Two Drinks In Again
Dave and Jeff have (at least) two drinks and talk about the goings-on in the Knoxville metro area. Sports, music, restaurants, movies, and really anything is up for discussion. Join us for some information and a lot of laughs.
Two Drinks In Again
Episode 49 - Forward Momentum, Real Talk, New Year
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Two friends pour a drink and make a pact: 2026 won’t be another year we watch from the sidelines. We set a no‑regrets tone and mean it, digging into the everyday choices that create momentum—returning the call, sending the honest text, booking the trip, and shaping work so it serves our lives instead of swallowing them.
We get real about family: bridging gaps with cousins we only see at weddings and funerals, planning an Edinburgh graduation around complicated calendars, and scheduling monthly time in Hilton Head to show up on purpose. The thread is connection without burnout—how small, consistent gestures build deep ties. On the work front, we unpack a practice owner’s associate-hiring detour and the long slide toward a managing role that scales, plus a six-month hospital renovation sprint aiming for Center of Excellence status. It’s leadership, operations, and exit strategy with both feet on the ground.
Parenting lands with the heaviest punch. We talk about the fleeting window before kids leave home, the shift to adult-to-adult conversations, and how to prepare for the empty nest without rushing it. Along the way, we wrestle with tipping fatigue and the cost of dining out, rediscover the joy of cooking, and laugh about local growth—new restaurants, airports expanding, endless roadwork. We even peek at midterms to come and the sci‑fi feeling of living past the years we once saw on movie posters.
If you’re ready to trade vague resolutions for tangible moves, this one’s for you. Press play, then tell us the one bold step you’ll take this week. And if our brand of honest, funny, and practical hits home, follow the show, share this episode with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a five-star review to help others find us.
Drinks Poured, Intentions Set
SPEAKER_01Tutoring Synagon was not taped before a live studio audience. Are you gonna fucking make two thousand twenty six better in two thousand twenty-five or not?
SPEAKER_00I will not do it.
SPEAKER_01Hey friends, it's Jeff.
SPEAKER_03It's me, it's me, David.
SPEAKER_01We didn't even do that in the last episode. What are we doing? Holy shit. What a fumble. We just, oh my God. We went almost serious in the last episode. I know. You know? We had stars in our eyes. We hadn't seen each other in a while. It was a little bit of a bro. We were like gonna wrap up the year for all that sucked balls. I mean, really, we should have just like fucking marinated our balls and fucking this alcohol. Let's talk about the alcohol with which we're drinking. What are you drinking? Maker's Mark. Oh, big surprise there.
SPEAKER_03I did uh get a bottle for Christmas of Maker's Mark that I'll take a picture of it and send it to you. It is extremely uh vanilla hinted, but I've never even seen this type of bottle before. So the the people that gave me the gift, I really appreciate it. But yeah, Maker's Mart.
Year Of The Horse Mindset
SPEAKER_01I'm drinking actually wine today. I'm drinking a bottle of Barallo, uhresca 19 uh from Costretto. It looks tasty. It's uh yeah. No, this is where we visited the region in uh northern Italy when we went on vacation there this past fall. And so we discovered there are other wines besides Brunello de Monticinos. And so we like Barellos and Barbarescas. And um and actually, I mean, if I were gonna retire to Italy, uh that where we visited was the non-toursty spots. Yeah, the Piedmont region, which is um I bet's about an hour west of Milan. Okay, you're kind of close to the French and a little bit to the Switzerland borders. Sounds horrible. It's just god-awful. You just want to tell, you just want to tell the Alps, bite me. Yeah, you suck. You suck. Fuck you in your mountains. Your stupid picturesqueness is gonna say, you know. Uh so here we are, and and uh we're this is gonna be where last episode we kind of talked a little bit about a year in review. This year we're gonna talk about the year looking forward, and we're hoping for with 2026 and uh and how we see it. Looking out the windshield and looking at them rear view mirror. That shit up. Fuck that. I want to move forward, is all I want to do. So, one thing that I have seen on some memes on Facebook is you know, when you talk about the animal that's involved with the Chinese new year, is that 2025 was the year of the snake. Okay, and it is a year of shedding things and shedding the bad and putting it behind. We didn't do enough of that, I don't know. Well, I but I get it, you know, and it was but it's a year of speed bumps and difficulties, and you're trying to, you know, everything. But the year but the 2026 is the year of the horse. All right. And it's about forward momentum, it's about growth, it's about productivity, um, and I'm like your knee. And and I'm like, I'm like, yeah, right. Exactly. That's letting it swing. There you go, letting it swing. I like it. And so I kind of, you know, I have been saying for like the last couple months at the office that all these speed bumps with which we've been dealing mean that we're going to have a smoother 2026.
SPEAKER_03I like it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I'm manifesting that to Helen back.
Do Your Part And Avoid Regrets
SPEAKER_03I love it, man. You know, I I'm full optimistic. You know, I I've got to, in order for 2026 to be as good as I'm hoping it is going to be, I've got to do my part in it. Oh, absolutely. You know what I mean? Like all too often I have said, you know, this this is gonna be my year, and I haven't done shit, and then by the end of it, I'm like, well, what happened? Right. You know, uh the older I'm getting, like we were just talking about, the faster this shit's going. And man, if you don't do it now, if you don't do it today, if you don't do it when it pops in your head, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01What if what is it the Ferris says? If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you're gonna fucking miss it.
SPEAKER_03You're gonna miss it. Yep. Yep. But I I'm gonna get better at it. I'm telling you right now, right?
SPEAKER_01I couldn't agree with you. I couldn't agree with you more. That's exactly what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03I don't know how many times I song on radio, driving, I hear a joke, something reminds me of somebody, reminds me of this, that, or the other, and I'm like, man, I should give him a call. And I don't fucking do it. Yeah, and I'm I'm over that type of shit. I mean, even like you were just saying, uh, not too just a few minutes ago, even if it is just that heartfelt text, as long as I know I did my part and left that door open, whatever happens with it, happens with it. But at least I know I I just don't want any I don't want any regrets.
SPEAKER_01One of the things in the spirit of that, um you know, growing up, my you know, we my my dad's and mom's families were both based in Missouri. Okay. Um, and so we kind of became an outlier when I was turning eight and when we moved to Pennsylvania. And just over the course of that, just you know, I wasn't as close to my cousins and aunts and uncles as some people are. And and um and that became even more interesting as I've gotten older. Um, you know, I would always say to my father, hey, you know, like because he was the seventh of eight children, and so there were 17 of us grandchildren. And it was like, you know, I'd really love to have a moment where like we could have a reason to go to Missouri, Kansas City area, something like that, and and you know, catch up with everybody and see everybody. Yeah, and he for some reason never really pursued that. And I have a theory, um, my father being the control freak that he was, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Too many too many hands in the basket.
Reconnecting With Far-Flung Family
SPEAKER_01Well, I think he liked that in some way he was sort of the neural center of all of that net, um, with even his older brothers and his his older sisters and his younger brother, that but he was still kind of the epicenter of it all. And I don't know if he felt the dynamics of having me andor my sister would be such that that would I don't know, sully that a little bit or whatnot. But anyway, so I have been in contact. I I I talk to one of my cousins quite frequently, you know, every about every quarter, um and that's frequent considering my history with the family. She's she's a month older, she's she's a month older than I am, so and she used to be a senior staffer for Claire McGaskell. Oh shit. Yeah, yeah. So um the Ebertings are Democrats. Uh we just have been, you know, but we can still be friends. Yeah, I know. And um, and um so neither here nor there, right? Yeah, no, exactly. Okay, everyone's about to go libertarian at some point, and um just lower the goddamn prices and and um anyway, um we've talked about getting together and whatnot, and we've kind of been helping each other because her mom passed away quite some time ago from breast cancer and and um or some form of cancer, I forget, but and then and dad passed. So we've kind of been supporting each other in managing our parents that are surviving. And um we've talked about getting the group together. Well, then my cousin Chris, who I'm friends with on Facebook, and he's a few years older than I am, reached out to me and a few things, and I said, you know, I would love to see all you guys sometime. And he said, Well, we do something every year, a whole bunch of us get together, and like it could be just something simple like we go out on my cousin Shelly's pontoon boat. Oh man, and whatnot. And I think he goes, Debbie's the one that coordinates it. So Debbie is the oldest surviving cousin in our generation. Okay. Um and I was ring bearer in her first wedding when I was three or four years old. Um, so there's a broad range of ages also on all of us. It's like about a I'd say a 20, 20 year, at least a 20-year age range for all of us. And um, so she finally texted me last night. Oh, and she's like going, she's like, Yeah, so I'll I I would love to include you in this. And she goes, I feel like I haven't seen you since 1972. I go, Debbie, we've seen each other since then. Okay. And uh just once, right, you know, and I said, uh, and so um, yeah, so that's gonna, it's I'm I'm wondering how that's going to kind of shape over the course course of the year. I love that. And so I would love to see them because so many of them I haven't seen since the last time I did anything big with my father's family was 1996 or 97 when we went to my cousin's wedding. And uh and they'd met my first wife at the time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And uh so I would love to find a way to Yeah, I just I I want to get out of like even with my own family, is and mine's not as vast as that, but like I shit you not, man. The only time we see each other is a wedding or a funeral. That's all you'll see. Yes, and I those are the two reunions. I don't I don't want that. No. I don't. You know, I I I've I've got to do better. You know, you're only gonna get what you give. Exactly. And and I yeah, I I've just gotta I gotta be more of a giver over this next year.
Graduations, Travel, And Logistics
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's hard when though you do all the giving. I get that. You know, it's really hard. Yeah, there's a point where you just say, okay, I have done all I can in this relationship. This is very one-sided, you know. Let's let's move on with that. Yeah, so anyway, that's that's kind of something I'm looking forward to. We've got um Jeffrey graduates from University of Edinburgh in July. July 1st is his official graduation date. Uh, because of the dynamics and vacation plans and everything, Virginia and Max won't be able to go, so it's just I'm going solo and I'm trying to coordinate with um my ex-wife as to what they're doing, so I know do I need to get extra space at whatever place I rent. And yeah, so yeah, managing convoluted really quick. It can be. And then I'm trying to kind of figure out what do I want to do while I'm there. Yeah. You know, there's some areas around Edinburgh I I would be happy to do a day trip to just to just to do that. But um, and then um, so that's the that's kind of the big thing. And then um we're actually going to up the number of visits that we go down to Hilton Head this year. Good. Um, I used to go every other month. We're gonna make it monthly if we can. And I'm I'm wondering how that's going to very good, affect my personal time a little bit. Um six months I'll go down solo, six months Virginia will go with me. Yeah. Um, and then we have Max graduating from high school. A lot going on, a lot of graduation. And like I said in the last episode, I may have said this in the last episode that my in-laws are moving to Seattle, and uh so it's uh you're hitting the ground running. We yeah, we're not fucking around here. I was supposed to have an associate start with me on January 5th, and we ran into some major speed bumps with that. I had given her an offer, I'd actually written up the contract and everything. And um because she was not trained in dental school in the United States, um Tennessee limited where she could practice, so they she could only practice at my what Harden Valley and Morristown offices. Is that not stupid? It is really stupid. What's the difference? It's really stupid. Like, and that I mean, I could have lived with it if it was 15 minutes down the road is really gonna make that much. Well, they're calling, they're saying for some reason these are federally underserved areas. I'm like, Harden Valley? There's an orthodontist right across the parking lot from me, and there's one down the street. You know? And then there's another one down the Pilissi Parkway. They just make up shit at this point, man. They do, and it it it so I tried to kind of do the math on this. Like, I didn't even foresee that one coming. Um, but it seemed like every time we made a little forward motion and having her sign on and everything, like again, the universe kind of laughed. Yeah, and I'm kind of like, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's usually the fucking case. Yeah. I mean, it really is.
SPEAKER_01So I still have people with whom I'm connected to. That's good. And we'll see where those go. But then this all became about like what my timeline was going to be. Because like I wanted to have someone start January and then like at the end of 26, we bring on somebody else. Yeah. And so that all three offices are open four days a week. Oh, that's awesome. And so that's not going to be the timetable. I got it. So I'll just have to see where that road leads me. Um I have some thoughts in my head about it. But really, what I'm just trying to do at this point is just get get get a retirement path going, is all I'm really trying to do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I need CJ to retire soon.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when is her like date?
SPEAKER_03She's got like two years, man. Okay. That's that's her. She was thinking year and a half, but yeah, she's like at two years, especially, is when certain things can happen and kick in and this, that, or the other. But yeah, I'm I'm I'm ready for it.
SPEAKER_01I could imagine. Yeah. Well, no, I mean, and and and I've told Virginia and she hates it when I say this, is you know, I could keep doing this longer if this got really, really easy for me. Like if I had three doctors working for me and I could just you're more like a franchise. Exactly. And I could just kind of pull back and be the managing guy. Right. Why would I walk away from this? I I would do this until I was 75. Now I would hope I could do this until I was 75, but half the time be someplace else. Correct. You know, and then just fly in. You're looking at spreadsheets, not mouths. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. So I I, you know, but yeah, so we'll see about bringing somebody else on board. And um but it's kind of it's it's kind of um there's a little uncertainty with 2026, just like, you know, what's um you know any of it. Any of it.
SPEAKER_02Right. It's just not that much.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I think 2025 broke us in enough that we you know that that we can pretty much now roll with whatever punches you know come our way. That definitely showed us that we can do that. Yeah. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_03So like what do you what are the things you're looking at possibly doing? Well, my my company is I mean, I hate to have it work related, but it's gonna take up a lot of my lot of my life. But we we start a renovation. Um, my company's given the hospital six million dollars to put into it, um, just totally revamping everything. And so we've gotta we've got to spend about six to seven months of schlepping it, you know, while this renovation's going on. We'll be out of our element, we'll be trying to do other things while this is going on, but then once we open again, that's gonna be a whole other race. Um, because it's gonna be all eyes on us. I mean, they're wanting us to be it's called Showcase Account, Center of Excellence, to where because our company has three departments in the hospital, so it's it's it's just a big damn deal. Um, and so the levity of all that's hitting me because that starts up on the 19th of January, and that's that's full on six to seven months. Um but once that happens and we get through that, I'll be able to catch my breath a little bit, hopefully. But that's that's my major focus. I've got Dylan over at school, and Aynes will be a damn finishing up her freshman year of high school, which just I don't even like when the fuck did that happen?
Hiring Roadblocks And Practice Plans
SPEAKER_01No, I no, I yeah, yeah. I mean I mean I you know, we we talk about it with Jeffrey. We talk about it with Jeffrey all the time. Like, I mean, we blinked and all of a sudden, like we dropped him off, the queen had died, and right and now now we're done.
SPEAKER_03And and yeah, no, it's it's like where the fuck are like C CJ the other day was just like when so she's having a a a true on true on conversation with Red. I mean it was it was it was her and Red having a a real conversation, and she you know, Red walks away and CJ's looking at me and she's just like my God and I'm like, Yeah. I said, that's no longer the seven-year-old that you know, and like when the hell did it happen? I have no idea, but here we are, yeah. Um, and you know, having kids is a fucking unbelievable thing. It is, uh it's just so cool. Like I every every chance I get when I look at it and and absorb what's really going on about being a dad, it never gets bad for me. No, you know what I mean? It's just like whoa, like just it's just awesome, you know, from seeing them be smarter than what they were a day before, or you know, a dry humor comment, or just all these different things that you get to see being a parent. You know, and I read something the other day, it's like once they turn 18 and move away from the house, that's that was like 93% of your your time with your kids. Sounds like it. Yeah, and I and that hit me like a fucking ton of bricks. It's like, well, I'm not done. You know, like I know that they're gonna like go off and have their raise their own families and and all this, uh, this, that, or the other, but I don't want to be the you know, wedding, funeral person. Yeah, I you know, it's funny because And it's not just with family. I I want to be a better friend to you, I want to be a better friend to sprack.
SPEAKER_01Like, I I like all these people that are in my life, I want to be better for the problem is we just don't have enough hours in the day. No, you know, and it's this goddamn work thing that just kind of I keep thinking like I could do everything I need to do if I didn't have to work, and so that's where the retirement side of it just becomes more and more appealing to me.
SPEAKER_03And um, yeah, so I I I mean, as much as CJ talks about it and everyone, the the age-old question is like, well, what are you gonna do when you're retired? Like it's like some sort of like scarlet letter, you know, it's like whatever the fuck she wants, right? Like if she wants to wake up and fucking drink mimosas from 8 a.m. till she fucking passes out, then so be it. Right. Or she fucking says, Hey, I'm gonna go to Flata, Texas.
SPEAKER_01Or you find you find you find something that you're passionate about doing, and you if you can turn that into something that makes money for you, you know, then then okay, I can survive by chasing this thing that I've always wanted to chase. Like it's like if Virginia and I wanted to go off and be actors, well, now we can do it. You can fucking chase it. We can chase it, you know, because I'll tell you this. Again, I keep referencing the Michael Rosenbaum uh podcast inside of you, and that is where I've just learned a lot about the whole industry. Like it has been it's been one of those things where I'm like, well, maybe my parents did me a favor by talking me out. Oh, I'm sure this, you know, sure.
SPEAKER_03It's gotta be crazy.
SPEAKER_01No, because I was listening to uh Marina Bacharin, um, who she played um the Marine's wife in the first two seasons of Homeland. Okay, I know exactly beautiful, beautiful Brazilian. She was in V. She's Vanessa from Deadpool. Yep. And um, and uh so she was talking about like this new TV series she's on now, like was she some ranger up in Canada or something like that? Not the show, but I don't agree how much she but she was telling uh Michael Rosenbaum that she's like, you know, because cause her husband's also an actor. He was on Gotham. And he's also apparently written some books. Like he's like some economist or something.
Big Renovation And Career Pressure
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he was on like um not 90210, but one of those. He was also on like Melrose Place or one of those.
SPEAKER_01He was also like he's been on Bill Maher promoting a book that he wrote about like something politico economic or something like that. Anyway, so it anyway. So like, but but she was saying, she's like, okay, so we like looked at this show and what we have to do to make it work, and we looked at, and it's like, okay, we've got the next year covered financially for kids or kids are in private school, and I'm like, okay, wow, even someone at her, I consider her to be a successful, you know, you correct kind of constant, you see her more or less.
SPEAKER_03Almost like fuck you money, you know.
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean? But it but they don't have fuck you money. Right. They don't, it's like it's always the next job. That's the one thing I takeaway I get from his podcast. Everyone who's there, it is always the next job.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like working on a commission or something.
SPEAKER_01Unless you landed that big ass job that, like, I mean, because I remember once reading an article, this is when the movie Saved came out with Mandy Moore and Macaulay Colkin and and um Jenna Malone, and and um they had interviewed Macaulay Colkin. They were just doing a little bit on him, like, what's it like being a 20-something version, like you know, the home alone kid? Like, and so they had said, like at the time, this was Rolling Stone, who did the article, and they said like he was worth 17 million dollars, and he calls that his fuck you money. Yeah. And he says, I don't have an extravagant lifestyle. Right, I'm I'm not blowing money on drugs or anything like that. He's like, So I get to do this now, however, I want to do this. And I'm like, Yeah, and it you don't have it's not like you have to have hundreds of millions of dollars. That's the American dream. Right, that's the American dream where you can just say, I can come and go as I please. Because think about it. You know, you take that you have that amount of money, and let's say, God, even if it's just generating five percent, you're living off eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. Like, that's that's okay. That's that's that's pretty true. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of fucking money. You you really have to try to spend that much money, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, especially if you don't have mortgage or a or you don't have kids. Or you don't.
SPEAKER_02Am I right? They they kind of take into the pocketbook.
SPEAKER_01So but um so yeah, so I found that very interesting with that whole lifestyle that that you you think that or you think that because someone's on Broadway that oh, they're a star, they have all this money. No, they don't. They're fucking fucking they're they're they're waiting for barely got two nickels, they're looking for the next job. Yep. So there's like a local girl from here that's like been an MJ the musical on Broadway. And because it's not a steady two-week check kind of thing. No, it's not, and like she gets called in off the bench to to take over for when the when the person who had the job was going away for a couple weeks or something like that, you know. And so what do you do in the meantime? Well, she's been on an episode of like Law and Order SVU or something like that. You know, I always want to say, SVU Chicago on the outside of San Francisco. Right, yeah, right. No. Um NCIS, Miami, Chicago, London, Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Rio, Hong Kong, Tokyo. That's a shout out to the electric cloud orchestras all over the world.
SPEAKER_03So they might be giants.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. Particle Man, Particle Man.
SPEAKER_03Long story short, though, man. I I really one, I know 2026 is gonna be awesome for you, but I, you know, I I I continuously beat myself up. I just don't I don't ever feel like I do enough. And I don't know if that's good, bad, or indifferent. I don't know if the people in my life look at me and being like, David, would you just chill the fuck out? You're doing fantastic. Like I don't, I just don't ever feel like I'm I don't feel like I don't know. I think you're doing fantastic. Well, but that's what that's kind of like my point, you know, it's like even that that you're telling me that and you're in my circle, and I you know, and I do, I put four.
Parenting, Time, And Empty Nest Prep
SPEAKER_01I mean, we don't I don't think outside of this podcast, I don't think we see each other enough. But no, I take the blame on us just as much. You know, I kind of hope that when Virginia's parents move, that that will open up more time for us to be present for everyone else. Yeah. And then when Max goes off to college in August, that that will open up even more time for us to be more present for everyone else. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_03And honestly, you're probably gonna want it.
SPEAKER_01Gonna need it.
SPEAKER_03There's gonna be it's not gonna be want, it's gonna be need. There's gonna be a void there.
SPEAKER_01Oh, huge. Well, just there's gonna be all this time, yeah. And it's kind of like white noise from a TV. And unless you're comfortable, and and both of us are, we're very comfortable with our own company.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um Virginia is all too happy to sit out on that back deck, read a book with a cat lying on her lap. You know, she's she's totally good to go with that. And I'm totally good to be sitting in front of TV watching whatever, yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_03And and so am I. Like, I'm again, I have let my I've let my battery I guess I'm I I I don't know how I'm trying to word this. So one, you gotta listen to your body, right? And when you need that time for yourself, but but all too often I feel like I listen to this like I listen to that too much to where it's like, okay, I'm I'm I'm I'm doing something for myself and I probably shouldn't. So how do you define the time to yourself?
SPEAKER_01Is it completely you solo?
SPEAKER_03Um no, I just being a homebody is my is my time to myself. Um, you know, I I'm just like you. I've done things to my house where like if I don't fucking leave here, great. You know, I've gotten to the point in my life where I feel like I'm a better cook than most restaurants that I go to. So, you know, I I I can have that, I can fend for myself, you know. I've I've got a really nice TV, my couch is extremely comfortable.
SPEAKER_01It I can do that, I can fucking melt into that world and not have any issues from higher incidents higher incidence of maybe a woman walking by you completely naked, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yes, very high.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Very high. Yeah. But I mean I I don't know. I you know, as I'm saying out loud, I'm way too hard on myself as I as I'm sitting here, you know, as our as our therapy session continues here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I I think I think you're doing great. I mean, you still have a child at home. Yeah, you know. Um and yeah, I mean, but but yeah, and here's the frustrating, I mean, of course, you've already been through it with your son, but I mean, it's you you there's the part of you that wants them to be more independent and not so reliant on you, but then there's the other side that like the time is flying by, I need to make every second count. Correct. And it's trying to find that balance. Yeah. That's really hard. Um, what it was like with with my son, it was really special the two years that it was just him. Like both the girls were off to college, and it was the first time that like I could completely focus on him. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Um, not that had the same shit with Red once this this past half year with Dylan B had gone.
SPEAKER_01It's like, oh, hi, look at you have a voice, you know. And so, you know, and and yeah, so it it it that's important, but at the same time, it's also you're in that zone where you know, in three years you're gonna be you're gonna be empty nesting and and you gotta kind of start laying, you're gonna start you've gotta start feathering the nest a little bit right to make that a comfortable transition. Yeah. And it's you know, I it's not that I was begging for this moment or anything, but I I kind of got myself ready for it. Sure. Because them becoming adults, graduating from high school, meant also there were the the legal things that went away.
SPEAKER_03But it also says you did what you were supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And I think, you know, I I think the anything anything that a parent can take pride, and again, it depends on what your values are, but for me, it's I got my kids through college, yeah, you know, and and that's all squared away. And you know, hopefully they'll figure out what they want to do with life. I mean I'm I'm you know, your son's doing great down at his school and everything, and m my daughter's enjoying med school for as much as you can enjoy that. And um, you know, it's like that aforementioned unlubricated fist, you know, that I said 2025 was. Yeah, no, that's that's med school, yeah. Um, but no, it's um, you know, and then I mean Juliana does great with her job, and we have kind of worked out a um uh um exit strategy. We have worked out a managing this final class thing, and I'm very satisfied. We we had breakfast over it today at first watch. What'd you get? Oh, I get the trifecta. Yeah? It's because I love a little place. I love their it is, yeah. And but but the funny thing is you have the one right there in Turkey Creek, and then you have the one right there near Costco. You know, and like we as we were getting a couple because Juliana, I got her a Costco membership for for Christmas. Yeah. Um, we were getting that all, we were heading to Costco to get that all set up. She goes, Oh, we could have just gone to the first watch there. I said, Yeah, I thought about that, but you know, I'm fine. It's busier, it's probably a little busier.
SPEAKER_03Is there a tubelo honey now over here in Turkey or over here in Ferriot?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03When did that fucking happen?
Retirement Dreams And Creative Futures
SPEAKER_01There's a lot of things over in that new little town center by the Kroger.
SPEAKER_03It's right across the high school, right?
SPEAKER_01No, we actually went over there because I had Juliana set up a bank account with Chase. Um because and something I'm trying to do with all the kids, just they're global. Yes, yeah, yeah. Like earlier in earlier this year, her her phone and wallet got stolen. She got pickpocketed, and so like just putting out all that fire. I'm like, yeah, you don't want to be with Mountain Commerce Bank, and no shade to Mountain Commerce Bank that you're a great bank to work with. And everything like you're regional, you're regional. We need we need the big boys. So like find a chase or a truist or or someplace like that. I understood. I could argue for First Citizens Bank because I've seen a branch in Santa Monica. Right. Um, and and in Hilton Head. Yeah. Um, so but that's it's I I said still rolling the dice later. She's got to chase Manhattan like two blocks from her apartment. So, you know, I'm like, yeah, just go there. Right. So we got that set up over there. So that's the first time we were really over in that whole little area. But I I have to go over there and take inventory of what restaurants they have, yeah. And whether or not they're really legitimate restaurants, right? You know, but T Blue Honey is fucking fantastic. Have you been to Elkmont Station? Nope. So that is the restaurant we keep trying to give chances to. We we we tried to pitch that one to Strak and his wife.
SPEAKER_03Um this is the one that's right by the Starbucks, right there on the corner. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like it should be good, and it's still there, so they must be doing something right. But the two times we've gone extremely underwhelmed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and I keep, but I don't want to give up on them.
SPEAKER_03I hear you. That's how I feel about fire and salt in Oak Ridge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. So I yeah, I kind of feel the same way about them. I like them, but I'm not sitting there going, oh, sweet Jesus, yes, I gotta go to fire and salt. A month has gone by. I have not been to fire and salt. No, I'm no. Right. I do think it's probably one of the nicest restaurants they have in Oak Ridge. Oh, yeah. You know, without a shout-out being, you know. Yeah. Or go to Calhoun's, you know. That's it. Applebee's there, you know. I mean, truly, that is it. Yeah. I mean, or or you're just going to Big Ed's pizza.
SPEAKER_03There isn't a place right now, I don't think, that I'm like like I having that moment, I'm like, man, my God, I I gotta get back there.
SPEAKER_01No, I feel the same. And I think a lot of what governs that is that just everything is so fucking expensive right now. You know?
SPEAKER_03Well, just last year. Was it last year? Yeah, had to have been. Last year, I think I I took my son out to Flemings for his birthday. Oh god, you spent money. Yeah. I mean, it was me and C Yeah, it was me, CJ, him and his girlfriend in red. And when I got that fucking bill, yeah, I'm looking around.
SPEAKER_01You felt like you were copying off like the serial number off the side of a stereo to submit the registration card. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03I was starting to look around me and like, well, wait a minute. Like, what exactly did I purchase? Right, exactly. Right.
SPEAKER_02Like, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Going out right now is it's kind of it's crazy. But I don't have a place. I really don't.
SPEAKER_01You know what the the the pet peeve I have with some places, and these are more kind of the fast foody type places. And I don't mean like automatic tips. The tipping.
SPEAKER_02What's that what you're gonna say?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Like I go to Subway and it's like, what kind of tip do you leave?
SPEAKER_03None.
SPEAKER_01Five guys. None. Yeah, like you're charging me all so I get a burger, a fries, a small fry, and a large fountain drink, and that's eighteen dollars and seventy-three cents right there. And you want me to tip you on top of that? Fuck you. And I'm sorry, I mean, I don't want to I mean, you're already gouging. Talk to corporate. You should you know, they should be paying you, you know. No, I mean, like seriously, it's just it's ridiculous. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_03I I know it. I mean, but that isn't it and then like the thing with five guys, like, where is it truly going? It's probably going to corporate. Right, right. Like, I don't see the I think it's bullshit. The 30 people that worked in there that day were are not splitting tips. Nope. They're not. Nope. Like, how are they even splitting tips if it's all on credit card?
SPEAKER_01I don't know how that works. Juliana would be able to tell you that better because she worked at Texas Roadhouse, so she can tell you how tip share looked like.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I I mean I worked in restaurants, I understood the tip share when it was in a fucking jar. Okay, well. Yeah, no, it's but when it's all on a credit card, like how do you how do you fucking work that out? Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Here I am getting a little angry.
SPEAKER_01I know we're getting a little angry about it. It's okay, it's all right. You know, you know what's nice when I'm over in Morristown? Like I go through I do the drive-thru at pals. Um yeah, right. Like pals is the shit. Let's just stop right there and let's just pals. That's what's been missing in my life the last few weeks, pals. If you get a chance, go to I mean I can't endorse anything else. Like I great service. I try not to do fast food, but like that's my that's my one vice. Yeah. And um uh, but they don't demand a tip out of me. So I think Morristown is like growing and growing and growing. It's kind of crazy. I stand, I I mean, I am blown away because I I didn't know anything about Morristown when I when I was looking to open an office there, and that was we opened at the beginning of 17. So this is nine. Oh my god, this is our ninth year that we're open in Morristown. Holy shit, where's the time gone? Um there's a theme, right? That was last episode. That's all we talked about last episode. Where the fuck did the time go? Nine years. Um, and um I I am always amazed by I always liked how they had independent restaurants out there. No very little change. Like you don't have an independent Starbucks. Well, no, now you do. You do. Okay. Um over by the big Walmart where 66 intersects with AJ Highway. All right. Um I don't even know why I was out there, but I was just driving around and I was like, wow, it's gotten it's it's impressive. This is nice. This is not it's no, it's not the s it's not the sticks that you think it is. It's it's no, it's pretty well developed. And when I joined their chamber of commerce and I went to my orientation meeting on that, they talk about like some of the businesses that they've tried to get there and like what the qualifiers are. So like why is it you have two Walmarts but no target? You know, that those are kind of the questions, those are the things I just notice around town.
SPEAKER_03Um Target's quite spurnicety.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they are.
SPEAKER_03Like they like I'm like, how do you not have a target in Oak Ridge?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I don't I don't know how they justify that, but then you have one in Turkey Creek and you have one right near the mall. Right. You know? Yeah. And then you have the one, I guess, off Washington Pike as well. You know the one in Maryland? Yeah, you got one in Marival. Um you got the one down in the North Shore town center. Mm-hmm. You know.
SPEAKER_03Which no one ever goes to.
SPEAKER_01But well, I don't know. Oak Ridge, I think, is is its own creature.
SPEAKER_03And I think that they they wanted uh like there was a certain spot of land. They were like, we're not going anywhere but here. Which is like what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01Well, and Virginia will tell me, like, she'll I mean if we ever got her on the show, she would tell you the whole story, like the mall, and like why is it you know, you get the they kind of partner all the same shops together, like you'll have fucking Ulta with Ross with you know um Five Below. Yeah, Five Below, exactly, yes like you you will just like Maribel go full. You got Kirklands, right?
SPEAKER_03Five below Ulta. Yes. Absolutely, that's where you go. Yes, yeah, yeah, it's strange, it is weird, very weird. Do you think malls will just like go bye-bye? Like I like Foothills is done, Oak Ridge Mall's done.
SPEAKER_01So do you have a membership to BJ's warehouse?
SPEAKER_03Not yet. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I've just kind of wanted to just to say I've got I got a BJ, but uh I know exactly gonna give it that name.
Dining Out, Costs, And Tipping Fatigue
SPEAKER_03I haven't even been in one. I mean, I'm assuming it's the same shit. If Costco is depending on what the membership fee is.
SPEAKER_01Like, I always wrestle with continuing my Sam's membership because I like I never go there. But the one thing I liked about now, I mean I'm gonna explore this because I noticed that Costco now offers us the business membership, and I don't know what that means. Like, is that like Sam's where it's oh, like there's the business hours? Like I used to like 20 years ago, I would get up early before going down to my office, which was then in downtown Knoxville, and I would go to Sam's at like 7:30 in the morning, like when you have that business member, like you have the whole place to yourself. Man, that's wonderful. Heaven. Yeah, oh my god, it's heaven. Totally heaven. And so I'm like, I'm like, oh, is that what the oh, and that yeah, because Juliana asked me, she goes, What's the Costco bibber? She goes, 'cause we got her a gold star membership. She's like, well, what's the business membership? I'm like, I don't know, but I'm gonna find out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It just cracks me up. Like, here I am, first half of this little episode, and I'm like, man, I gotta do more and be more for everybody. And then the next thing I'm saying is like, I want to be all by myself in a Costco.
SPEAKER_01There's nothing wrong with that. I think, you know, for me, it's as I've gotten older, it's it's accepting the fact that there's a big introvert part of me. And this comes from a guy who's an actor, you know. I mean, but there's a lot of that extrovert introvert stuff that that I have really learned with myself and what I've just kind of accepted and embraced in a way. You know, like I go do a show, it's like you meet a whole new group of people, you know, you get to know them and everything like that, and then you put on your do your performances and whatnot, and then it's Over and then you crawl back in your cave.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And um, so um, you know, I can I can do parties and stuff. I I I can't remember the last time I was at a party, certainly wasn't at any 80th birthday parties. And um I can't even tell you the last party I've been to. It's been a long time. Like Strack and his group of people that he used to hang with down there, he they they used to be really like you could count on them for parties.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, but they just don't do them as much anymore. And it kind of the groups have kind of it's kind of splintered a little bit. It always happens. Yeah, it does. Like, well, I mean, it did with the you know, with our group. Good things come to an end. Well, you know, like when I showed up, that's when the great divorces all started, or the great separations all started happening, you know. So like hat all this, and it's people get weird about that when you get oh yeah, you know, when you're dealing with divorce and stuff, because like the people in who you who think they're in contented relationships, they feel like that shit's contagious.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, they clutch the pearls real good.
SPEAKER_01They really they they they you know, like I I keep I I probably told this story before. The funny one of the funniest things I experienced was when um I was dating my ex-girlfriend Jen, and she she and I went to a bar mitzvah that one of my fraternity brothers was having for his twin sons. And, you know, she was wearing this like you know, mid-thigh cocktail dress and and you know, strapless and everything like that. Looking good, looking really great and everything, and like you could just see all the wives of my fraternity brothers clutching their husband husband's arms a little tighter, saying, I hope to shit my husband isn't seeing like how much fun Jeff is having right now. No, I live the same shit, man. Yeah, you know, and it's but but people are funny about that though.
SPEAKER_03What was the uh really good movie with Steven Carrell, Ryan Gosling, oh yeah, shit.
SPEAKER_01Um shit.
SPEAKER_03Oh I keep wanting to say he's just not that into you.
SPEAKER_01Love actually, but not love actually, but it's it's stupid crazy. Stupid crazy love.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah. The the guy bringing going into the bar to bringing him like his one final gift, and he's like, My wife told me we can't hang out anymore. Right, you know, and like leaves. Like that shit is real. It is real, and it blows my fucking mind. Like, I mean, I you know, a good buddy of mine, his his fucking wife's like, you can't hang out with David.
Local Growth, Malls, And Municipal Moves
SPEAKER_01There's an oral surgeon, there's an oral surgeon who he and his wife went through a rough time, and I kind of was a supportive person to him. And then when when my first wife and I separated, he was basically told that he couldn't hang out with me anymore. And I'm like, you fucking pussy, you know? What the absolute fuck?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, I was I don't know what makes me mad more, right? The fact that it said or the fact that like okay, I gotta do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, what are you what are you talking about, man?
SPEAKER_01And this guy's wife is kind of a real, she's like this, she thinks she's more than she really is. She wants to think she's a somebody in society, and she's this little Southern belle, I think from Charleston, and just oh my god, like I was so happy to never hang out with her, be associated with her ever again. But I I did enjoy my relationship with him, and and I told him once we had gone to lunch afterwards, years later, and I said, So here's the deal like you don't get referrals from me because I know your wife told you you couldn't hang out with me anymore. And so I want I I I want to know like where your wife's head is on that because the way I see it is my ex-wife is not really in a position to refer patients to your oral surgery practice. One might say this is not a smart business decision, right? You know, and I swear to God, they just stuck their guns on this one. And like he was in his own practice with his dad, and then that kind of I don't know if it folded or they got absorbed by somebody else, but they sold and they got absorbed by another oral surgery practice.
SPEAKER_03I'll never get it, but I get it.
SPEAKER_01I think if you've been through a divorce, you have a lot more understanding about all the dynamics and you and you're less judgy about it.
SPEAKER_03But there were just people that you know, I no, I let some things slip to my son for the first time. Oh, really? Yeah, oh boy, yeah. Like down it was down when we went and saw him after Thanksgiving. I probably had one and a half too many. Oh boy, and he asked certain questions, and I was just like, Alright. I probably shouldn't have. I had that nothing's come from it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I had that conversation with my daughters a long time about six years ago. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And um I mean it boiled down to just as like, look, man, like it it boiled down to don't ever think it was you.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yes. And exactly, and that's exactly what but what my subtext was to all of them. Like, please don't think actually not subtext, it was the text. It was it's please don't ever I love you, I love you guys madly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, if I if I'm showing you anything different than love, yeah, call me out to the carpet on it. Yeah, I said, but like there were certain things that were going on, man. Like I'm was ready to fucking blow my head off. Yep, me too.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, like and and I've and I reiterated to both of them. I I hope that you're never in a relationship where someone makes you feel so undervalued and so worthless that you just don't matter. Right. You know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. We'll have oh yeah, we're gonna be. We're three years away from that. I don't even care if it's episode 49 and we don't do one except that one. Yeah, we're doing it. Yeah. I gotta wrap it up. Okay, well, I don't want to, but I got expensive dinner plans.
SPEAKER_01Oh where are you going? Raven. Raven. Oh, that's right. That's right. You need to give me a review. I will. So yeah, we're doing that on Friday. Yeah. Or not.
SPEAKER_04Or not, depending on what you tell me.
SPEAKER_01No, really. So, like, where are we at on that place, the rooftop place that they're building?
SPEAKER_03It's still being built. Yeah, I saw that. Um, yeah, everything that I can see as far as things built being built in Maribel, it is going full bore. Like the the Jim and Nick's barbecue is about to open up. Saw that. Yeah. Like everything that they've got in the house. Are they still a chop house is about to open up? Where's the chop house going? Right in front of the food city.
unknownUh huh.
SPEAKER_03It's damn like damn near cutting the ribbon fire fired up chef.
SPEAKER_01And those are actually considered Alcoa locations. Yes. So I wonder how that works. Like how one chooses Alcoa over Marival. No idea. And like which city ends up having like the greater municipal finances. I'm curious about that.
SPEAKER_03You know, it'd be a it'd be a wonderful thing to look into. I would think I would think Alcoa would almost be more glamorous.
SPEAKER_01Would have an edge. Yeah.
Introvert Energy And Social Seasons
SPEAKER_03Because it's I'm assuming it's smaller. It is. Because I think Maribel kind of just like leaks back into like, you know, down into Rockwood more, you know what I mean? Like it's it's got a it's got a big Rockford. Rockford, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Rockford, and then down to Chilhoe View.
SPEAKER_03Right. And like I don't know what that's what really goes on to the north.
SPEAKER_01Like or the stuff that borders on Greenback, you know, if you take Morganton Road, yeah. Is that Alcoa's or marable? Well, no, that's that's definitely marable. Like anything that's that because that's 37801. So that's marable, definitely.
SPEAKER_03So I'm I'm assuming Alcoa is probably per capita, probably doing better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it doesn't have the it doesn't have the s you know, the square mileage doesn't have area. Right. But I think it has the density, yeah, is what it what it has. I agree with you. But no, I just I find it interesting like how that little pocket there has just blown up, you know.
SPEAKER_03Well, and the airport too. Oh, yeah, right. Like supposedly it's the fastest growing airport in the nation.
SPEAKER_01Do they have kids that are orthodontic aged? That's all I care. Like every time everyone bitches about too many people who come in here, I'm like, I don't give a flying fuck. So long as they have kids that have crooked teeth, baby. So long as they got crooked teeth, that's all I care about. I guarantee you they got crooked teeth. You know, so do that, and then and then yeah, I guess I'm you know, if I'm retiring in six years, like I don't I do not care about the outcome. I feel for you, but I do not care about the outcome of what happens.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, even Alcoa Highway, yeah, just by like driving it now every day, yeah, like the amount of work that they've put into that, yeah. I was talking to Juliana about that. Four or five lanes on Alcoa Highway.
SPEAKER_01I'm very curious as to what the final product's gonna look like. It's looking good.
SPEAKER_03Like even just that area to get you onto John Severe, like that whole area is just expanded and like you actually have room to merge and shit. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_02Granted, no one knows how to fucking do it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. Well, no, it's like installing roundabouts, you know. They just they just now figured out how to do the ones in Ferry getting that one by fucking um uh what's the what's the Italian restaurant down there at the five points?
SPEAKER_03Um, I know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, I'm is that place still open? I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01Amici. That's what it's called. Oh, yeah, Amici's still there. I don't know how. Yeah, I don't know either. Because like there's a restaurant I never talk about anymore. Like Virginia and I have talked about it. We have talked about results. Yeah, like you can see New York getting away with shit like that, but I just can't see Marival getting away with stuff like that, you know.
SPEAKER_03I'm just shocked that um Foothills Milling Company had that spot and it was killing it. They were just doing a lunch place there. Yeah. They were just like, no, we're we're doing so well we need to close because we can't match our brand. And I was like, well, good on you, man. Like, that's amazing. Yeah.
Divorce, Friendships, And Boundaries
SPEAKER_01Fucking A. Fucking A. So weird wrap-up, I know. Yeah, I know. It's it is a weird wrap-up. Because, well, you know, no, I'll I'll I'll make it even weirder. Um No, I because I was telling also Giuliano I talked about all the road construction that's been done around here and and whatnot. And I said, but still the Pelissippi extension does not exist. It's gonna happen though. It will happen, but it ain't gonna happen while I'm living here. No, and that's the things now I'm looking at because I I was talking to her about I-95 in South Carolina, and how they they they're saying now 2030-2031 is when they're gonna start expanding it by a lane. And they've already leveled so much of the trees that were on the median and everything like that. But I'm like, but 2030-2031 to widen it one lane, a lane in each direction, so the entire length of the state. I will not be alive when that is when that is enough to be completed. Like there was also talk about a a highway called I3, Interstate 3, that was supposed to go from Savannah to Knoxville. Oh my god, so that sign me up for that. Yeah, you know, but then you get into the whole environmental thing because think of everything that it's got to cross through to get there. I mean, especially the Appalachians, you know. So, you know.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm actually shocked the hurricane didn't increase that more. You mean the prop chances of doing well, just like okay, now now that we've realized that there's only one way from here to Yeah, I say to Virginia all the time that we're on that road together, that stretch from Asheville to to Newport.
SPEAKER_01I say, I need you to promise me when we retire that I never have to drive this stretch ever again. I I I'm dead serious. I never want to drive that stretch of road ever again. No, because there's a point where it goes straight, it just goes north-south. You're not you're not gaining any east-west direction. Nope. And it's just like like who thought like, could you pass me whatever it is you're smoking for that? So, friends, we've talked a lot about the future. We're talking about projecting the future, we're talking about projects that are raining all over our future.
SPEAKER_03This was two hours of leather couch for you and I. It really was. Yeah, I needed to use it.
SPEAKER_01Well, I did too. Yeah, yeah. No, we got we got it out there. So, guys, you know, by the time we drop this, 2026 will have already happened. Um, and we hope God make it a good one. That's all I can say, too, is for God's sakes, make it a good one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I laugh with the no regrets because it's that uh we're the millers, where he's got the tattoo of no regrets. But I mean, we say it all the time, but I mean, seriously, no regrets. Like I 2026 for me, looking you dead in your eye, for me, yeah. There's gonna be zero regrets. Um there's not gonna be a moment in time to where it was just like, well, I wish I would have done this.
SPEAKER_01You know what? Seriously, in talking about prognosticating what 2026 brings us, we didn't even talk about the midterms coming up.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it's gonna be a huge, gigantic blue wave. Oh, it is, yeah. No, get kids. And then and then they'll fuck it up. Yeah. And then 2028 it'll be a red wave.
SPEAKER_01We'll just well, 2028 will be probably I will bet by 2028 it'll be anybody's game. That's but that'll be my prediction.
SPEAKER_03I hear you.
SPEAKER_01That's if the big guy decides he's not gonna run in 2020.
SPEAKER_03He'll be dead.
SPEAKER_01Right, seriously, like he'll be dead by then. I mean, I'm knocking on wood.
SPEAKER_03I I don't want death on anybody. But uh, you know, I don't want anyone to die, but I I just there's there's no way. Yeah. There's no way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just the uh we'll do it.
SPEAKER_01We'll do politics. We'll do politics for episode 50, the midterms.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, it's gonna be a massive blue wave.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it is. No, it's I mean, we're gonna definitely blue's gonna get the house. All of it. They they talk about the Senate. I'm like, I don't know about that, but okay. If you guys think you can take the Senate, that's fine. This time make sure you have your cinemas and mansions under control. Anybody who in your in your group who might try to be in the new cinema or new mansion, you tell them to fuck right off. Yeah. No, I but and so I'll be very curious to see how the big guy reacts to all of that, you know. Like when they finally say no, you can't do that, you know.
SPEAKER_03He'll find another way to be loud and proud, just like he always does.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you kind of wonder if the Supreme Court also will kind of like be less aggressive on things too. I I don't know. We'll we'll that we'll save that for another episode. Got it. We'll we'll just do it for another episode because we could talk for another hour just on that. Yeah, right. You'll get in trouble. So I don't want you to do that. I don't want to get in trouble.
SPEAKER_03I I've I went out of my way to get this damn.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate you doing that.
SPEAKER_03Well, no, not you, not out of way with you. I'm just saying I was like, it was that moment in time. It's like, fuck. We haven't done shit, just you and I. Right. Like there's always been somebody else like, what are we doing? Right, right. What are we doing?
SPEAKER_01So I'm taking you out to dinner. Two drinks in again. We're still here, we're still proud. We're going into 2026. Loud and proud, baby. Yeah. And uh go. Well, yeah, if you say so.
SPEAKER_03I will always say so.
SPEAKER_01Who are you calling it for the title?
SPEAKER_03For in college football? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01My brother-in-law is an Indiana alum, and I said to him, Not a chance. I said, How is it you guys are like the number one team? Didn't we beat you guys 10 years ago in our bowl game? Yeah, I really like Texas Tech. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Lubbock. Lubbock everything that you're you're wanting. They got a good defense, a decent enough offense, a fucking gritty ass coach, and they paid for everybody.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yep.
SPEAKER_03They were shit last year. They were said, fuck this. We're in Texas, we got money to spend. We did it. Get some oil money.
SPEAKER_01Let's get us some oil money. Yep, here we are.
SPEAKER_03And uh yeah, that that's but now that I've said that, I've gave them the KOD, so they're done. They'll be they'll lose. Is that the way it works with you? Yeah. You just kind of fuck it up a little bit.
Roads, Airports, And Infrastructure Rants
SPEAKER_01You should not say anything. Yeah. That's fair. It is. Well, listen, friends, uh, you know, as we've wrapped up 2025 and going into 2026, we again we just implore our messages always that you just try to be decent.
SPEAKER_03I mean, we're in the sci-fi years.
SPEAKER_01We really are in the sci-fi years.
SPEAKER_03You know what I mean? We grew up like seeing this type of year date being like 20.
SPEAKER_01We're 23 years away from the Blade Runner sequel, man. Right. You know?
SPEAKER_04That's fucked up.
SPEAKER_01Hasn't? That is fucked up. Would Judgment Day have already happened? Yes. Judgment Day already happened. Yep. Yeah.
unknownFuck.
SPEAKER_01That's messed up, man. I'm still waiting for the hover cars. We talked about that when I was in third grade in 1977. And it's like, it's like, where are the fucking hover cars, man?
SPEAKER_03I would love those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Merging would be a bitch. It's already a bitch. All right, guys. You know how it goes. Whatever you do. Love you. We uh appreciate everybody. Hopefully, New Year. Hey, and if you listen to this and you like what you hear, please go ahead and give us a five-star review. That helps the algorithms uh give us a little bit of a higher ranking. Uh, apparently, we resonated a little bit with episode 47. We hope we did with 48. And here we are at 49. And next episode is our golden episode. I love it. The 50. Boom, boom. Talk to you later, friends.
