HTDE: AI, War, and Exercise, with Arnold Schwarzenegger

Summary

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Episode: HTDE: AI, War, and Exercise, with Arnold Schwarzenegger
Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Peter Sagal (NPR)
Notable Guests: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kyle Orland, Tim Carmen, Joey Logano

---

Episode Overview

This episode of "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!"—subtitled "How To Do Everything"—delivers its trademark blend of news, humor, and oddball advice, centering on three diverse themes: avoiding unwanted AI answers from Google, decoding the mysterious Pentagon pizza index, and the eternal struggle for exercise during long commutes (with advice sought from none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger). Regular hosts Mike and Ian are joined by journalists, experts, and celebrity guests, producing an episode brimming with wit, insight, and memorable moments.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Beating Google’s AI Overviews (00:46–03:32)

• Problem: Users are frustrated with inaccurate AI-generated search results crowding out traditional search listings.
• Tip from Kyle Orland (Ars Technica):
  Use a curse word in your Google search—this overrides AI responses and reverts to the classic “10 blue links” list.
  • Quote: “If you want to get rid of those AI overviews, all you have to do is put a curse word into the search engine box…” – Kyle Orland (01:01)
  • Discussion on SafeSearch and insider speculation (“Gemini” AI refuses curse words and defaults back to normal search).
  • Environmental impact tangent: AI searches use more energy, but Kyle notes, “...the doordash burrito is probably doing more harm than thousands and thousands of AI searches.” (02:50)

---

2. The Pentagon Pizza Report – A Bizarre War Predictor (03:42–07:03)

• Background: Conspiracy-adjacent theory: Spikes in Pentagon-area pizza orders could foreshadow major military events.
  • Quote: “Sometimes, very occasionally, I would say very rarely, those spikes correlate to a major world event.” – Tim Carmen (04:23)
• Process insight: Getting pizza into the Pentagon requires special security clearance and pizzas are X-rayed by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.
  • Fun visual: “I asked if a large pizza would fit through the X ray machine and they said yes, it would.” – Tim Carman (06:26)

---

3. The Commuter’s Dilemma: Can You Exercise in Your Car? (07:03–20:02)

Listener Question (Elizabeth):

Wants practical, safe ways to exercise during her two-hour daily commute—she’s the driver.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Take (08:45–12:12)

• Initial advice: Focus on driving for safety; he shares his habit of abdominal bracing while behind the wheel.
  • Quote: “When I drive with the car, I would just suck in my stomach and hold it as long as I can...” – Arnold Schwarzenegger (09:14)
• Blunt, iconic perspective: Don’t try to combine driving with serious exercise; use other hours in your 24-hour day for the gym.
  • Quote: “You don’t cook in the toilet. In the toilet, you… okay. And that’s what you do in the toilet. And then you’re in the kitchen… So we have to find places where it is appropriate.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger (11:40)
• Memorable moment: Arnold’s dry demeanor and old-school practical ethos (“Forget about the idea...”) make for comic tension.
  Ian teases listeners to “try and hear the exact moment Arnold Schwarzenegger…starts hating Mike and I...” (08:54)

Testing Car Exercise Plans with Joey Logano (NASCAR Champion): (12:27–18:49)

Mike and Ian, joined by trainer Juan Camilo Acevedo and NASCAR driver Joey Logano, assess the safety and practicality of commuter workouts:

• Jefferson Curl (13:03)
  • Immediate veto for safety: “No, this is a hard no. You can’t put your head down… while you’re trying to drive.” – Joey Logano (13:24)
• Modified Hamstring Curl (14:14)
  • Plausible on cruise control: “As you drag your feet back, so can work… only negatives…your floor mats are gonna wrinkle up.” – Joey Logano (14:48)
• Resistance Band Arm Extensions (16:18)
  • Impractical, funny visual: “You’re gonna have one hand on the wheel, and you’re gonna have to ask Jesus to take the wheel with the other hand.” – Joey Logano (17:09)
• NASCAR-specific insight:
  • Race car seat restricts movement; the real workout is just driving (“I don’t need to add more.” – 17:34)
  • Joey dispels bathroom myth: drivers sweat out fluids, don’t stop to pee.
• Car pushing workout: Extreme and definitely not street-safe.
• Hosts’ disclaimer: Do these exercises only while safely parked, or with a professional driver on a closed course.

---

4. Out-of-Office Helpers: Hilarious Community Follow-Up (22:32–27:52)

The hosts revisit their offer to be out-of-office contacts for listeners, resulting in some delightfully odd email and phone interactions.

• Peggy’s signature update: Mystery solved; signature retrieved.
• George’s microscope education:
  • Listeners get a crash course in the confocal microscope.
  • Sound advice: “Always be sure to turn off the laser after you leave. Otherwise it becomes a very expensive problem afterward.” – George (27:21)
• Hosts bemused at engagement:
  • Quote: “I think we keep being surprised that people are actually responding to these out of office messages.” – Ian (26:27)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker / Segment | Quote / Highlight | |-----------|-------------------|-------------------| | 01:01 | Kyle Orland | “If you want to get rid of those AI overviews, all you have to do is put a curse word into the search engine box...” | | 05:43 | Tim Carmen | “You cannot be a delivery driver and just pull up to the Pentagon and walk in and have 12 pizzas…” | | 09:14 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | “When I drive with the car, I would just suck in my stomach and hold it as long as I can...” | | 11:40 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | “You don’t cook in the toilet. In the toilet, you… okay. And that’s what you do in the toilet...” | | 13:24 | Joey Logano | “No, this is a hard no. You can’t put your head down… while you’re trying to drive.” | | 17:09 | Joey Logano | “You’re gonna have one hand on the wheel, and you’re gonna have to ask Jesus to take the wheel with the other hand.” | | 27:21 | George | “Always be sure to turn off the laser after you leave. Otherwise it becomes a very expensive problem afterward.” |

---

Segment Timestamps

• AI Search Tip (& Energy Discussion): 00:46–03:32
• Pentagon Pizza Report: 03:42–07:03
• Listener Exercise Question & Schwarzenegger Interview: 07:03–12:12
• Car Exercise Trials with Joey Logano: 12:27–20:02
• Out-of-Office Message Follow-Ups: 22:32–27:52

---

Style, Tone, & Final Thoughts

The episode matches “Wait Wait…”’s wry and warm vibe: full of tongue-in-cheek advice, honest commentary, relatable oddities, and rapid banter. Arnold’s straight-talking sensibility provides an excellent comedic contrast to the hosts’ playful irreverence. The in-car exercise experiments are both hilarious and instructive—more cautionary tale than actual fitness guide.

The show closes with another clever callback as Ian and Mike marvel at the human ingenuity of outwitting AI, and the absurd joy of being entrusted with listeners’ work emergencies—no matter how minor.

---

For listeners pressed for time: Tune in for Arnold’s classic advice (09:14–12:12), NASCAR’s inside view on driving-as-exercise (14:14–18:49), or try Kyle’s trick for beating Google’s AI answers (00:46–03:32). And if you’re ever emailing a Pentagon pizza order, don’t forget the X-ray.

Transcript

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This message comes from Progressive Insurance and the name your price tool. It helps you find car insurance options in your budget. Try it [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match, limited by state law. Not available in all states.

[Peter]

Hey everybody, it's Peter, back with another episode of our sister show, how to do Everything. This week, Mike and Ian are joined by, well, let's call him an OG fitness influencer to answer a listener question about working out in the car, which is something I do all the time. If, you know exercising your rage counts. Anyway, enjoy the latest.

[Mike]

Everyone hates that Google AI overview that you get at the top whenever you try and do.

[Ian]

A search, it's never what you want. It's often just wrong. Kyle Orland from Ars Technica has a tip on how to avoid it.

[Kyle Orland]

Yeah, so if you want to get rid of those AI overviews, all you have to do is put a curse word into the search engine box and you'll get that old list of 10 links instead of the annoying AI telling you something that might possibly be made up.

[Ian]

So like if I wanted information on the Declaration of Independence. If I type Declaration of Independence or Declaration of Independence.

[Kyle Orland]

Yeah, something like that. So the AI overviews tend to come up more when you're asking a question, I've found. So if you're like, what time is the Super Bowl? You might get something like, oh, the AI overview says the Super bowl usually starts at 4pm and historically the pregame show starts at. And then if you say what time does the super bowl start? They will just give you a list of, you know, 10 probably search engine optimized links.

[Mike]

There's no risk, is there, Kyle, of there actually being something called the. The Super Bowl?

[Kyle Orland]

I never really thought of that, but yeah, you might want to have SafeSearch on for that one. You know, there's been some documentation about how Gemini has some explicit instructions not to use curse words in its responses. So it might be related to that where there's something also short circuiting it, where it says if you give it a curse word in the prompt, then they say, oh, this is not something that Gemini wants to do. So it just goes around AI overviews for those and goes back to standard Google search. I don't know if that's officially what's going on behind the scenes, but it's the best guess that we have.

[Ian]

You know, I realize we talk so much about the environmental impact of AI and the massive amounts of energy that the servers required to run it use it is A way to help the earth in such an easy way just to do this when you search.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Kyle Orland]

And to get your catharsis out too, when you're doing it. Yeah, I've done some research into this. You know, I don't want to downplay the impact of artificial intelligence energy use. You know, it does use more energy than a regular Google search. But also, you know, I think people worry about the impact of an AI search more than they worry about the impact of saying getting doordash for their burrito, where really the doordash burrito is probably doing more harm than thousands and thousands of AI searches.

[Mike]

Yeah, I wonder how much energy is used when I order that burrito.

[Kyle Orland]

Let's ask Google. Maybe they'll have the answer.

[Ian]

This is how to do everything. I'm Ian.

[Mike]

And I'm Mike. On today's show, how to exercise in your car. And we answer more of your out of office needs.

[Ian]

But first, yesterday Pete Hagseth summoned hundreds of military generals and admirals from around the world to Quantico, Virginia, and no one knew why it was happening.

[Mike]

Was it a loyalty test? Were they planning a war, A surprise party?

[Ian]

You may have been one of the people trying to figure out what was happening. And you may be one of the people who turned to the Pentagon Pizza report, which some people say can predict when the US Military is planning something big.

[Mike]

If you've never heard of this before, Tim Carmen wrote about it for the Washington Post. Tim, can you explain it for us?

[Tim Carmen]

Sure. So the Pentagon Pizza Report, as it's known on its social media handles, it is a sort of index that shows how busy pizzerias are around the Pentagon. And you will see that there's these big spikes at certain times and sometimes, very occasionally, I would say very rarely, those spikes correlate to a major world event. Like when the US bombed the nuclear facilities in Iran in June. Right. But most of the time it doesn't seem to mean anything.

[Ian]

The idea being that maybe we can see from how busy these pizza places are that people at the Pentagon working hard, ordering pizza because they're there because something's about to happen or something's going on.

[Tim Carmen]

Right? That's exactly right. That's the general idea. The interesting thing here is like, so just take it at face value, say that, okay, sure, the Pentagon brass is working late, maybe on some top secret operation, but they're ordering a bunch of pizzas, which seem to correlate with something that may be happening. The idea that you can get pizza into the Pentagon, not so Easy.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah.

[Tim Carmen]

You cannot be a delivery driver and just pull up to the Pentagon and walk in and have 12 pizzas. You have to have clearance from the Pentagon. The pizzas have to actually go through this surveillance and inspection system that is not actually part of the main Pentagon, but in a building north of it. So it has to go to this processing place north of the Pentagon, then come into the Pentagon. So even if they wanted to get pizza, it's not so simple as just, you know, your Uber Eats driver pulling up with your 12 Domino's Supreme Pizzas.

[Mike]

Wait, Tim, what do they do to the pizza when they inspect it?

[Tim Carmen]

So I think it goes through an X ray machine.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Tim Carmen]

There's this agency that is sort of the police for the Pentagon. It's called the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, which sounds like it should be part of the mcu. They actually are the police for the Pentagon. And I asked them if a large pizza would fit through the X ray machine and they said yes, it would.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Ian]

And to our knowledge, there's no food taster there who's just making sure.

[Tim Carmen]

Oh, yeah, no, that's a good question. I didn't ask that, but I'm assuming no.

[Ian]

Hey, Elizabeth, what can we help you with?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Well, how can I get some exercise during my long commute? It's an hour each direction and it's a lot of sitting and I'd like to maximize my time a little better.

[Ian]

Are you the one driving?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes, I am the one driving.

[Ian]

Have you tried any car exercises?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

I'll put on music and dance. I have, like, putty and so I'll play with that in my hands to kind of strengthen my fingers.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

I've tried to do some ab exercises, but that's not so easy.

[Ian]

Oh, you're reclining the seat and then just doing sit ups. Is that.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Oh, no, no, no, no. Like trying to hold it in and, you know, maybe do a twist or something. Yeah.

[Mike]

Oh, that's smart. You ever think, would it make sense for a car manufacturer to make the gas pedal, like, heavier so that you would have to push down on it? Kind of like a leg press, but like a foot press where you could then also select the weight resistance so you maybe get some calf work in that way.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Ooh, some ankle work.

[Ian]

Or the brake pedal, for that matter. So there's some incentive. Like if you want to not hit something, you better. Let me ask you a couple more questions just because I'm not sure how we're going to address this, but I feel like some details are going to Be helpful to us. Does the car have heated seats?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes, it does.

[Ian]

What about a sunroof?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes.

[Mike]

Does it. Does it have a peloton? No, because that would be a quick fix.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

No peloton.

[Ian]

There's really, really just one person to call to help Elizabeth with this problem.

[Mike]

Hello, Arnold.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Hello.

[Mike]

Hi, there. This is Mike, and I'm joined by Ian. We're here to talk to you today from npr.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Very nice.

[Ian]

This is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here's a fun game. While you listen to this interview, try and hear the exact moment Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of my heroes, starts hating Mike and I for asking him about this.

[Mike]

So our question for you. Is there anything Elizabeth can do in her car to exercise?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I would say when you drive, you should really concentrate on the traffic because that's challenging enough. But I was always fighting with my stomach, so even bodybuilding days, so when I drive with the car, I would just suck in my stomach and hold it as long as I can to discipline myself to keep the stomach in. So that really helped me. Then when I got out of the car, eventually, kind of like have your stomach in and you can do that kind of a training while you're driving. And it doesn't take your eye away from the road or. Or anything like that.

[Ian]

Well, let's assume Elizabeth is going to be safe, that, you know, if she needs to do exercises, she could even pull over. She told us that her car has heated seats and that it has a sunroof. Does that raise any more possibilities for you?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, Forget about the idea. I would strongly recommend for Elizabeth to think about one thing, and that is that we have 24 hours a day. That one hour that she drives to work and the one hour back, those two hours are just driving. That's just the way it is. But then Shifu should find an hour out of the 24 hours, because now we have still 22 hours left. I'm a big believer in gyms, even though I have a home gym. But I go to the public gym simply because I get inspired when I see people left and right of me working out the machines and sweating and huffing and puffing and. And trying to do the same. Thing I do is get some more firm muscles and stay in shape.

[Mike]

Well, Arnold, let me ask you this, then. If she shouldn't exercise in her car, and if there's. Is there a safe thing that you would recommend Elizabeth do, I think she'll listen to you. If you would say if there's something else that she should do during that hour long commute?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I say no. I just don't think that we should kind of like milk this situation any longer. Because 24 hours, we sleep six hours, then we have 18 hours left. She drives two hours. So we have 16 hours left. And then she works, let's say eight to 10 hours and we still have six hours left. So therefore, what do we do in that time?

[Mike]

Is there anything we could suggest to Elizabeth once she gets to work? She's at her desk. Is there anything you would suggest she do there?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, because there should work. You don't cook in the toilet. In the toilet, you just. Okay. And that's what you do in the toilet. And then you're in the kitchen. You don't. You cook and you eat your food. I mean, so we have to find places where it is appropriate. So when you go to work, you work when you go. Then when you go to the gym, you don't work. Get your iPhone into your pocket or get rid of it and don't answer any phone calls or anything like this. And, and just go and work out.

[Mike]

Well, Arnold, thank you so much for talking to us today.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Absolutely, it's my pleasure.

[Mike]

Okay. Since Arnold Schwarzenegger hates us, we've gone another way to try and help Elizabeth. We've asked a trainer, Juan Camilo Acevedo, a coach at Self Mastery Training, to write up a car training plan.

[Ian]

We're gonna have somebody drive us around while we try some of these exercises.

[Mike]

I am gonna have you. Can you introduce yourself?

[Joey Logano]

Sure. I am three time NASCAR champion and Joey Logano. I Drive the number 22 Shell Pencil Mustang in the NASCAR cup series on Sundays. And today we're going to pump iron while we're driving cars.

[Mike]

You are a professional driver.

[Joey Logano]

I get paid to drive. That makes me professional. So yes, I am.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Ian]

This first exercise is a Jefferson curl named for Thomas Jefferson, who was famously ripped.

[Mike]

Yeah. The gym at Monticello is actually fantastic.

[Ian]

Basically, when you do this, you're bending your neck slowly up and down, kind of taking your chin to your chest.

[Mike]

So I think what you want to do is you have a straight back, straight back. And you're going to start with your head and you're going to lower it vertebrae by vertebrae, all the way down, as far down as you can go.

[Joey Logano]

This is already bad. My head is facing down at my feet. I gotta look where I'm going. This one? No, this is a. This is a hard no. You can't put your head down and look between your legs while you're trying.

[Mike]

To drive, so I can't do that one. But what if we're at a stop light?

[Joey Logano]

No, I don't like that either. Because then you're that guy, right? You're the guy that when the light turns green, you're here looking at your feet.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Joey Logano]

And you're going to miss. And then all the cars are going to it. Then you get honked at. Someone's trying to get to work. Someone's trying to pick up their kids.

[Mike]

From school, and you have to tell them. I'm not on my phone. I'm just doing a Jefferson curl.

[Joey Logano]

Here you are with your neck between your legs. What are we. What are we doing?

[Ian]

Hey, by the way, don't do any of this. We don't recommend any of this. Just want to say whatever we need to say so that whatever happens is not our fault. Consider us to have settled.

[Mike]

Here's one. This is a modified hamstring curl. Okay. You have plenty of room down there, right? Bring your feet. Okay. So bring your feet towards the accelerator. So you're towards the accelerator. And now drag them back on the ground, causing as much friction as possible as if you're cleaning the floor with your legs.

[Joey Logano]

Okay?

[Mike]

Okay. So that's what it is. So we're gonna grunt that out. How's it right now? Talk me through it.

[Joey Logano]

I feel the burn. I feel the burn. So here's calm we're at with this one. If you're driving down the highway, gotta have cruise control for this exercise.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Joey Logano]

Because your feet are not on the pedals. As you drag your feet back, so can work. But you gotta be ready to get to the brake pedal so you're still paying attention. Your feet aren't far from the pedals. And the only negatives I see to this one is that your floor mats are gonna wrinkle up.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Joey Logano]

So be aware of that. I feel that already.

[Mike]

Yeah. How that how the hamstrings feel after that?

[Joey Logano]

I'm feeling them. You know, I'd say it works. I'd say it works. A few reps of those down the highway.

[Mike]

I like this.

[Joey Logano]

I'm gonna do this one. I'll do this one.

[Mike]

You think you'll do this on Sunday at the race?

[Joey Logano]

My mat is just not. No, I would not do it in the race. I got plenty of other things to think about in the moment, but when I road trip.

[Mike]

Joey, tell me what is sore on you after a race?

[Joey Logano]

Typically, kind of your traps. Your shoulders and arms are the most sore. You become lopsided because we turn left a lot.

[Mike]

Wait, so what does that look like?

[Joey Logano]

It means that there's some muscles you have when you're working out. You can do significantly more with one side compared to the other. Because we don't turn left and right all the time. We're usually just left. So you become a little crooked from that standpoint. And then, like, everyone's a little different. But, like, you know, your left leg becomes a lot stronger because you really. With your left foot. Yeah, you drive it with two feet, so you're breaking with your left foot.

[Mike]

So if. If you were going to arm wrestle someone, you're going to arm wrestle with your right arm?

[Joey Logano]

Yes.

[Mike]

And then do you ever leg wrestle? No.

[Joey Logano]

No, no.

[Mike]

All right, so this is the one. I'm excited about this one, because I think this can work. This is with a resistance band. Hina, can you. So basically, on this, you just. You need a resistance band. You put it on the back seat headrest, and then you just pull it from your driver's seat back and forth. Like. Like you're stretching your arm out.

[Ian]

Yeah. Kind of doing bicep curls.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ian]

This Mustang doesn't have a back seat headrest, so hina is holding the other end of the resistance band, which is.

[Mike]

Actually then another great workout for hina. So hold on. Yeah. Okay, so. So this is our arm extension. So this is our tricep extension. All right, Joe, give this a shot.

[Joey Logano]

This is pretty good. I like this. I even like this while I'm driving. People will look at you on this one, and people are going to say, what in the heck is this weirdo doing?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Joey Logano]

But if you don't give a crap what people think about you and you just trying to get your pump on. Yes, you can do that. You can do that. You're gonna have one hand on the wheel, and you're gonna have to ask Jesus to take the wheel with the other hand. It's not the smartest thing I've ever done.

[Mike]

What do you think? Okay, so what do you think? At 200 miles an hour, what could. Is. Is any of that possible?

[Joey Logano]

No. Well, here's the thing, too. When we're in our race car, you're strapped in, you're not moving. Your seat is fully around you. You can't even move your head. Like, you literally are locked in. So you can't move my legs. I can't even lift my legs up. Like, I am literally not moving at all. So, you know, besides, like, pressing the pedals, that's the only mobility I have. So all of this is impossible. Like even the deal when you're dragging your heels there. No, can't. Can't move my heels back that far because it gets all up in the dash. Can't do it. No. No options. The workout is driving the race car, which is plenty. Trust me. I don't need to add more.

[Mike]

How many calories do you think you burn during a race?

[Joey Logano]

I mean, my heart rate at least averages around 130 depending on the race, sometimes a little more. And you're in there for three hours. So you have moments where your heart rate's really up there, but then there's moments where there's cautions and you can relax for a minute. Just because it's hot, your. Your heart starts pumping because it's 30 degrees, 40 degrees warmer than the outside air temp. So a 90 degree day, it's effing hot.

[Mike]

Do you. What do you. How do you stay hydrated?

[Joey Logano]

So I get a water bottle on pit stops, and so they'll hand me a water bottle, I'll drink that. And you hydrate a lot before.

[Mike]

Well, hold on a second. Then. If you've hydrated a lot before you get into the car, at some point. We've all gone on road trips. You said you're in that car for three hours, right?

[Joey Logano]

Yeah. But you're fine because you're sweating.

[Mike]

You're sweating it all out.

[Joey Logano]

So there's. You're usually dehydrated by the end of the race to where you don't need to go to the bathroom more times than not. I've never been put in that spot. I did bike. I haven't put that spot before. And there's really no good answer on what to do because you're not gonna pull over. So it's just pee your pants. Sorry. A little nasty, but it is what it is.

[Mike]

Hey, man, we get it. I mean, that's. That's the game, right?

[Joey Logano]

I think maybe.

[Kyle Orland]

Sure.

[Mike]

Okay. The last thing that we do, this is the last part of the warm. The. The workout is we get out of our car, we're 100ft short of our river. We want to park, and we push the car in.

[Joey Logano]

Who's steering?

[Mike]

Exactly.

[Ian]

We will put a link to Juan's training plan for any of you that want to try it again. Always do this only when you are safely parked or with a professional driver on a closed course.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This message comes from Schwab. Everyone has moments when they could have done better, like cutting their own hair or forgetting sunscreen. So now you look like a tomato. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get market insights, education and human help when you need it. Learn [e-mail] this message comes from Dell Technologies the new Dell PC with Intel Core Ultra helps you fast forward through busywork, leaving more time for you. Time Get A new Dell [e-mail] AI.

PC this message comes from NPR sponsor Adobe introducing the all new Adobe Acrobat studio. Now with AI powered PDF spaces. Need to turn 100 pages of market research into 5 insights with the click templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal or an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report. You can do all that with the all new Adobe Acrobat Studio. Learn [e-mail] do that with Acrobat this.

Message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wyze.comt's.

And C's apply this message comes from Warby Parker Prescription eyewear that's expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable. Glasses designed in house from premium material starting at just $95, including prescription lenses. Stop by a Warby Parker store near you.

[Peter]

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Mint Mobile. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no hidden fees. Plans start at $15 a month. Make the [e-mail] wait, that's mintmobile.com wait upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Mike]

If you're out there listening and you have a question you want us to try and figure out, send it to us. Send it to [e-mail] who knows, maybe.

[Ian]

We'Ll call up Arnold Schwarzenegger and he'll dismiss the question entirely and make both of us feel quite small.

[Mike]

I mean, at this point we've got nothing to lose. He's already mad at us.

[Ian]

Get us your questions at how to npr. That's our email address where we receive email. Hey, as you know, we recently offered to be the emergency contact for your out of office email messages and to our great surprise, many of you are actually doing this.

[Mike]

If you're interested, there is an out of office message in the show notes to this episode that you can Copy and paste into your emails. You can do this.

[Ian]

We're gonna go through a couple mysterious emails we've received as a result of this. Yeah, let's get to work and see who needs our help.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

This is Peggy.

[Mike]

Hey, Peggy, it's Mike and Ian calling from how to Do Everything. We got your note about Jane needing to get a sign. You need a signature and sign now.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes. Is it regarding the. This is. Right.

[Mike]

Honestly, I don't know. I think we were in Jane's out of office email and you sent us a note.

[Kyle Orland]

Oh.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Oh, my gosh. Yes, she did sign it.

[Mike]

Oh, well, there you go.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

So that was taken care of. So thank you for following up.

[Mike]

I feel like maybe we're too late.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Well, it was from when she was out of the office last week and her out of office said, contact you guys. So I did send an email, but she had already signed it. So I thought, well, wow, they got the message to her, so.

[Mike]

No, that's right.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

It's been all taken care of.

[Mike]

All right, let's live under that narrative that we took care of it. That's great.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes, you did. Hello, this is Jennifer.

[Mike]

Hi, I'm looking for George Chen.

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

He's in the lab. Did you email him?

[Mike]

Shoot, no. I was hoping to. Just get him on the phone quick.

[Kyle Orland]

Hello?

[Mike]

Hello, is this George?

[Listener (Elizabeth, Peggy, Jennifer, George)]

Yes, this is me.

[Mike]

Hey, George, it's Mike and Ian from How to Do Everything calling.

[Kyle Orland]

Oh, hi.

[Mike]

Hey, how are you?

[Kyle Orland]

I'm good. How are you?

[Mike]

Good. We're just checking. We were copied on an email thread and I guess our question is, did you use this as your out of office email?

[Kyle Orland]

I did, yes.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Okay, so here's the email. It says, hi, George, good morning. I hope you and your family had a good summer. I'm ccing undergraduate assistants who would like to get trained on the confocal microscope. Could you please let us know what time or day would work best for you? So I guess first of all, did you have a good summer?

[Kyle Orland]

Yeah, yeah, it's been a pretty good summer. It's been a very busy one, but can't complain.

[Mike]

Good, that's great. And then tell us about the microscope. Were you able to schedule those three students or is that something you still need us to help with?

[Kyle Orland]

I was able to, yes. Thankfully, there was a time that we were able to make work.

[Mike]

Can you tell us what it is? What is it? Confocal microscope.

[Kyle Orland]

Oh, sure. So it's a high power microscope for scientific research. So I work in a research lab. So one of the pieces of Equipment, I maintain is this microscope that allows you to look at high resolution, like sub, sub cellular level details of tissues and cells and things like that.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Ian]

I think we keep being surprised that people are actually responding to these out of office messages. Did anybody say anything to you on a side channel like, who are these guys?

[Kyle Orland]

I did get one person who emailed me afterwards just to say I saw the Mike and Ian, were you out of office? And that made my day because I just listened to that episode.

[Ian]

That's awesome.

[Kyle Orland]

You have another fan that happened to be emailing me while I'm out of office.

[Mike]

Oh, that's fantastic. And they know enough not to reach out to us for whatever it is that they needed help with.

[Ian]

If, if we get any, if we should get any more out of office needs about a confocal microscope. Is there just a sentence we could reply with that would make it sound like we know what we're talking about?

[Kyle Orland]

Hmm. I would say always be sure to turn off the laser after you leave, otherwise it becomes a very expensive problem afterwards.

[Ian]

I feel like whether or not you're talking about a confocal microscope, it's good advice to always turn off the laser before you leave.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Kyle Orland]

Right. Don't look straight at it and turn it off after you exit the room. That's, yeah, general, good, general pieces of advice.

[Mike]

Again, if you would like us to be your out of office emergency contact, just copy and paste the message in today's show notes into your email when you go on vacation or leave the office and we will do our best to help you. Well, that does it for this week's show. What'd you learn, Ian?

[Ian]

You know the, the solution to not getting the AI search results.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ian]

There's so, there's something so human about that really? Because like I, I think like what you want from Google is the information you want.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ian]

And so you say like, when is the Super Bowl?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Ian]

And if you really wanted that information from another person who was maybe chit chatting, you might say, when is the super bowl to a person.

[Mike]

Uh huh.

[Ian]

I feel like computers are becoming more human every day and something nice about it.

[Mike]

So if you asked a person when the super bowl was and the person responded, well, the super bowl traditionally happens in February of the year preceding the start of that Super Bowl.

[Ian]

How to Do Everything is produced by Hina Srivastava with technical direction from Lorna White.

[Mike]

Our intern this week is Elizabeth, who we hope is out there getting jacked on her way to work safely again. Safely, safely. You can get us your questions, send them to [e-mail] I'm Ian. And I'm Mike.

[Joey Logano]

Thanks.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

This message comes from Jackson Seek clarity in retirement [e-mail] Jackson is short for Jackson Financial, Inc. Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Michigan and Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York, Purchase, New York. This message comes from NPR. Sponsor 1Password Secure access to your online world, from emails to banking, so you can protect what matters most with 1Password. For a free 2 week trial, go to 1Password.com NPR this message comes from Warby Parker.

What makes a great pair of glasses at Warby Parker? It's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your [e-mail] or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country.