you. But anyway, that's why I seem distracted. I'm also a little distracted, Andrew, because I am, I think, possibly going to unload my riding lawnmower later today to the guy from Craigslist. Remember yesterday I was telling you how he was initially seemed very interested and then I didn't hear back from him. And then I was going on and on about how Craigslist is just the strangest kind of ecosystem where people. You'll list something and people will be like, okay, I'll be there in an hour. And then they just, like, you never hear from them again, or whatever. I thought that that was what was happening to me. That was not what was going on with my guy Josh. When I got done with the show, he had emailed me back. He had said, sorry for the delay. I didn't. I didn't. I just saw this. But would tomorrow work? And he's involving a lot of emojis, a lot of sunglass emojis.

[Andrew]

Oh, I like that. That sounds cool.

[Luke]

Like, and also just. I don't you think that if this was a bot or a scam, you'd think that the people who do the scams would have figured out sunglasses, emojis, and you've got me. But I don't think they have. This has the. This has the ring of truth. This has the feeling of authenticity. I said, how's noon? He said, noon works great for me. I'll bring my trailer. He said, what's the area? So I can estimate what time to leave. You can give me the address now or when I'm on my way. Either way works for me. Thanks again. And then he looked up how I gave my address, looked up how far it was again. Two sunglass emoji guys. He says, 1 hour, 21 minutes from my home, see, at noon. And then right as we were starting the show, on my way. So this guy is hyper communicative. And now what I'm worried about is the negotiation. Is it going to be one of these things where. Because I used to do this when I would buy, you know, my first cars and stuff. I was taught that you, like, let's say they're selling the car for 800, you bring 700 cash. That was the move. Did you ever buy a car? Do you ever buy a car like that from the little nickel or from, you know, where you saw a for sale sign in a car and you had to go do the negotiation and all of that? No.

[Andrew]

Maybe the very first vehicle I had was a used Dodge Caravan. 86 Dodge Caravan. But my dad did all of the negotiating on that. I don't remember, like, where we got it. I just remember me and my dad because I really wanted a. Because I'm a cliche. I really wanted a VW mini bus, right? And so we're looking at those in Vanagon's, but everybody was just kind of like, you don't Want this for your teenager's first car? Like it's nothing but a pain in the ass.

[Luke]

So unreliable.

[Andrew]

So I got the next coolest thing, which is an 87 Dodge Caravan with fake wooden sides, which I did end up loving. But I just know that my dad was a big part of that process. And then after that I was buying cars from people I knew or that kind of thing.

[Luke]

We had different levels of parental intervention in our lives. My first car I bought it was a Honda Civic that I bought off of a guy in the U district. It was a five speed. I had never driven a five speed. I just drove it home. Maybe in first it was so. It was so. But I do think, I do think that. I don't know if I did the move then, but throughout my life when I was buying a series of cars that all would ultimately just turn out to be complete lemons. Well, not lemons. They were just all cars that were old and not, you know, had sort of served their purpose. But it was, the move was always. You show up with like a little bit less money than they're asking for, but you have it in cash and then they're just going to give it to them and then they're just going to say okay, because basically they're ready to be done with the thing.

[Andrew]

And you've got that. Did you actually do that or you just heard of it? And did you literally only have that amount of money or did you have the other. Did you have like the extra hundo in your other pocket or your shoe?

[Luke]

No, because I think, I always thought if I were to say, okay, I've got 700 cash, take it or leave it. And then he was like, leave it. And I was like, okay, I have $104.

[Andrew]

That would just be.

[Luke]

It would feel so manipulative. I mean, it's manipulative to show up with not the amount of money they're selling the thing for. It is, but. And it's funny too because, you know, my mom is such a wheeler and dealer and in a lot of ways in life I'm anti wheeler dealer because of just basically childhood trauma around it.

[Andrew]

In other words, just like, I'll take it for whatever it is. Like, I don't, I don't want to like base myself.

[Luke]

I don't enjoy. It's not even for me. It's not debasing whatever it is. Somehow kind of like negotiate. There are certain kinds of negotiations that make me feel just uncomfortable and just kind of like I'll just. I just would Rather pay than, like, have an awkward conversation.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

For some reason, when I was younger and with these car things, maybe I just all literally didn't have enough money for what they were asking or not. But see if this guy shows up and I'll just tell you, Andrew, I don't care. I'm an open book. I think on Craigslist I said something like $700 for this thing because it was $3,000 new, it needs $150 battery, and then it would presumably work just fine again. And I was just testing the waters.

[Andrew]

Good deal.

[Luke]

Yeah, well, that's okay. This is the other thing I learned about selling stuff online or, you know, in the. Back in the day in the paper, in fact. That same brown Honda Civic that I drove home from the U District, years later, I decided to sell it. Well, I didn't decide to sell it. What happened was I needed to pay the co pay on Addie's birth, which was $800 to her maternal granddad. She was. Her mom was on her on his coverage through PepsiCo, who he worked for. And thankfully it covered the birthday somehow, even though it wasn't his kid, it was his grandkid. I guess it was a medical procedure for his daughter. But there was a copay that wasn't covered. That was $800. And I was on the hook for the co pay. The only asset I had was this Honda Civic. So I. I've got to sell it. I got to scare up some money. And so first I'm trying to list it for like, whatever the Kelly blue book on it is, whatever the max I can get for this year, mileage of this Honda. And I've got people coming over, but they're just like, like, it's such a pain. Everyone's, you know, trying to lowball me. I had, I remember a guy doing compression tests on the engine. Like he had all this equipment and just. It was always a hassle with everyone. And then I just realized, oh, you know what? Just list it for a hundred dollars less than you could get for it, or maybe it was even less. I knocked the price down to where I was. I. I knew intentionally, I knew I was selling this car for less than I could get for it. And I put a little for sale sign and the amount of money, let's just say it was $500 or whatever, in the window of my car. I drove it from my house to Living Way Foursquare, Church and back. And in that time, four people had called my parents phone number, which is what was Listed on the little sign. The first guy who came over gave me the full amount I was asking in cash and took the car with no questions asked.

[Andrew]

That's so interesting, because I always thought the mentality is the opposite of that. You're always supposed to list something for, let's say, $100 more than you know it's worth. Because everybody who enters these negotiations. Ass. It's like the. It's like the standing ovation or the.

[Luke]

Like the encore.

[Andrew]

The encore. We all have a show. Like, we're at that. At that show at the Showbox this weekend. I'm like, do we really have to do this charade? Like, just play the next three songs, Play the most popular song. Like, come on, let's just do this. And I always feel like a fool, but I feel like that's what you do. You're like, okay, I want to sell this record player, add $10 to it. Because you know that the person. They don't feel like they got the full experience unless they negotiated you down.

[Luke]

Well, that is the school of thought. And by the way, there's probably some logic to that, but what I realized is if you don't.

[Andrew]

If you.

[Luke]

If you don't want to have to deal with the hassle and the dicker, like, what. What didn't happen when I listed it for, let's just say, 500, when I could have gotten 800 for this car was nobody tried to knock me down another hundred. This guy just showed up with the 500 and was like, there you go. And that. That alone had some value to it for me. And so I just kind of like. In fact, you know, that's just been the case with anything that I'm selling. So, yeah. Could I get more for this thing maybe? Do I want to, like, have to have a hard nose negotiation with. I'd rather someone just is stoked to get it and takes it off my hand and is putting sunglasses, smiley emojis as they're driving up from Oregon City. Now, here's the problem. If he offers me $100, I'll still take it because I just want this thing out of my hair now.

[Andrew]

Although he's the one who's going a long way to get this thing, and you got a bite right away. So I wouldn't undersell yourself. I think this is a so great deal. Did you go online and sort of do at least a little bit of research about, like, how. How these things are selling at what?

[Luke]

I went on Craigslist for the area, which is actually Technically, the greater Portland area.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Luke]

And looked up riding mowers. First of all, no one was trying to sell one of these. I feel like. Here's what I think. The kind of guy who looks to buy a used riding mower is not the kind of guy who is really worried about climate change. In other words, I feel like riding lawnmower guys. And ev guys are not typically the same guy. Like, all my neighbors that have riding lawnmowers are all gas mowers. All the ones that were for sale, the used ones on Craigslist gas mowers. Like, I kind of feel like I. I sort of. I don't want to say I bought a lemon, but I guess it just seems like the kind of guy who's like, looking around on Craigslist for a used riding mower. Seems like. And I'm just kind of. This is just my speculation. The kind of person who'd be like, ev, what the heck? So the fact that I found someone who really wants this Ryobi, I'm like, I'm kind of psyched about it because there were no, what do they call it, comps in the real estate business. I couldn't find anyone who was trying to sell a mower like this used.

[Andrew]

Well, that's interesting. And I'm not, I'm certain, you know, this is your experience, so I'm not saying you're wrong, but my initial reaction is different to that. My initial reaction is people, the reason you're finding a bunch of gas powered stuff online is because people are getting rid of their gas powered stuff because the electric stuff is so much better. Like, I would assume that, like, major operations are switching to electric as well. Like, I'm sure, like, I don't know, the grounds crew of places are probably like, swapping out gas stuff. Maybe, maybe I'm wrong about that because it just sort of seems like there's more and more the industry is just being pushed towards battery.

[Luke]

It should be, but my sense of it is. And again, I'm also just kind of going off a hunch here. And by the way, I'm not saying this is good at all, but I kind of have this sense that, like, we're in a. I mean, it's not helping that the current White House is doing everything they can to sort of incentivize the use of fossil fuels and make it harder on renewable technology. But, like, I kind of feel like we're in a lull around EVs and maybe it's just where I live versus where you live. I just feel like what I'm hearing more and more from people is that EVs are kind of a pain because for the exact reason. And again, this is. I'm not.

[Andrew]

You're talking about cars here, right?

[Luke]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Okay. I'm just talking about. I'm just talking about landscaping tools.

[Luke]

Yeah, I, I haven't. Let's see. They're actually. I could do a little. I could actually do some boots on the ground reporting. My neighbors have some folks that are doing landscaping for them right now. Although they don't have the blower. I think I had a blower out yesterday and I think it was a typical one. Like I kind of. Yeah, I don't know. I'm, I'm. I'm also just shooting from the hip on this as far as the. You know, I also might have just bought one. I feel like I might have bought one year too early of this particular technology. Like if I bought one right now, it might have improved a lot. I just found myself running out of battery life on this thing. Even before it went fully, kind of like, you know, fully into non usable mode. It was just kind of like it didn't have as much oomph as maybe I kind of wanted it to do as I wanted it to. It just, it felt. All I know is I look over at Bob and he's just like on his friggin gas mower, happy as a clam, just bombing around his yard and I'm just like only mowing downhill. So again, that might just be the one that I bought or when I bought it. But you know, it feels like, it feels like there are some limitations to the. And I guess what I've heard from people, and again I think it really depends on where you live, the particular model you have, et cetera. But I know that there are people who I've heard expressing some hassle around the, the, the not having enough charging stations or not having access to them. Maybe Elon Musk has. Has them all locked up or whatever. But I just feel like we're in a lull around some of this battery technology, which we shouldn't be. China's not. China's all in on it. And they have these EVs that are apparently so incredible that if they turned them loose in the States, it would put every American EV carmaker out of business, including Tesla, because they're cheap and they're incredible. So it can be done. It certainly can be done.

[Andrew]

To what end?

[Luke]

To what end?

[Andrew]

I had a thought the other day and this is before, you and I were talking so heavily about these electric lawnmowers this week.

[Luke]

Good news is, as of this afternoon, this will no longer be a topic.

[Andrew]

Oh, actually, that might have. Let's see what happens this afternoon. But do you remember I told you I had a really great Saturday a couple of weekends ago because I had done tons of yard work? And then after the yard work was done, I was able to, like, sit in my backyard and. And burn a bunch of wood from my wood pile and drink some beers and listen to the Mariners game. And it was that heartbreaking Mariners Royals game. But anyway, I just. That night was really good, but I

[Luke]

had another one that Wet Eyes ruined for us, by the way.

[Andrew]

Oh, yeah, that was the throw that you were mad about, right?

[Luke]

That was the throw to throw to second. That advanced runner to third last night. Pass ball, which advances the runner to third. Wet Eyes is really killing it.

[Andrew]

I love the fact we haven't even told the. We haven't told the. Don't worry about it, listeners. You either can figure it out because you're locked in like we are or because you're stu. You really don't. You really just don't need any part of this. Don't need any part of this at all. But I was just sitting there listening to the game, burning things in that. And again, we have a solo stove that our friend Sarah, our realtor to the stars, gave us as a housewarming gift, which is just like. It was such a. Wow.

[Luke]

It's a nice housewarming.

[Andrew]

It's a great housewarming gift. I love it. It's one of our favorite things. We use it so much. And anyway, I was thinking. I'm seeing some sparks pop out. As always happens with the fire. Nothing dangerous was going on, but I just had this thought of just like, ooh, don't let those sparks go too close to the garage or something. And then I just remembered my garage doesn't have gasoline in it. And it was such a weird feeling because growing up, especially growing up in the country, me alone, I had my own small little riding mower. I had the push mower that I used. My dad had the big tractor with the big mower on the back. We had a big tractor with a front end, you know, a friend. Front end trowel or whatever you call those things. Yeah, Scoop. We had whatever. I don't have to list all the things, but you know that, like, we had between. Between tools and toys. I don't know if you know this, Luke, but at the End of the day, the. The man with.

[Luke]

The guy that dies with the most toys wins.

[Andrew]

The man who dies with the most toys wins. God damn. Yeah. Anyway, we just had tons of stuff, and so we all. We had so many cans of gasoline. So many.

[Luke]

Don't you kind of miss that smell?

[Andrew]

I did. I do a little bit, yeah.

[Luke]

It's just freshly cut grass and gasoline.

[Andrew]

I do kind of like that. I. I like the smell of. Of gasoline in the. In the water, which. Boy, that sounds terrible. But anyway, were you. But like we had.

[Luke]

When the Valdez crash. Calm down, Hazelwood.

[Andrew]

How many.

[Luke]

Yeah, right.

[Andrew]

How many tanker drivers does it take to drive?

[Luke]

One and a fifth.

[Andrew]

One and a fifth. All right. Yeah. You know, I do. Being around boats as a kid or. We had these little things called aqua scooters, which. You would have loved these things. They were little submersible things that would pull you around in the water. Almost like a James Bondi kind of thing that had.

[Luke]

Where would you use those at?

[Andrew]

We would go to various lakes and use them, and then we might have tested it in our pond, but. Our pond.

[Luke]

Can you stay above when you're using the aqua scooter? Can you stay. Your. Your head is out of the water as it's pulling you along, or do you have to be underwater, too, with it?

[Andrew]

No, the. The thing itself is sort of, let's say, half submerged or two thirds submerged. So it's got like a motor and stuff and that's kind of under the. You know, it's all. It's sealed in some way. Yeah. And so most of it is underwater, but then maybe a third of it is kind of floating above the water. Then it's got a. Not an exhaust tube, but like a snorkel, basically, because obviously the engine needs air and that snorkel is providing air to the engine. And then you could add an extender to that snorkel, and then you could kind of aim it down further in the water and fully submerge this thing. And then you could be like a little frogman behind it and like, kind of do that for as long as you could hold your breath and then pop back up. So long as you never went so deep that the snorkel went underwater and it sucked water.

[Luke]

This is an electric technology, by the way. I'm looking these up. They're all electric now. Think about it.

[Andrew]

Oh, that makes sense, because you don't

[Luke]

have to do the snorkel anymore.

[Andrew]

Do they still call them that? Is it actually called aqua scooter stuff?

[Luke]

I Googled Aqua Scooter and I found there's something called a way. Do you.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Luke]

That promises 60 minutes of runtime. But that's. This is where. This is where. You know, not having a combustion engine is like a big improvement probably to the whole experience because you could just. You could friggin find Atlantis with that thing.

[Andrew]

Oh, Luke, I am.

[Luke]

We just unlocked your new summer.

[Andrew]

Do me a favor.

[Luke]

Summer passion.

[Andrew]

I'm trying to send this to you, but did you find the actual one that you used? I am having some major hardcore nostalgia. Yes. I'm going to try to send you the. This link via text if that's okay. This is the actual one I had. If you Google my five, maybe I'll make this my. Maybe I'll make this the show pick today for. For the listeners. But yeah, if you Google 1980s Aqua Scooter. Whoa. This link I just sent you is the. I would not click on this if I received this randomly. This is the longest link I've ever

[Luke]

seen in my life. God.

[Andrew]

What did I just send you? Click on it, see what happens.

[Luke]

Are these the Dead Sea Scrolls?

[Andrew]

What in the world did I just send you? Oh, I see. I sent you sort of a Google result sort of accidentally. But are you seeing that orange, blue and yellow? Yes.

[Luke]

Italian made two stroke handheld water propulsion device.

[Andrew]

That's what the thing is.

[Luke]

First of all, two strokes, it's cool. So that means it needed oil and gas.

[Andrew]

Yes. And so that was another smell. And then when you take that two stroke and then you combine it with like lake water or whatever. Like it just that. That smell. I miss it so much. Which is.

[Luke]

That is actually so much cooler than I even imagined. Like, you know me, I'm all about like the aesthetics. Of course it's Italian made. That would explain why it's.

[Andrew]

I didn't know looking too that big

[Luke]

orange gas tank on it and stuff.

[Andrew]

I love this thing. God.

[Luke]

That thing in the Columbia River.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Now I want this. I gotta. I gotta. I feel like the only way I can be happy is if I reaccumulate all of the things that made me happy.

[Luke]

You sound a lot like me, my friend. You know it's working great. By the way. There's one of these is going on ebay for a thousand dollars. There's 14 people watching it.

[Andrew]

Oh my God. We could have been thousandaires.

[Luke]

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

[Andrew]

On your mark.

[Luke]

On your mark.

[Andrew]

Get set, get set now. Ready? Ready. Go, everybody.

[Luke]

Rattle dazzle. You got to start setting $10 aside from every paycheck, Andrew, and then eventually you'll have enough money for an aqua scooter.

[Andrew]

That's right. And we get one paycheck a year. So how long will that take?

[Luke]

I'm terrible with math. A long time. The fact that we get paychecks to do this is actually kind of amazing. And it's because we have wonderful people who donate to the show every month. Comes out of their checking account. It goes into the TVTL account. It turns into my salary and Andrew's salary and John's salary. This is 100% listener supported thanks to folks like Darren Lone Fight in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Feel like we just heard something about Darren's work. In another dazzling donor message a while ago, Darren says, professor Lone Fight, ask you something here.

[Andrew]

And I don't know if this is the proper conversation to have on the air, but I'm looking at the pronunciation that Darren supplied. And we've always said Darren, but it's the pronouncer makes it sound like it might be pronounced Darren.

[Luke]

I saw that too, and I just assumed that Darren did not know how to pronounce their own name.

[Andrew]

No, I'm not sure if that's. Because sometimes it is hard to explain how to pronounce something. So I wasn't sure if that was like maybe a quasi typo or if we've been pronouncing it wrong this whole time. So I will. I will. I will put a Dayren in there as well, if that's the proper way of.

[Luke]

We'll go with Dayren Lone Fight.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Luke]

Professor Lone Fight. Three affiliated tribes here.

[Andrew]

Nice.

[Luke]

I founded the center for the Future of Native Peoples at Dickinson College, just miles from the site of the devastating Carlisle Indian Industrial School. We've talked about this, by the way. This is me, not Darren, talking here. Talked about this before. Last year, I handed the reins to Dr. Amanda Cheramaya, who's Laguna Pueblo, who's now the executive director. Shout out to TBTL listeners, some right here in Carlisle who've reached out and donated and supported the CFNP after past reads. That's totally awesome. Tens helping tens and tens supporting other tens with their projects and their, I think really important work, like Professor Lone Fight is doing there. Big news. Thanks to a $20 million gift from Sam Rose, who is a Dickinson alum, we are building the Jim Thorpe center for the Futures of Native Peoples, a world class facility named for the legendary Sac and Fox Olympian who survived that same boarding school. I Remember having. I was into stamp collecting when I was a kid, Andrew, and I remember having a Jim Thorpe stamp. They put him on some stamps and those were my most valued stamps because he was so friggin cool looking and he was like an Olympian. I believe he was a football player. There was like no. No athletic endeavor that Jim Thorpe couldn't do.

[Andrew]

What do you call a stamp collector? A phil.

[Luke]

Philatelist.

[Andrew]

Philatelist, yes.

[Luke]

Not to be confused with a. Somebody who's into vexillology, which I think is flags.

[Andrew]

I think you're right.

[Luke]

Flags. Maybe it'll be a destination for indigenous studies, art, ceremony and community in the heart of campus at an Carlisle. It'll be designed by John Paul Jones, the Choctaw Cherokee architect behind the Smithsonian's National Museum at the of the American Indian.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Luke]

I mean this is very. This is super cool. Where erasure was intended, futures are being built. Holla. From Darren Lone Fight. That is really cool. I mean. Yeah, that's really, really cool. To as. As he's saying to sort of like the place like the Carlisle School, which was such an awful and tragic place for so many people, to now turn it into something where the people who came through there and others are remembered and celebrated is like a really good. A really good use of resources and a really good way to kind of like take back the power of a place like that. So if anybody's in that part of Pennsylvania or anywhere close to it, swing by and tell them TBTL sent you. Thanks, Darren. Appreciate you. Maestro.

[Andrew]

On your mark.

[Luke]

On your mark.

[Andrew]

Get set now. Ready, ready. Go.

[Luke]

Everybody, it's our old pal JC Clark there in Tacoma, Washington. In JC says I'm a thousand years late sending this in and maybe I'll make it on time. Hello, fellow tens and biz boys. Look, the world is weird. Life as we've known it is rapidly devolving. It's so damn hard. All we can do is get on our aqua scooters and head out into the lake to feel better. I don't know how JC knew to put that in this message.

[Andrew]

Andrew. Jeez, she's on top of it. Jc old Instagram friend of mine who, now that I'm not on Instagram, one of those people that I. I feel like I've lost my parasocial relationship with. Great to hear from you and thank you so much for the generous donation.

[Luke]

Absolutely. It is so damn hard not to fall into the darkness. I'm not here to minimize the reality of the times we're in, but I am Here to maximize the light we can still see. Walk with love in your heart. Strike up a conversation with a stranger, maybe on the E. Line. Listen to your favorite song on repeat while dancing it out and singing along at the top of your lungs. Ride bikes with your friends. Tell stupid jokes. Get outside, even if only to sit on your porch and take in fresh air over your morning coffee. If you see something beautiful in person, speak it into the world. For it's all these little things that hold big love, my friends. And if you ever meet a gal in Tacoma, Washington, with a flower in her hair, and her name is J.C. well, that's probably me. Yeah, not many of us out here. Please say hi and tell me you're a 10.

[Andrew]

Very cool.

[Luke]

Somehow, even before I got to that line, I just was picturing JC Walking around with a flower in her hair. That seems like the energy that we're getting from this message and from jc. So, yes, you're down.

[Andrew]

Sure. Look, can I just say one thing? And I do not like to nitpick on these dazzling donor messages. Obviously, it's your dime. You have shown incredible generosity in order to get these messages is on the air. I am willing to try any of those things that JC recommends as far as just, like, living life to the fullest, except for telling stupid jokes. Like, I just. I can't imagine me telling stupid jokes.

[Luke]

Sending me dirty jokes like you did yesterday.

[Andrew]

Lol. I sent you a screen cap of a dirty joke that I saw Blue sky. And the only reason I sent that to you is because. And again, I don't. I didn't want to drag you into my mood, but I. I kept saying that.

[Luke]

Is that another Ninja Turtle reference?

[Andrew]

What did I say?

[Luke]

No, no. Was that. I'm trying to remember the joke.

[Andrew]

No, it was a Shrek. It was a Shrek.

[Luke]

Oh, Shrek.

[Andrew]

But anyway, I was just, like, in a mood yesterday, and I got the impression that maybe you were in a little bit of a mood, too. And I just kept thinking about that funny, dirty joke that I saw in Blue Sky. So I just sent it to you to brighten your day during the show a little bit. Even though we can't share it, I

[Luke]

love that we've given the listeners this much information. You shared a dirty joke with me that involves Shrek. Thank you, jc. Let me do this. Let's just do this. I know it's blurs days, but let's just do this.

[Andrew]

We're not that long, are we? Haven't been looking.

[Luke]

No, no. There's not that much to say about Hacky Sack anymore. Just play for you.

[Andrew]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Luke]

I mentioned at the top of the show that we were out on a hike on Saturday or about to go on a hike, and we were in the parking lot kind of down at the beginning of the trail and. And all of these kids were doing Hacky Sack. Like there was two different groups of kids that were kicking it around, I guess, playing footbag, technically.

[Andrew]

Is this a Frisbee versus disc situation? We don't say exactly.

[Luke]

It's a Kleenex versus it's a. You know what it really is? It's a Velcro versus hook technology. Hook and loop technology situation.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Luke]

But I saw that and I said to Becca, I was like, oh, my God, they're just straight up hacky sacking right now. I can't believe that's back. Because that was like, big when I was in middle school.

[Andrew]

I think now was their look, the look of the hacky sackers of our generation, which was like, kind of like 90s hippies like me.

[Luke]

No, no, that's one thing that does not appear to have sort of, sort of boomeranged back. They did not. They were not listening to Dave Matthews Band.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

And. Or whatever other kind of hippie, you know, kind of crunchy granola coated things.

[Andrew]

No puka shell necklaces.

[Luke]

No, not on these guys. But it just was very. I don't know, I thought it was very kind of sweet. And by the way, these kids were really good at it too. So I was like, surprised, I guess, or maybe not surprised, but it confirmed what I saw in the real world when I saw this article by Callie Holterman in the New York Times, Hacky Sack mounts a comeback, which with Gen Z. And it turns out that, like, these, you know, the. The high school generation is really getting into Hacky Sack and all these different stores just happen to sell them. There's various quotes in the article. There's like a guy at whatever place in, you know, New England somewhere is like, yeah. All of a sudden one day, all the Hacky sacks were gone. Like, were sold, like. And here's what's great about it, pretty much. Well, this is because of TikTok. I mean, it's not strictly a TikTok trend because again, what I liked was seeing these kids doing an activity together, you know, that kind of was physical but fun. And it turns out this is what I thought was actually maybe the kind of the coolest part is that because it's 2026 and tick tock and Everything. They've created all these like hacky sack team clubs and varsity and junior varsity. Like, these are completely made up. These are not real school sports, but there's just this whole imaginary life of hacky sack where like, like kids are announcing what school they're going to go to to play hacky sack at.

[Andrew]

These are the ways on TikTok.

[Luke]

These are bits on the Internet. So in the way that like, you know how this, like, listen, peace and love to any student athletes that want to do whatever. They're what, they can do whatever they want. But you know how this thing sort of a while ago started where like, if you're like a star football player, a really, you know, prized recruit, you eventually, it wasn't just that you decided you wanted to go to the University of Washington or the University of Oregon or whatever. You then had like a whole ceremony where you like, put a hat on that, you know, it's. It's. It's this whole drum roll moment where nobody knows which hat you're gonna put on. And then you put on the hat of the school you're gonna go to and everyone erupts in applause. Do you know about this?

[Andrew]

I don't know if I do, to be honest with you. It'd be funny.

[Luke]

I'm surprised it hasn't made its way into your, your sports radio list. You grab a Baltimore Orioles hat, they're like the guy who did the shrimp.

[Andrew]

You grab a hat that is too fake BR vests on the front of it.

[Luke]

You grab a hat that says damn seagulls and has thick poop on it.

[Andrew]

You grab the hat that is. Has the fake green hair.

[Luke]

The guy Fieri look, whatever it is. So, yeah, there's this, there. There's this whole thing that happened that started, I think in my awareness of it started mostly with like football and maybe some basketball players. These were high school athletes that were extremely, you know, sought after. And then it became the thing where if you're any high school athlete that is going to be able to play at the collegiate level, you might not do the full, like, I'm sitting at a card table with like assembled family and some small amount of media or whatever, but you would put out on social media. And again, I listen, these kids work really hard. I'm not saying they shouldn't have their moment and celebrate it, but it's sort of. It's gotten a little out of control. It'll be someone maybe playing a pretty obscure sport who's going to a pretty obscure school, and you're like, you know, they're. They're kind of. Again, they should. They should celebrate. They worked hard. But the idea that these kids at like, Hacky Sack are now doing this, where they're doing announcements about where they're gonna go play Hacky Sack.

[Andrew]

I love that.

[Luke]

And it's also kind of gotten combined with what I call dude perfect culture, which is like, the dude perfect guys are these guys that do these, like, basketball trick shots and all these, like, elaborate, you know, like. I don't know, they do these Rube Goldberg machines or they. They got to do this thing where they shoot the ball from here and it's got to bounce over there. Or they. They throw CDs into a CD player. Or like, imagine like trying to throw a CD. Is it a Xbox that had a top loading CD at some point?

[Andrew]

Is that a. I don't know. I do have an Xbox, and the kind that took CDs for me, went into the front. But I am. I'm not familiar with, like, the history of that.

[Luke]

There are certain kinds of. Of like, older technologies, older devices, where, like, it's somehow CD or dvd and it has like a.

[Andrew]

A slow.

[Luke]

Like you just put it in the top and it's almost like a toaster.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

It goes down.

[Andrew]

I can picture that. I think. So there's these guys, maybe they'll sit

[Luke]

on one side of the room and they'll just like, throw the CDs or the DVDs until it lands perfectly in the slot and lowers itself.

[Andrew]

Sure.

[Luke]

Or they'll do like, just all these. You name it. All these different kinds of, like, impossible one in a million shots, which they'll just sit there for hours and hours and hours trying to do them. And you just get to see the moment when it actually happens. And they jump up, down, and go crazy. Well, it's like that of Hacky Sack. Like, they're doing. These guys are taking it to these, like, crazy levels now where they're like, kicking it off of a roof and then another guy is catching it and flipping and throwing. Like they're really advancing the whole operation. And what I thought was maybe the kind of most heartwarming part of the story was at the very end of the piece, it says, the old guard seems happy to welcome newcomers. Derek Fogle, 62, a hacky sack legend in Columbia, Missouri, and member of the Footbag hall of Fame, said he'd been intrigued by the unusual serve setups he had been seeing among young players. He says, it would be really easy for me to look at this and say, hey, that's not the way you play hacky sack, he said. But he said he would rather let a new generation make the game its own. How great is that?

[Andrew]

This makes me want to play hacky sack. I didn't play it a lot, but it was just sort of omnipresent when I was in high school and college. And so there were plenty of times you just find yourself standing in a circle with friends and hacky sacking. And I totally. I'm being serious about something. We haven't given any details yet, as we still sort of figure out the all of the details around it. But, you know, we do have a summer TBTL a thon coming up. And it is my understanding that if everything goes according to plan, you, me and John will be staying together in a. In a home again, in a rented home, in an Airbnb type of situation. If you happen to see a hacky sack before this trip, you should buy the same. Yeah, like, that's true too, if they're selling like hotcakes. But that I could see us doing that now. Maybe my only concern with these things. Same with, like, I don't know, card games or anything. Like, I could just see you being frustrated with me because you're immediately going to be doing stuff behind your back or something, and I'm going to be like, having trouble getting my cement shoes off the ground. You know what I mean?

[Luke]

This is not going to be middle school all over, I promise.

[Andrew]

But that would be so fun around hacking. Absolutely.

[Luke]

Sacks could be hacked.

[Andrew]

Sex could be hacked while we. While we hash out some whatever we're working on. I like this totally.

[Luke]

I feel like it's a kind of a low. A somewhat low bar to entry. I mean, yeah, some people get crazy good at it, but also just like to just kind of sit around and pop it up off your knee and try to keep it going as long as possible. That just seems like a fun group activity that a lot of people can be involved in. This was cute. At the end of the story, he said, I'd rather let a new generation make the game its own. A group of teenage hacky sackers at Trinity Pauling School in the Hudson Valley of New York recently sent Fogle an Instagram direct message asking him to sign on as their coach. He accepted, and last week he mailed them a box of his old hackies sex.

[Andrew]

Oh, isn't that cute? It is cute. It also this. That little bit you were telling me about. And we don't have time to get into this because I could be just totally off base. I'm so, you know me, I don't have a very solid grasp on what's going on in the culture these days, especially the generations that are younger than me. But there's something about the tick tock bit that you were saying of people like announcing what schools are going to go hack for that that introduces a bit of irony in younger pop culture that I feel like maybe has been a little bit missing. Now I'm not even saying if that's a good or bad thing. Our generation was drenched in irony, right? Like that was kind of the defining characteristics. Sort of an eye roll, a sarcasm, irony and. But I feel like there's been a lot of earnestness which I've really appreciated in younger generations. But the fact that also there now there's this bit that sort of like, like kind of self aware and making fun of sort of a trend of self aggrandizement that doesn't seem like the type of thing that I would usually expect from TikTok. And I kind of love it.

[Luke]

No, you're absolutely right. Again, it's a fine line that you and I both need to walk here. Particularly not having young kids anymore, me and you not having kids. But like we definitely entered an era where it was sort of like yeah, I think we went from. We're like, you know, maybe not telling our kids they're doing well enough, maybe not enough self esteem to like a definitely in certain cases not a lack thereof. And it kind of like you said, I think a kind of a, like a. Maybe a little bit a sort of a celebration of a level that I just wonder how good it is for a person at a certain age to be like celebrated that much. Who knows? And the idea that like this same generation is kind of having fun with it, they're kind of making, making a little bit of fun of some of this kind of like super aggrandizing kind of behavior and everything. You know, all of that stuff. Like I do think that's kind of a, that's encouraging to me because these kids seem like they totally get. They also, I mean again what keeps coming up in, in the story is that these kids are kind of doing it as a joke, but then they're just having fun hanging out like, like let's see. Joey Fink, a 17 year old senior at Walcott in Walcott, Connecticut. Last month he and some friends were Inspired by the TikTok videos, start kicking around a green foot bag with a smiley face on it before baseball practice. These days, the boys film film rallies complex enough to please Rube Goldberg and then share them on Instagram and TikTok accounts they created to document their sacking exploits. The school's vice principal recently joined one of their circles. For a few kids chicks, he was pretty good. Fink said it kind of, it's kind of bringing everybody together, he said. And then there was another quote somewhere else from another. A young woman who, same thing had created this whole kind of joke fictional thing with her friends, but then basically at the end of it said it's actually really fun to just hang out and do this thing. So I, I'm, I'm all for this and yes, Andrew, I will be on the lookout. Although I want to get, I want to get like a legit hacky sack which is like the little leather stitched thing. Because you know what? I always had like, like one of these like shitty ones that was like just beans in a, like a, like a crocheted.

[Andrew]

Yeah, but that's the only kind I ever saw. I never saw a leather one.

[Luke]

All of the ones I knew were

[Andrew]

like those and they got real dusty over time. Sort of the dusty feel to them.

[Luke]

Yeah. Oh, you didn't ever see the leather one.

[Andrew]

If so, that wasn't. If so that was a rarity. Like I. All the ones that my, you know, they're like kind of that. Just like that hippie. Hippie braid. Not braided, but like that kind of

[Luke]

crocheted or something like that.

[Andrew]

Leather hackies.

[Luke]

Like I was always very envious of the like of the, the legit because you could get those like those little. We'll just call them the hippie ones. The ones we're talking about. You could pick those up anywhere for nothing. So I always had one of those. But I felt like they didn't really. What it was was the kids that were super good at hacky sack or foot bag or whatever, they had the legit like leather ones. The kids that I knew that were like. And the leather was all patinaed because they just spent so many hours getting so good at it. And I was like most things just kind of a sort of a dilettante with it. I kind of, you know, had. It would kick it around a little bit. I didn't really know any hard tricks. I wasn't particularly good at it. But I always looked at the guys that had the, the real leather and I was like, that's. That's what's going on. So I'll, I will get my Hands on one of those before. Oh, dude, should I buy an original hacky sack for $180 that is still in the packaging at World Foot Bag. Dude, dude, maybe I up the price of this mower. Think I'll. Think he'll pay 1,000. Then we've got. Then we've got legit Hacky Sack money.

[Andrew]

You're not using TBTL funds for this.

[Luke]

I don't know where the card is. It's fine.

[Andrew]

Okay, Luke, I know what you're expecting. You're expecting to hear the bass thumping tones of one Tim Heidecker. Heidecker. Introducing our birthday slash Blurs day segment, which we will get to in just a moment. But I am continuing to go through the voicemail line and I don't know if I, I fully admitted my situation here. I know I've sort of hinted at it, but like, I am just going to say it. I was like more than two months behind on voice messages. Like, I had just not, I had not opened that rusty door of the voicemail machine for a long time. And so because you look different. So for the past couple of weeks I've been trying to catch up a little bit, listening to a few every morning. And I heard one today that I think was from March still, but I want to play it for you. It's a shorty and I just think it's going to bring. I heard it and it brought me a little bit of delight, but I think it's going to bring. I thought of you immediately and the delight it will bring you. So before we get into Blurs days, take it away, Christy.

[Christy]

Hey, boys, it's listener Christy from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and had to tell you TBTL was trivia savers the other night. It was movie trivia the other night and there was a screenshot of a movie and there was a quote with a missing word. So it said, I've had a few. And then the other quote was, a few what? And the response was a few small blank. And I'd never seen this movie. It was a picture of a guy kind of looked a little roughed up with dark hair, but I didn't know what it was. But I was like, a few small beers, beers, beers, beers, beers.

[Andrew]

A few what?

[Christy]

Everyone's like, I have no idea. But I know that quote. So thank you, boys. What you do is so important. Obviously.

[Luke]

See?

[Andrew]

No idea what. I don't know what the movie is, but I know for a fact that it's a few small beers. Thanks to your.

[Luke]

That's What TBTL brings to your life.

[Andrew]

Exactly. Exactly. So I wanted to share that with you. And now for your regularly scheduled programming.

[Luke]

There's a right way to rock and roll.

[Andrew]

You can't just listen to your. Also, just remember that life is number one.

[Luke]

You can be.

[Andrew]

Look at this. Sleeping dog, Luke. That's right. Lucy is upstairs, still asleep in her little bed. I'm just proud that she's actually in the bed. I am collecting a whole host of photographs of her half in the bed, half out of the bed. Her favorite way to sleep in this bed is to have her back half in the bed and her front half splayed out on the hardwood.

[Luke]

That seems to be a dog thing. I have so many pictures of Rudy doing the same thing. Maybe. Maybe back half in the thing, front half. Who knows? But, like, there seems to be at least those two dogs. Something about not being fully in or out of that dog bed that they really like.

[Andrew]

Yeah, she's always got her face pressed against the cold floor. You know, the hardwood floor, the kitchen floor, and the. And her. Her rump is in the. Is in the bed. It's cute as hell, but it also makes her look like she's not the smartest dog in the world. Well, but she might not.

[Luke]

Send her to Kumon.

[Andrew]

Yes, we're going to Kumon tonight. We're going to Puppy Kindergarten tonight. And I just texted Genevieve so this will be our third week. And I said, are you. Are you already thinking about what. What takeout food we'll pick up on the way home? Like, we don't. We haven't had, like, kind of traditions like this. And so now the first two weeks that we went to Puppy Kindergarten, we're driving home around, I don't know, 7:30 at night or 8:00 clock at night or something. And the first night, we picked up gyros, and then the next night, Genevieve ordered some Chinese food from the car and we picked it up on the way home. And so now when I think of Puppy Kindergarten, it's like I'm training myself. I'm like, ooh, what treats do I get afterwards? I don't know.

[Luke]

What are you guys going with?

[Andrew]

I don't know. I just texted her. She's like, ooh, I don't know. Know. Let me could just go with that. Maybe some Indian. I don't want to go back to the same well yet.

[Luke]

Have I told you.

[Andrew]

Sounds good.

[Luke]

Although it is fun to make it a tradition, right? I mean, I guess the tradition could be we get takeout, but also if you get into a specific.

[Andrew]

Zhang.

[Luke]

I've told you this before, but, like, my consumption of Indian food has dropped precipitously because even though Becca claims that she likes Indian food, she's never. It's never the right night for Indian food, which is like, well, if somebody. If you liked Indian food, we would have had it once together in the last four years.

[Andrew]

She's always like, I have a headache I don't want.

[Luke]

Well, that's a different situation.

[Andrew]

Brett in the U district, says listener Brett here, wishing my wonderful and talented wife and tbtl. Ahem, Amy, a happy blurs day. I hope the day is filled with brunch, bike rides, and all the yoga you could ever want. Rockwell, Mac and I love you no matter what the cats say. Happy birthday, Amy.

[Luke]

What are the cats saying?

[Andrew]

Meow. They work for you. The cat says, meow. Do you have one of those growing up? Pulled the string.

[Luke]

I did. Yeah. The little like. And it had the kind of arrow that would go around.

[Andrew]

Yes, I did. Oh, John says rhoda, a true 10 in more ways than one, celebrated another trip around the sun in fine style, ending up at Hubers in downtown Portland for desserts and Spanish coffees. Did I say that right? You did.

[Luke]

You said it exactly right.

[Andrew]

I've never been there.

[Luke]

Every Christmas, we go to Hubers for the Spanish coffee. It's a big thing, really. Yeah. True story.

[Andrew]

Well, John says Rhoda does not miss an episode of TBTL and says she knows more personal deets and proclivities about Andrew and Luke than the people in her life. And as her partner, boyfriend, primary irritant, I do not feel diminished by this as the show brings her so much joy. Thank you.

[Luke]

That's right. I believe in. What was the name of that person who was wishing Rhoda a happy birthday?

[Andrew]

John is wishing Rhoda a happy birthday.

[Luke]

John, I believe I'm with you. I believe. And this is gonna sound like I'm making an argument for polyamory. I believe in the expansive theory of love. The more love there is, the more there can be. So the fact that Rhoda knows a lot about us and loves the show, so it's not less love and not less knowing about you, John.

[Andrew]

And I would just like to state again, I have a headache. My wife Heidi says I need to ask forgiveness and wish my wife Amy a happy birthday.

[Luke]

I gotta have this drop.

[Andrew]

Last week was her golden blurs day, and I missed it. Happy belated birthday. Thank you for being the orchestrator of this charmed Life we are living. Aww.

[Luke]

I love you.

[Andrew]

That's so sweet. I love her. And by the way, joke. The orchestrator of this charmed life. That's how I often feel about my little life over here with Genevieve. That's a very sweet sentiment.

[Luke]

I also am guessing that she didn't miss her birthday last week. Just forgot to send it into tbt.

[Andrew]

Well, it would. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure they did something non TBT related, but does that count? I mean, if it doesn't happen on tbt, does it even happen?

[Luke]

That's a good point.

[Andrew]

Deb says. I'd like to wish my friend Chris A fantastic 50th Blurs Day. By the way, this is our pal Chris of Tacoma Little Theater, I believe.

[Luke]

Oh yeah.

[Andrew]

Discovering a fellow 10 in the wild at our Rotary meeting, of all places. I love it when a 10 meets a 10 in a while in the wild. No joking. At a Rotary meeting. That's awesome.

[Luke]

If you see someone with a flower in their hair, it's Jason down there.

[Andrew]

That's right. That's right. Also Tacoma focused. It was the coolest thing ever. Your kind spirit makes the world a better place. I can attest to that. Cheers to many more, says Deb. Happy birthday, Chris. Now this is a different Chris because this is from Chris in Worcester.

[Luke]

Looks like.

[Andrew]

Looks like Worcester, but it's Worcester Chris. And Worcester says Happy birthday to me on Saturday. Shout out to my fives, Milo and Martin. Your dad is on the podcast. That's pretty cool. Indeed you are. Happy birthday, Chris. Listener Sean says, I'm writing in to wish the happiest eighth blurs day to my five. Yoshiaki, your mom and I are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments this year. Finishing second grade, your love of baseball and your wild imagination and your commitment to jumping out and scaring us every chance you get.

[Luke]

Love it.

[Andrew]

I don't think I pre read this one. That's great. Keep being awesome and please stop growing so much. And happy blursday. Yoshiaki, keep jumping out and scaring your folks. Please never stop. That's so great, Will. I love the best blurs. They just offer just a little window into these. Will says hi, Andrew. Will and Mount Lake Terrace here. I don't know why I left the high Andrew in there. Sorry about that. I'm not trying to center myself in the story. As you say.

[Luke]

Luke Will and parenthetically of the Ninja Turtles,

[Andrew]

Will, parenthetically named after the member of the Black Eyed Peas, Will in Mount Lake Terrace here. I'm wishing myself a happy golden blursday. Thursday. That's. Today is my 45th birthday.

[Luke]

Nice.

[Andrew]

And as you read this, I will be in the middle of the mcat. Wish me luck. That's the medical one, right? The mcat.

[Luke]

Yeah. Hey, you know who this is? This is our, I think, attorney who's going to med school, who builds airplanes.

[Andrew]

This is Will. We were thanking Will for dazzling donations.

[Luke]

Doing the MCATs right now, you know. Oh, my gosh. Good luck, brother, on your birthday. On your 45th Golden Blurs Day.

[Andrew]

Can you. Is it okay if I just. I can just scroll through some text messages for a while while I look for something? I got a text message from our friend Amy in Memphis, who I think is maybe taking the MCAT today as well.

[Luke]

Is this the day that the MCAT happens?

[Andrew]

I'm trying to think. And I thought it was a tie into another 10. So I was looking to see if maybe Will and Amy are in touch about this, but maybe not. It says, let's see. Amy says, I'm taking the MCAT this month, and I'm taking it Thursday morning at 8am wow. So this must be MCAT day for everybody. Yeah.

[Luke]

Oh, a blessed MCAT day to all who celebrate. And by celebrate, I mean studied their brains out for the last however long to take this. Good luck.

[Andrew]

And let's see here. Yeah, this is great. Anyway, I can't tell if these two listeners are in touch with each other, but good luck to both you and Will, especially. Happy Blurs day. Yeah. And finally, Nancy says, today I turned 53. Although I'm a new 10. I've only been listening since about 2018. This year was the first year of interacting with my imaginary friendos and tens. I participated in the card exchanges, the holiday party, sharing my pathetic wordle scores in slack. By the way, something happened to me the past two days, Luke. For the first time in my wordle history, I failed wordle two days in a row. And I don't mean that I forgot to do it or anything. I mean, I lost wordle. Sleep deprivation.

[Luke]

It's sleep deprivation.

[Andrew]

And also just lack of care at this point. Like, I just jammed through. I'm not doing it strategically. Like, how many letters can I use up?

[Luke]

I was Dog has really changed you.

[Andrew]

I was like, I don't know, Mommy. Like, mommy is such a bad game. Yes, it takes up three M's, and if there's no M's in there, you're screwed. I did it, and it didn't work out for me. And I Just wasted all those letters. So I was like, you know what? I don't care anymore. What was I saying? Nancy was trying to make this all about her on her blur day Today, I turned 53 and I are participating in the card exchanges, the holiday party, sharing my pathetic wordle scores and slack. And I got to hear my first dazzling donor message over the air. Thank you again. Wow.

[Luke]

Thank you so much.

[Andrew]

Here's another. Here's to another fun trip around the sun with you all. What we do is so important. Happy birthday. Absolutely.

[Luke]

Thanks, Nance. And happy birthday.

[Andrew]

I guess we gotta leave it there. Although I gotta say, that was a fun blurs. I was feeling really energized. I wish we had a hundred more, Luke.

[Luke]

Well, maybe next week. Cross those fingers. Yeah, I gotta. I gotta get ready for my. The Lawnmower man to come over. And I hope it's not Jeff Fahey and the Lawnmower Man.

[Andrew]

What is the Lawnmower Man? Is a.

[Luke]

Is a Stephen King thing, right?

[Andrew]

I just. I saw a Blue sky post yesterday that said every time I'm in a possessed car, I think of Christine. But what is lawnmower? What is lawnmower?

[Luke]

Somebody pours chicken blood on me, I think of Carrie.

[Andrew]

What is a Lawnmower man about? Do you know? Have you read it or seen the movie?

[Luke]

I have not, but now I'm reading up on it and. And it's according to AI overview. Jeff Fahey stars as Job Smith in the 1992 Sci Fi cult classic the Lawnmower Man. In this film directed by Brett Leonard, Fahey plays a mentally disabled gardener who becomes the subject of a virtual reality experiment led by Dr. Lawrence Angelo Pierce Brosnan gaining incredible intelligence and superhuman powers before turning into a dangerous digital megalomaniac.

[Andrew]

What do you. The name Jeff Fahey was new to me and I'm looking him up now. Like, why is that name so prominent for you? Is it from Lawnmower man or some other.

[Luke]

It's from the Lawnmower man, which I've never seen because, Andrew, I have no say in what information my brain prioritizes that is not need to know stuff.

[Andrew]

You only know Jeff Fahey as connects

[Luke]

to the Lawnmower, connects to the movie. And I remember, I have. I can close my eyes and remember sitting in. In Matt Smith's basement in Mount Lake Terrace and something like either was on cable TV or I walked through a room or someone was talking about it and I remember something in the Lawnmower Man. It goes into this like grid pattern, kind of like In Tron, where it's kind of one of those green net grid things. And I can remember where I was when I learned there was this thing called the Lawnmower man or Lawnmower man, and that the guy who played him was named Jeff Fahey. And. And again, I don't want that information in my brain. I want to remember important things.

[Andrew]

Not that he was also in Psycho 3. If that means you know me. Yeah. The logline is the most shocking of them all. And there's a picture of Anthony Perkins on the poster holding a key out to us, the viewer. And I am dubious that Psycho 3 was the most shocking of them all. 1986 is Psycho 3. I didn't even know it existed.

[Luke]

Yeah. It feels like they're at that point just trying to, like, get some butts in seats by saying it's the most shocking. They're like, we have two. There's two women in two showers who are being stabbed in this movie. Yeah. Although famously right. Isn't the whole story with that that you never actually see a knife hit?

[Andrew]

I don't think so. No. Janet Lee, There was just. Yeah, you just. I think the motion and. But you never see it. But I do think you blood. I believe. What if Psycho 2 or even Psycho 3 was like a. More of a. More of like a rom com or something where Anthony Perkins is like. Or like a Mrs. Doubtfire kind of situation because he's dressed like his mom. Right.

[Luke]

I promise you, someone could recut the trailer to make it a rom com. By the way, Jeff Fahey has been working steadily.

[Andrew]

Good for him.

[Luke]

In lots and lots of movies and doing lots of things. So I didn't. I don't mean to sound, you know, dismissive of his great career. I just. I only know him from the Lawnmower Man. He was in something. He was in the. The VR version of the game, the video game version of Deadpool. And I guess what I would say is, if we've learned anything about Jeff Fahey, it's. Don't turn him loose inside the game.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Luke]

What are we doing great the first time.

[Andrew]

God. Learn your history.

[Luke]

Seriously, people, why do I have to be the one reminding you of this whole situation?

[Andrew]

He's on top. He's a baby on top of a giant mountain tables playing a video game.

[Luke]

Yeah, man. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. We're going to be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio to wrap up the week. Hopefully I'll see some of y' all down at Livewire tonight. The Alberta Rose Theater. 7:30. Come by and say hi. In the meantime, everybody, have a great Thursday. Take care of yourselves and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew]

And good luck to all. Power out.