That says it all. We also visit with The Prepared, Bob Lawrence.
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we once again hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota Nice that it desperately needs. We could call this episode the Criminal Chronicles. Jeez I had, uh, planned on having, uh, a friend of mine, Bob Lawrence, on. it just so turns out that, uh, I had an incident that took place yesterday. It was such a frightening incident that KG is actually in the studio. I needed a shoulder to cry on. I needed somebody to comfort me. We're gonna talk a little bit about the event that happened yesterday where my car was stolen from me. Broad daylight. Broad daylight in South Minneapolis, 54th and Lindale. And it just so happens that I have an insurance guy, Bob Lawrence, who is a state farm agent. Hello, Bob. Hello, Johnny. You know, uh, KG and I are dear friends with a Brian Yeomans, who I'm sure you're aware of. I am. Brian, uh, is a, a state farm agent. He's the official state farm agent of the Kindness Chronicles. He is. He is indeed. And we got Steve Brown on assignment. Heading out of country, I hear. I'm heading out of the country, yeah, tomorrow with a, a big wedding in Mexico, the whole family's going to be great. So all the burglars that listen to, uh, the Kindness Chronicles, Steve Brown lives in We got, we got people here, we got, we got people. Yeah, we got peeps. Okay, Someone's gotta hang with the dog. Oh, okay, you got a dog sitter, that's lovely. let's just catch up on a couple of things since last we met. Kevin You had, Hockey Day, Minnesota. What was that adventure like? It was wonderful. I mean, when we laid out this schedule, uh, like a year ago, and we heard late January, Warroad, Minnesota. We all were excited because Warroad is such a cool Well, it's Hockey Town, USA, so they're gonna do it right. But then we're like, well, wait a minute. It's gonna be 30 below. And as it turned out, it was 31. It was sunny above. Yeah, it was beautiful. I literally, and I'm not joking. Got some sunburn because I was outside rink side most of the day and it was spectacular. They had sold over 11, 000 tickets. The way this thing works is if, if, if you're the city that the wild and bally sports north decide will host a certain year, it's about 18 months of prep time. You got to invest a lot of money. You got to put the refrigeration system in. So the ice stays pristine for the players. Bottom line is, you're probably investing three, four hundred thousand dollars. Now, on the flip side, if you can turn a profit, if you can do it the right way, which they absolutely did, all the excess money goes into the youth programs in that community. So, it's a way to give back. And so, just watching this thing develop, I mean Warroad nailed it. I mean, it was a perfect setting, huge crowds. Martin Zeller did a concert after the games on Saturday. They were jammed into this tent. So, 3 4 thousand. They couldn't book Johnny Clueless for the big event? Well, he'll be maybe at Hockey Day next year at Valley Fair. Oh, there you go. So, no, it was really a great, great day. Uh, fun to see the community come together. Uh, just the people up there are so welcoming. I mean, you think of the kindness chronicles, we talk about this all the time, like salt of the earth, everyone was so proud of their town, of this event that we were there, that the wild and Valley sports north, we're putting this whole thing on. It just, it made you feel good, right? The whole weekend you walked around, you got to do some cool things. My favorite part of the whole event was on Friday. I got to sit down in a chair like this. With six or seven of my childhood heroes and for all the VIPs that donated a bunch of money It was a kind of a private Q& A with the miracle on ice guys and Lou Nanny. Oh, really? Yeah, all these miracle on ice guys said Neil Broughton we had Dave Christian his father Bill and then just a really cool panel where we were able to kind of Facilitate the conversation, ask questions, tell fun stories. Um, it really was a cool, cool event. And again, for me of a certain age, I'm in my mid fifties, you know, miracle on ice is still the greatest sporting event. I've ever witnessed. It was, uh, my birthday week. I was 13 years old and I won't bore you with the details, but I was hosting a sleepover for my hockey buddies. We're 13. We're doing the pizza party, but people forget that that game was on live on WCCO radio at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. TV had it, ABC at 5 o'clock with Jim McKay at the studio, the whole thing, Al Michaels. So my dad's making fun of me as they're getting ready to host these like eight or nine hockey boys to come over. He's like, why are you wasting your time listening to the game? We can watch it later and they have no chance of winning. They got beat 10 to 3 last week. They have no chance, Kevin. You're wasting your time. Well, I sat there and listened to the game. I kept yelling out my bedroom window. Hey, they're winning. They're winning. I was yelling out the door. Bottom line is they win the game and now my parents have to sit me down. They're like, listen, all your friends are coming over. They have no idea. Back then there was no internet you oh, yeah, you know, there was no one no one They were gonna play the game live on TV. They were gonna put it back on 8 o'clock at night So the game was long over so my parents like you cannot spill the beans and I didn't I sat there and got to watch The game I'd only listened and now I'm watching this game unfold And my buddies don't know what's about to happen. I do. It was awesome. God, it was fun. I remember I was at the Gardner house having dinner with my mom and dad, my grandma and grandpa, the Gardner house was in Hastings, Minnesota, and why I remember it. is why I remember the Gardner house is they had these mushrooms and it was over these pieces of toast that were just saturated with butter. Yes. And we'd like, what were we like 12 years old at the time? This is food porn, man. And I just, I, let's try and keep it clean. My God. There are children, there are children listening to this. Don't edit that out. That was good. No, that was good. That was good stuff. Sorry. But, um A guy came in, it was probably like 6. 30, and he's like, Hey, USA beat, uh, beat the Russians. And somebody started singing God Bless America in the whole place. Erupted in song. I'll never, I'll never forget it. Speaking of America. Yeah. We got a real American with us here today. We got Bob Lawrence. I know him as Bobby. Does anybody call you Bobby anymore? Uh, you and, uh, Mike Wolfe. Okay. So Bobby, uh, was, uh, 89. His dad, my dad, graduated together in 63. Dear friends. Love your mom and dad and your sister. so Kevin was going to be out. Steve is going to Mexico. I've been talking to Bobby about this podcast plan that he was doing and he's, um, he's all about being prepared. And my plan for this week was to have Bobby come in and talk about being prepared. I'm not sure what that has to do with kindness, but I'm sure we'll be able to weasel that in. And it just so happens that yesterday. I get my car stolen. Okay? So, if you haven't seen the video, go look on my Facebook thing. It's on there. It's scary to watch, dude. It's pretty shocking, and it happened It really is. It happened so fast, but the reason I wanted to talk about it was the kindness that has come from that event has been just Overwhelming. So really just very quickly, I I'm at this gas station. I'm running early to, uh, an appointment. I was going to have a trustee sign a document that I had to get signed. Lives over by mini haha Creek, mini haha parkway. So nice, nice neighborhood. Stop at a BP station, pull right in front of the store I turned the car off, but I didn't push the button a second time because I wanted to hear the end of what was going on, on the radio. I was listening to GarageLogic. Of course you were. And I get out of the car, and I can still hear the radio, and I'm, go around to the passenger side, open up the gas thing, put the credit card in. I've got my back to the car. All of a sudden, the car takes off like a bat out of hell. And my first thought was, Did I forget to put this thing into park? Did it just But it accelerated so fast, I thought, I had all these thoughts in a split second. That must be some manufacturer or something or other. I mean, oh my god, it's gonna crash into that car. All of a sudden it takes this sharp left turn and in my brain I'm like, well that's not supposed to happen. How did that happen? Wait a minute, somebody's in my car! Didn't hear him, didn't see him. So I, if you see the video, I'm just sort of in shock and I stroll into the store and Well, if you back up a second though, you did Talk into the mic, a little closer to the mic. You did take off and run. I took three steps. I pulled a hamstring. Yeah. I pulled my hammy. No, the attempt of the run. Thanks for bringing that up, Bobby. So much for the kindness chronicles. Again, being prepared, you want to make sure you stretch. Before you, uh, take off after your car. Before you get your car jacked. So, I clearly didn't stretch. Go ahead, Steve. We're going to turn Bob up a little bit. We're having trouble hearing Bob. Okay, hold on. Hold on. We're going to turn him up. Yeah, if I get any closer to the mic, it'll be in the back of my throat. Okay. There you go. That's better. That's much better. We are, um, podcast professionals, Bob. You'll, you'll, you'll figure it out. It's out of sight. It's out of sight. So, John. Yeah. I, I watched that video a bunch of times today and I played it for people at work. People cannot believe it. Um, and then I, and then, and then I went and looked on Google where that was exactly and I, I, I got the angle where they pulled in. I saw the whole crime in my mind after I, after I watched it so many times. Like, I, I can't believe that happened to you and that's, that's horrible and scary and I think, uh, I think I, I would have been very irritated and freaked out. I don't get how they knew like I don't understand how they can pull in and know that at that moment at that moment that car is there. It's it's clearly a nice car and your back is to the car. There's not going to be a confrontation. The timing of it. It happens so quickly. Like you said, you never saw them. I don't understand, because it looked like a busier area. I never saw them, never heard them. But when you watch the video, I'm just blown away at how quick and efficient they're able to get in there and know exactly what they're doing. I don't get it. I, you know, after looking at it and then looking at the Google street view of it, they pick a car that's in that exact, at that exact, uh, at that spot, pointed outward. Yes. They can pull out really easy and get on the road. Even if there's cars, they can get out. So that's, that's why they picked you because of your car, the way you were standing and the, the way that car was pointed, they could easily get out of there really fast. They didn't have to like, you know, You know, cruise around in between cars inside the gas station. The other, the other thing that is likely is that there was a spotter at the station. So there's a guy, if you look at the video, there's a guy in green. Yes. That comes walking out and my, so my, my mother in law and Becky. We're here last night and they you know, they started their investigation Connie as you might expect and they believe that the guy in the green was inside the the the the convenience store and The BP and was watching one. I think he was probably making sure that there was nobody else in the car like there was nobody in the back seat because I pull up and all of a sudden he comes out and he walks across the street and he walks pretty slowly across the street and he kind of looks a little bit to the left and I think you're right Bob. I think that I think that that was the guy and He was in on the deal. This, this car has apparently been involved in a number of these kind of incidents. The car that pulled in? The car that pulled in. It was an Acura. it was, there were a number of people that, that saw that car and posted things online, of that car, in the Linden Hills neighborhood, because the guys had ski masks on. What? I didn't, I didn't see it, and you couldn't see it from the video, but Apparently, that was their deal. They had ski masks on. So, I just want to get into some of the, the kindness things that came from this is all about. It was crazy, but very cool. So, it started with, I walked in to the gas station. And the guy is he's as much in shock as I am. His name was Victor, and Victor was terrific. And he said, did your car just get stolen? And I said, no. I think so. And he had already called 9 1 1, and he hands me the phone. Right as it, you know, 9 1 1, can I, what's your emergency? So I explained what was going on. And I said to Victor, does this happen often? it's never happened when I've been here. He immediately, on his cell phone, calls his boss, explains what happens. The woman who must own the gas station. Within seven minutes had downloaded the video of the incident taking place. I had it seven minutes after this happened. And a close up on the license plate on the Acura that was involved in the incident. What a thoughtful thing to do, seriously. In addition She came to the store to see if everything was okay. Come on. I'm not kidding. Showed up at the store, wanted to see if everything was okay. While I'm in there, I get a call from my mother. what are the chances of the call from my mother? Out of nowhere, right? Out of nowhere. Hey, I got the weirdest phone call. I just got a call from a guy who said that my husband's,, briefcase flew out the window of a white BMW, uh, that was traveling way too fast down Lindale Avenue. This guy was at 51st and Lindale. These guys must have chucked the briefcase out the window. He opened it up. I had some tax documents in there. Oh my goodness. He sees my name, John Schweitz. He says he went to the, to the white pages, found John Schweitz. We don't have a landline, it's my dad's name, so he calls and tells us to my mom. The white pages. Unbelievable. I think it was probably online white pages. I don't think that he pulled out the great big book. Still, that's crazy. But yeah. This is like out of a movie, John. It was like out of a movie, but the guy was so nice, The fact that he, like, took the time and he immediately called and one of my biggest concerns was they're gonna have all my information. I mean, all of my social security numbers in there, you name it. Oh, yeah. So anyway, so that's kind, kind guy number two. Kind guy number three is my son, Ben. Yes. I immediately call Ben dude, I need you to come and pick me up. What's going on? My car just got stolen. You gotta be kidding me, not again. Those of you that don't know, I had a car stolen right before Christmas a couple years ago. Did not require an insurance situation because it was recovered right away. But anyway, Ben hauls his butt over to South Minneapolis, picks me up, I have another car that happens to be getting serviced, and I call the guy, and I said, I really need that car back. we'll stay open late for you, you come on in, we'll, we'll take good care of you. I get there, And they all want to see the video. Of course. So all of these mechanic guys are standing around and they're just freaking out. And they're, you know, they're all like, well, of course, you're in Minneapolis and we're not going to get into politics. No. Bob. I didn't say that. We're not going to get into politics. It's Kindness Chronicles. Bob has run for, uh, was it Senate or? House. House. Minnesota House. In the, uh, the very, uh, the very blue, uh, Woodbury. Part of Woodbury. Wood, Bluey, Minnesota, but anyway, um, and so I, of course, I have to post it on Facebook because this is going to be a talker, right? For sure. And the kindness people that I haven't heard from in years. We're like happy to hear that you're okay. And it really kind of dawned on me that this was really the best case scenario for this kind of a incident could have been a heck of a lot worse. It could have been worse. They could, uh, they could have punched me in the head. They could have shot me. They could have stabbed me. They just took the car, and I pulled a hamstring. Yeah, and hamstrings will recover, and cars can be replaced. You're right. I mean, and then, what I love in situations like this, when you're at your worst, and that's a scary thing to go through, strangers rise up, right? I, I, that warms my heart. When people that don't need to take that extra time, do the extra thing, Do that for somebody that's clearly in a, in a tough situation. So that, to me, is why we're telling the story here. It's, it, it resonates. Oxytocin. We've talked about that. That is what, what it's all about. So here's a question for you though. I'm looking for some advice on this one. There was one person that posted something on Facebook that I had several people text me offline, so it wasn't on Facebook. And they're like, WTF, what is the deal with so and so? And their comment, essentially it was kind of victim shaming. It was like, well when you drive an expensive car like that. You should just expect that it's going to get stolen. That's where they went, huh? That's where they went. See, you're missing the point. I, again, I, so I, I want to give that person grace, but you know, feedback is a gift and I kind of want to just reach out to her and say, why would you post something like that? All of the Yeah, if you have that thought process Just go ahead and have your thought. Don't post it. Just save it. Yeah, I'm with you. You know, it's like, and there were also people that called and they, you know, they wanted to turn this into, well, it's Hennepin County, and absolutely they're, they're right, that Hennepin County has a reputation for letting people off, and my guess is that these guys have been doing it for a long time. For sure. They've probably been caught a number of times. and they're out still doing it again. There was, um, the, the guys at the Land Rover dealership were talking about, a Kia dealer and there's apparently, there was a 15 year old girl in Minneapolis that had stolen over a hundred Kias. Holy smokes! Have you, are you familiar with this Bob? Yes. They, they called her Kia, whatever her last name was, or whatever her name was. And she went, and it was like she was addicted to stealing Kias, and she wasn't old enough to drive. Come on! And she just kept getting let out. I mean, you gotta do something with those people. Yeah, Juvie, right? Tie him to a chair. I mean, I know we're on the, we're on the time KIA's Adora? Yeah, Pia, so KIA, Pia. Yeah, that's it. We're Adora, no one knows who that is. That's right. But the, the, there is no Juvie anymore. That's, that's a problem. There's not? No. There's, uh, there used to be Totem Town in St. Paul. Oh, we know Totem Town. We always got threatened to be sent there. Yeah. Browner, were you there at all? Did you spend any time at Totem Town, Steve? No, I, I did not get down there. No. Okay. I'm like, wait, what was Johnny made? Oh no, I wasn't in total town. You're a rockstar though. And he had that in his past that would have really, I think, gone a long way to build the band's reputation. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, no, I wasn't, but, but you, uh, it's probably been, I don't know, 10 years ago now that they, because. People kids stopped getting sent there because the DA decided they didn't want to send people there It was a self fulfilling prophecy and it closed down So there isn't a place for these kids to go and so they just keep getting turned back out. Hmm It's insanity. It is but you you are right John. You're very fortunate that that's all that happened I mean even something as simple as They could have rolled over your foot while you were standing there. I mean, there could have been a lot of things could have gone wrong. Absolutely. And I guess we've got insurance guy here. I was thinking about this when you, when I found out that this had happened, my thought process. Okay. Is John okay? So the person that told me, I'm like, John's okay. All right. Everything's fine. Once that got established, then my next question was, what do you do with your car insurance? Like, is this something. That happens enough where it's, it's covered automatically? Yeah, it happens all the time. I mean, I mean, how often do you get calls about cars getting stolen? So it's, it's reduced, uh, recently. I would say a year ago that was, uh, a weekly occurrence. Okay. I mean, I looked up the numbers. Right now, the average is there's one car every hour stolen in Minneapolis. 24 hours a day. 365. I read the same thing. Yeah. So, so cops even said that. common occurrence. They're recovered on a relatively regular basis. So the way that, the way that the insurance works is that they're not gonna pay you out on your car for 30 days in hopes that it's recovered. Right? Which makes sense. Which makes sense. Yeah. Unfortunately, when it's recovered, a lot of times, you know, there's been some not so desirable things that have happened in your car. It could be totaled. Well, it could, it could be It might be totaled, uh, but it also might look like a college dorm after an all nighter. Well, we gotta take it back to Seinfeld. You remember they were turning tricks in, in Kramer's car. You remember that one? Yeah. And you remember what he found, what was on his foot? There's a c c c condom on the foot. Yeah, you don't wanna know. That's the, that's the wig master. Go find the wig master. That's a great one. Yeah. So that's that, but they usually are recovered, um, you know, especially because like you talked about this 15 year old kid, they're just, it's, it's a, it's a real live video game for them, right? So they're just going on a joy ride and then they're going to dump it and get another one. Well, I found an article that said that. Because we're on some international shipping route or something like that. A lot of these cars that are stolen in Minnesota end up like in Nigeria and Somalia. And there are pictures of cars with Minnesota license plates in Mogadishu Somalia. I, it all goes back to grand theft auto. I mean, I'm listening to Bob and it's like. You know, listen, I mean, Grand Theft Auto is one of the best selling video games in all of history. And when you mentioned, and I'm listening to you kind of analyze this, a real life video game, that's the game I thought of, right? I mean, that, that, that was, that was the cool game. Now, I never played it, I've seen it. It's incredible, the graphics, all the stuff, but it's promoting that type of activity, so. That to me. That's where I go. Yeah. I, I would never have the guts. Like I, I could never imagine. I watched that video and I, I put myself in your shoes the first couple times I watched it, but then the next couple times I'm like, man, I could never do that, ever. I, I just, I cannot tell you. So last night I thought I was just, yeah. You know, I was shocked at how calm I was about things. Hmm. I slept for about three hours last night. Yeah, I bet. I was tossing and turning'cause yeah. All I could think about was how fast that car took off and I'm a very safe driver. I mean, I'm a boring driver. My kids make fun of me. I'm a right lane guy. You didn't even know that car accelerated that fast. I didn't. I swear to God. In fact, I watched it and it like got low. Like it took off and it got low. It's a high performance vehicle. Well that's right it is. It was. It was. So, so here's a question for you Mr. Insurance Man. They beat the shit out of that car. What happens? How, how screwed am I if I get it back? Because I baby that thing. Yeah, I mean, that's the downside. Honestly, John is that you're gonna if they recover it, uh, then you look at it and say, okay, well, you know, if there's dents and dings, we'll fix those. Um, but there's hidden things or even just time. Peeled off on the life of that car. Yeah, because it got beat to crap while they were right going around and he doesn't want It recovered. It's the bottom line. Correct, right? That's that's the best case scenario. Is it really? Oh god, I guess yeah for sure I mean, especially, you know right now that the value of used cars is still really high Yeah, I suppose so you get good payout for it. Unfortunately, you got to now go find a car to buy right and you're going to spend that money. But yeah, I mean, who doesn't like a new car? Becky, we're getting a new car. No, I'm expecting that they're going to find it. I just have a feeling that they're going to find it. Okay, things go. Anyways, I really like that car. Before we turn to Bob and talk about the reason I wanted to have Bob on in the first place, um, Where in Mexico are you going? Puerto Vallarta. Oh, I hope you run into Captain Stubing. Isn't that where they would stop? Yes, the love boat, man. I think the love boat's out there. Yeah. I'll go for a dock and go for another one. Dock and gopher and all those guys. Well, you have a fun, safe trip. We'd love for you to stay on while we, uh, while we talk to Bob. Um, Bob. Go ahead. I, I, if I can, I will. Otherwise, I'm, I'm going to listen in and, uh, I'm going to keep packing. And if I, if I have to go, I'll jump off. You keep packing. You keep packing. Yeah. Have a safe trip. Have a great time, buddy. Thanks for joining us, Bob. And, and John, let me just say, I'm really glad you're safe. That, that freaked me out. And I'm, I'm so glad that it didn't get weird and, uh, you did seem pretty calm. Um, and your, your run to the, you know, your sprint looked like it did hurt a little bit. So, you know, I, I. Yeah. And I had dress shoes on. So, if I mean, if I would have had, you know, a good pair of running shoes on, they would have chased that car down. You never know. It could have been different. I was, you know, I was thinking. I was going to jump on the back of it, sort of like Jack Reacher would. Oh boy, thank goodness you didn't do that. Yeah, except the vertical's only about three or four inches, so I wasn't going to get very high. It's a good thing that car was getting low as it took off, right? So, Bob, you're good at this. Very well. Of course he is. Well done. I'm also glad you found a little humanity in it and people were kind around it. It was terrible situation that it is. So there was tons of humanity. I mean it was really actually kind of lovely in a just a bizarre way. I showed up at work and apparently had had gotten around work that you know I must be friends with some of the people at work on Facebook and everybody's coming in there like tell me the story. What, what, what happened? It was, it was really fun. Didn't get much done today. No, but it is, it's, it's, it reminds me of a crazy scene in a movie, and so people want to hear the backstory, want to hear how you're doing, they're clearly concerned. So there's plenty of kindness that came out of a, what could have been a much worse situation. So, on to you, Bob. Bob, you are, uh, I would call you a unique character. I appreciate that. Um, I've seen your man cave, it's more manly than any man cave I've ever seen. Tell me why. He's got, like, punching bags, he's got There's a video of him doing bench presses. Now, how old are you, Bob? Fifty I just turned fifty three. Fifty three years old. There's gotta be more than three hundred pounds on this, on this bench. I did see that video. That was imposing. And it wasn't just for one. He ripped off like six wraps. Um, you got big ass tattoos all over your forearms. You showed up in a, in an army jacket and no, no long pants. He's got the kind of rings that if he gave you the knuckle sandwich There's gonna be like indentations. Yeah, my God, those rings on your cheek. What's going on with you, Bob? What's, what? Well, I, you know, my, my, here's the thing, my wife has stopped asking. Okay, so that's, so that's. I'm just starting. Right, but this is the thing is 25, we're at 20, we'll be 25 years this year. Okay. And, uh. Congrats. So, thank you. You just, uh, break them down over time. Yeah. And then I just quit asking. Um, but you know what? I've, I've, I am constantly wanting to learn. Um, and that's where our, we diverge. Yes, there's a little divergence there. My wife actually calls herself a non learner. Um, and so she'll ask me to Google things for her. And I said, well, why don't you just Google it? Ah, that's too much work. So, um, but I, I do like to, uh, continue to try new things and, and learn things. And, um, probably my biggest. Driver of inside is that I'm, uh, I want to be self reliant and I want to encourage other people to be self reliant. And that's, you've talked about doing a podcast and that's sort of what your, the theme of your podcast would, would sort of revolve around. Yeah, so my, my brand. Yep. I don't know if you have a brand, but you know, I've, I've got a brand. Yeah, what's your brand? My brand is plan to be prepared. Plan to be prepared. Well, as a insurance guy. That would make ties right in. Yeah, it ties in but it actually came that came from the self reliance of more Being out in the woods. Yeah, cuz you were a Boy Scout, right? I was a Boy Scout Are you an Eagle Scout? You're a Life Scout. I got to life. You got to life. Yeah, cool One of those guys you get to you get to life and then you're in high school in their sports and girls and yeah Yeah, the gym, you know, I always say I have no regrets. It's the only regret because once you're 18, you can't get Eagle anymore. So like, you can't go back. They have a, they have a gathering of Eagles at the Boy Scouts. Incidentally, I was on my way. After the thing, uh, back to me, we're back on, um, the, uh, the, the woman that helped me get through law school was retiring from the Boy Scouts when this is when I was working for the Boy Scouts. I had got her gotten her gift. It was a lovely gift. And they STOLE it. They STOLE it. But, I always say, you know, they have this gathering of eagles. I think that they should have a gathering of life scouts. Where all the life scouts get together and they talk about why it was they can all complain, oh, it was the scoutmaster's fault, or it was, you know, you know, my, my, you know. There's always an excuse. The hearing of the grievances. It's like Festivus. You just didn't get the badge. You've taken it to the next level. So back to being prepared. Yeah, so that's, uh, that is, uh, what I try and do, and I, and again, my passion then is to carry that on and, and teach and encourage other people. So how, how does that manifest? Uh, well, I have, uh, actually just, uh, before, in our, in our prep. That we did the prep for them. Yeah for this podcast. Yeah, I shared with you guys that I just went to Jackson, Ohio in November. There's a gentleman by the name of Dave Canterbury. That's a great survival. Oh, yeah I talked to Paul D'Inzio about him today. Oh Paul. Yeah. Yeah, Paul wanted to call in and pretend that he was Dave Canterbury Paul probably be better with Cody Lundin, but Dave Dave does an awesome school out there. So, um, I have a good buddy of mine and he's has this interest and I said, why don't you come with me to the school? So we went out to Jackson, had an awesome time and now we're going back again in March and my son's coming with me. So the three of us are nice. Um, so again, it's just, uh, one of the things about going, doing hard stuff. Right? Uh, so one of my tattoos says suffer, which most people don't understand. So, like when you say go out there and suffer, you're staying like at a holiday inn and not the JW Marriott. That's exactly it. Okay, understood. You know, you got it, right? Okay, I just wanted to make sure. Well, you understand that John and I are both avid indoorsmen, so if you put us in the woods, we'd end up in the fetal position just hoping somebody shows up. Where you're out there, and I'm certain that you could survive for weeks on whatever's in the woods, which to me is just incredible. I think of Rambo. Well, KG, I can survive for weeks just on what's on my body. Oh, me too. That's, there seems to be a common theme there. I think we'd all do just five. Weeks might be a stretch. Starvation, starvation probably wouldn't kick in for some time. We've got some, you know, my mother always said that, you know, you want to have a little bit of beef because when you get old, you know, it's those skinny ones that go first. That's right. Only the good die young. That's right. But the, the, So here's the secret about going out into the woods, uh, and this is why the Boy Scouts do it, is that when you go into an unfamiliar environment, which for all of us is the woods, because none of us live in the woods right now, and you go spend a night. Everything is hard. Getting water is hard. Making, setting up your tent, sleeping, everything that you have to do that we take for granted in our everyday lives is hard. And so, So when you do that and then you come back to the world on Monday and you come into your 74 degree office and you go sit on the toilet that's four feet away and you go to a faucet and open up and water comes out, you have a great appreciation for it. Oh, that's, yeah. Good point. And you also, now, now the day to day things that you, might throw you into a tizzy. Like, ah, I got this. Oh, wow. Perspective. Yeah. Terrific. Yeah, call. Oh, I lost Steve. Got to hop off boys. I'm still Luigi. Yes. He's got a pack. He's packing. Keep going. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. So that's, uh, those are the things, uh, that I do, um, for fun. Uh, um, but you know, and I, I mean, I'll be honest with you. I, I like to, uh, prepare for worst case scenarios. So. Me, you're not like one of those. Those guys it's you're not you're not building like a hole in your backyard. Are you I'm not building a hole in the backyard There's a water tables too high, but but it's it's crossed your mind. Oh boy But I am working out like one of the things and so I'm gonna make a phone call while you're doing this It's gonna be your survivalist pal. Keep talking is communications, right Hey Paul, oh here we go We got, uh, Bob Lawrence on the line here. We were just talking about Dave Canterbury. Bob Lawrence, Dave Canterbury. How you doing, Pauly? Hey, Bob. How are you? Good to hear your voice. Good to hear yours. So you wanted to play Dave Canterbury. What would you have said had we not spilled the beans? What about, if you only had five things There you go. to bring into the summer northern Minnesota woods, what would those five things be to survive for two nights? Ooh, I like this. Credit card. So Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Good start. BMW. Solid credit card. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, Appointment at the, appointment at the SADA. Appointment at the VASUS. Yeah. I love it. So, Paulie, you're probably referring to the five C's, aren't ya? Five C's? Five C's. Yeah. So, here's my, here's my buddy's five C's. Captain. Hmm. Coke. Camels. Combustion, which actually crosses over, so, and then, uh, and then there's one other one that's probably not, uh, appropriate. Not appropriate. Okay, thank you for keeping it clean. But, uh, but combustion is one of them, so you want to have a way to start a fire. So do you bring like a flint or something, or? Well, you'd bring the easiest way to start a fire, Johnny. Which would be a Zippo. Which, well, actually a Bic. Uh, Oh, really? Well, because it's covers the camel and yeah. Okay. But a Zippo will dry up, right? Like if you're just carrying a Zippo in your pocket, if the fluid evaporates, who knew? Yeah. So, so you got a bit lighter. Okay. 1. 29 at the BP gas station on 53rd. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and then, and then you want to, you want to have cover, right? A tent or a tarp. so we've got combustion, we got cover, we've got a container, right? So, uh, you want to have something you can carry water in, right? Oh, okay. Okay. So we've got combustion, cover, container, and then we've got cordage. Ooh, cordage. I don't even know what that word means. So, Pauly, what is cordage? Well, you know, you want, you want some rope or some twine or some Right, um, it's really, you know, Oh, you meant cortage. Yes, I'm sorry. French. French. Yeah. I didn't know that. Okay, Pauly, what if You got the accent on the E there. Yeah, yes. Exactly right. What have I, what have I left off? I got combustion, cover, Cookies. Container, cordage. Cookies. Pauly. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to think. He's thinking. I don't know Dave Canterbury like you do. Oh, so you'd want a cutting tool. Oh. Or a knife. A knife, okay. A knife, right. A knife. Very Rambo like, see? Yeah. Those, those five things, the first thing that's gonna take you out if you're out in the woods is thermal regulation is what you gotta worry about. So, you can survive. You can go a day without drinking any water, no problem. As we already covered, you and I can, we, we, the three of us can go A couple days without food. Food, without eating. Yeah. I think Paul, we could put Paul on that list. Oh, yeah, yeah. Paul, this soccer player, Paul's a member of our community. Yeah, yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I got, I got, I got 362 days on, on just what I bring into the wood on my body. Very good. Remember when Elaine is trying to explain George to her friend on the blind date? Yes. Yes. Well, he's, he's husky, he's bald. No, no, no. He's stocky, powerful, yeah, sturdy, sturdy, yeah, we rated you because of your build. Oh my god, that's great. But what is the point of all this, Bob, Paul, why, why, why, I mean are we expecting nuclear? I have my answer. Go ahead, let's hear it. Which actually, which actually ties in to John, some of the things that you've been, been out kind of advocating for. And, and a lot of the different ways of, of, um, uh, the iterations of what ultimately became your podcast. And I, I think it's about self reliance and independence, right? Without, without reading Walden, you know, it's, it's around, how do you stand on your own two feet? How do you be self reliant? Right? And I think that's what, you know, the Dave Canterbury's of the world or bushcrafting or, you know, Bushcraft. I'm so glad it's not a zombie apocalypse. It is, it, you know, it certainly can be taken that way where you're just waiting for the dark days to come, but, but to me, it really is around self reliance and independence and that's what it means to me. I'm going to bring up a name, uh, Brian Orlowski, uh, who I, I was, um, a boy scout with, uh, and we did a, we had, we were up in Tomahawk, which is a scout camp. And you, you know, you, you'd get a merit badge and it was a wilderness merit badge, so you had to spend one night in the woods. And I was partnered with Brian Alki, who Murray grad, who's no longer with us. Correct. And the whole thought about, you know, that merit badge was around, you know, can you push yourself a little bit? Can you, can you shift away from in, in some ways kind of dependence and the independence? I'm sorry to have such a long winded answer, but Dave Canterbury's and, you know, it's, uh, it's around standing on your own two feet and self reliance and maybe in a more extreme way, but it's in that vein. We've been having kind of fun at Bob's expense about, you know, the, what do they call those guys? It's the, the The people that that build the the bunkers like preppers preppers. That's the word that I mean, it's very real. And I mean, yeah, you know, when you watch some of these, uh, these news channels, they have businesses that have, uh, freeze dried food or whatever that, you know, well, didn't covid kind of change everything, right? I mean, that that really kind of step things up a bit, right? Yeah, well, so I went out and bought my own freeze dryer, John. So I don't even have to buy the other guy's stuff anymore. Nice. Um, yeah, we're gonna have to talk after this, Bob. Um, I mean, if you can, if the food's good, it doesn't matter if it's freeze dried or not. If it's good food, it's good food. Okay, so, so those, those are the five things that you, if you could have five more, what would they be? Cell phone starts with a C. Compass. Okay, compass. Uh, and then we would have a, uh, Don't you just look at the tree and find out where the green stuff is and that's north? And the moss. Moss, see? That's right. Look at you. There you go. Yeah. Uh, you would want, call it candle, but a flashlight. There you go. Flashlight. Light. Uh, uh, cargo tape. There's a theme here, there's another five C's. But cargo tape would be duct tape. Like, or gorilla tape. So like if you want to kidnap somebody, and you want to shut them up. That's correct. Too much Dateline for you. And then, and then we've got uh, a cloth sail needle. So, that's, you use a needle for repairing your gear. And also for, uh, getting, uh, you know, if you've got a sliver in your hand. Yeah. Yeah. Use a needle for that. I just keep thinking about the Blair Witch Project. Yeah, I'm not sure I could do this. I'm not sure I would last very long. Uh, it's, it, and you don't have to do it all hardcore, right? And that's really, that, that's what I want to bring to the masses, is that, because most of the guys, um, Let's take you guys. There's a slight bit of interest in this. Yeah, right. Sure. Uh, but you're not going to drive to Jackson, Ohio. Nope. Um, and, and you're not looking to, you know, go trap a squirrel and eat it. Do you, have you done that? Uh, I, I have, but like Rocky from Rocky and it wasn't, it wasn't Rocky. Okay. Uh, but. I bet you'd be kind of interested in starting a fire with, uh, Flint and Steel, or, uh, Fair Seymouron. What was that word you just said? Ferrocerium. Oh yeah. Ferro. Of course, everybody knows that. It's, it's just a, yeah. So we'll, we'll go over it later. Okay. But, but there's, there's an interest in doing some of that, right? Like in tiptoeing in and learning some of it. The basics. Yes. And you want to have a podcast that, I think it's a great idea. I do too. I'm, I would imagine that, you know, I'm going to keep it kind. I, I would imagine that you're going to have a, a very Uh, interesting mix of people. How's that? Yeah. Wanting to tune in. But I would imagine that there are people that are experts in this field, like this Dave Canterbury, and people like Paul D'Inzio, who, when I talked to Paul earlier today, he started talking about this, uh, bushcraft. And I'm like, what is that word you keep saying? What the hell is bushcraft? And, yeah, just very interesting. Paul, are you still there? Yeah, I sure am. Oh, you do. You know what? He's such a gentleman. He put us on, probably on mute. Um, I, I just want to, I want to interject real quick. I had a, uh, Paul is, uh, is in the, uh, he's in the good guy business. Paul helped, uh, get me through law school. He actually helped me succeed in law school. Wow. He was a couple of years behind me at, uh, at Hill Murray. But I always looked up to him because he was clearly so much smarter than me. Um, but, uh, he works for a company called Doherty. I think, are you the president or CEO? Which one are you? Well, it's such a small shop that it's embarrassing to say you're president of, you know, um, of something when it's that small. But yeah, that's It's a really great shop though, and he has an associate. By the name of Nikita Zolotov. Do you know that name? I do. Sergei's kid. Sergei's kid. Sergei's kid. What a nice guy. Great kid. That's a tragic story. Darby Hendrickson, still close with the family, was there the night of the tragedy when Sergei died playing hockey over in Europe. And, uh, Darby still talks about it. He gets emotional. Was he like in Belarus or something like that? Yeah. And Darby, as you know, might be the nicest human being on the planet. Literally. I'm not kidding. Is he? Oh. Why don't we, why don't you get him on our podcast? We will. Let's put it to the off season. He gets a little tied up in there. I would imagine. But he'd be great to have on because he's that guy. And still gets emotional about being there when, when Sergey passes. Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge what a nice kid he was. Um. Alright, so Bob, what are your plans? Do you have a name for this, uh, for this podcast? Yeah, it's the Plan to Be Prepared podcast. Plan to Be Prepared podcast. There's a lot of peas in that. You got your C's and you got your P's. Got your C's and you got your P's. Is there going to be a cool logo, like with a tent out in the woods? That'd be kind of fun. Well, no, my logo's a shield. Is that the thing that you had on your Yes, yes, so you really this is like a thing. Oh, it's going. Oh, yeah, but here's the thing is that I mean I have spent insane amount of time building out this studio and Like getting everything ready, and then oh wow I just need to the push So what was nice about this John is inviting me to this is that then I? Uh, reached out to my, well, it's a buddy I work out with three days a week. And I said, you're coming here Sunday at five. He's the one that went to Ohio with me and we're doing a podcast. Uh, so the first one is going to be Sunday at five. Okay. I, I envisioned John a title sponsor and I'm, I'm very naive. Is REI, is that like, would that be a cool place to, or is it Shields? Oh, those are all cool places. Uh, you know, I will tell you though, I'm not, I don't. I don't care about any money, because I don't want to have, uh, I don't want to be beholding to anybody. If I happen to use a piece of gear, uh, and I want to tell people about it, I don't want to feel like, ah, they're kicking money to the show. I don't want to have to worry about any of that. Gotcha. Well, as a successful state farm agent, you probably don't have to worry about money. Well, I do now a little bit more because I got to pay for a stolen car. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Hey, Paul. Yeah, Don. Nice talking to you. We gotta get you on the show sometime. We can talk about what a great guy you are. That'd be wonderful. I was gonna say that the nicest man that I know is Paul D'Inzio. And has been for 30 some years. We talked about, so Steve Brown, who graduated with Paul, we talked about, uh, the class of 88 had a bunch of really great guys in that class. Of course, the class of 86, I mean, what can you say? Well, you can say a lot. And you were And, uh, Bobby was class 89. We had some good, we had some good folks in the 80s, didn't we? You know what? I mean, it was, it was a good, those were good visits. Good mix. I'm friends with a lot of those pioneers. I gotta tell you, you guys had some great Great people go through there. I just bumped into one of them last night, Dave Berishka. Dear friend of mine, college teammate of mine, Hobie. Um, Tony Reif, just great human beings. Yeah. The Quinlan boys, I mean, they're just wonderful guys. And they all had great nicknames. Yeah, they did. Berishka was Hobie, nobody knows why. You know. Little Hoboken, yeah. You had Fabes, you had Reifer. Reifer. Um, who else was there? Serge. Monty, Montpetit. Yeah, it was a good bunch. We're talking to Dins, Schlitz, Shilken, Hoff. We have Paul Good talking to you. I'll check in with you tomorrow. Yeah. Thanks Paul. You guys all take care, Paul. Good. All. Alright. Thanks Paul. Wally. All right. Yeah. And Bob. Thank you guys. Take care. Yeah. Bye. Thank you for, uh, for coming in and I look forward to, uh. To, uh, learning more about the podcast. I can't wait to hear it, seriously. Do you know how to, like, edit a podcast and, and post it? Do you, have you figured out all that stuff? No, that's what you're going to help me out with. Oh, okay, okay. Channel will be over Sunday about 5. 45. There you go. Yeah, I'm going to be flying home from Texas that night, but I'll, uh, yeah. What are you doing in Texas? I'm going down there to make the world a better place. Boy, you are a giver. I'm gonna be right on the border. I'm not doing any border patrol. No, don't be doing any border patrol now. No, I'm going down there for a, uh, reunion of, uh, Masonic, uh, members. You ever had Texas barbecue? I'll be having it on Friday night, buddy. Oh, man, that's making me hungry. Yeah. All right. All right. And, uh. Make sure you lock your car when you're pumping gas from now on. Lessons learned only on the Kindness Chronicles. That's the thing that comes out of this is you get to, you get to help a bunch of other people avoid this. That's right. There you go. And off we go.