Bill Gates Likes Sushi

A casual rideshare journey transforms into a profound exploration of global diplomacy, culinary experiences, and healthcare as passengers open up about their lives while traversing Washington DC.

Two passengers share their first omakase sushi experience—the intimacy of watching chefs prepare each piece, explaining origins and techniques—contrasting it with celebrity-spotting at high-end establishments like Nobu.

Their $50 cultural immersion offers greater satisfaction than status dining, raising questions about authenticity versus performance in our culinary choices.

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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video

Transcript

Introduction to Rideshare Road Talk

Speaker 1 0:10

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers, while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, john Fondas, and we're cruising the streets of Washington DC. Buckle up, let's drive. Hey there, hey, how are you Good, how are you Good, good, good, come on in.

Speaker 2 0:40

Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 0:41

Two right, yes, cool, I like the car. Thanks, I'm your unlikely rideshare driver. What's fun and exciting. What are you, ladies, into tonight?

Speaker 3 0:53

Well, we just did our first omakase.

Speaker 1 0:56

Our first what Omakase? What is that?

Speaker 3 0:59

It's where they make sushi in front of you and you eat it with your hands and you get like a new bite. We had 12 courses, uh, and it was great I should know about this this is the first time we've ever done it um like and it was good. It was like what 50 bucks, yeah, which is a really good deal for, like, they make it in front of you, they scoop everything they like, talk to you about the fish and where they, so I don't know. It was nice.

Speaker 1 1:26

No, that's really cool because, like, I'm down with sushi for sure. Yeah, yeah, I'm really fresh. I'm not like a connoisseur, but I've never heard of that?

Speaker 2 1:33

Yeah, neither are we.

Speaker 3 1:36

We are yeah.

Speaker 2 1:47

Yeah, but it was really good and it was a good deal and all the sushi was really fresh and it was delicious definitely first time for everything.

Speaker 1 1:51

You know. That's like such an odd location, like when I pulled up, I just wasn't expecting that to be there, yeah, um, it's called sushi by boo, which, yeah, but it was good, okay, yeah and like after 12 pieces of sushi I I'm usually like, okay, I can probably eat more, but I'm actually full.

Speaker 2 2:07

Yeah, it was filling.

Speaker 1 2:09

It was good. The person that I dropped off before you, ladies. She was at Nobu having sushi.

Speaker 2 2:18

Oh, in West End.

Speaker 1 2:19

Exactly yeah, and she was sitting next to Bill Gates. Oh wow, no way. Exactly yeah, and she was sitting next to Bill Gates? Oh wow, no way and she was like I didn't know whether to say something or be a dork or just sit there and oh wow.

Speaker 2 2:31

Interesting.

Speaker 1 2:32

Well, that's funny, we both said the same thing. Yeah, better keep in buddy.

Speaker 2 2:36

Right yeah.

Speaker 1 2:40

The guy could pick up the phone and change our lives in two seconds.

Speaker 2 2:42

I let it there. I've heard that Nobu in. Dc is not very good Really. I went there once, like three years ago when I first moved here, and I couldn't afford anything at all Besides Nobu.

Speaker 2 2:53

No and my friend wanted to go there for a birthday and I was like I can't afford that. So I went and got like one sushi roll and I was like, yep, I'm here. But, um, it was crazy because that place is so expensive and it's all, yeah, like bill gates and you know, etc. But there were, you know, people there with their kids being like, do you guys have a kid's menu?

Speaker 1 3:22

they're like no, yeah like if you're into like, if you're a foodie and you want to check those boxes, I mean it's cool right, yeah, yeah, but like, more often than not, it's like if you just go to some place that's just straight up like gangster sushi place, right, you're gonna get gigantic portions and it's gonna be probably half as expensive. But, but I think I went to a Nobu, like in Boca or something.

Speaker 1 3:47

Or it might have been Morimoto, I can't remember what it was, and it was like cool, you're so excited and all of a sudden it's like wait, I'm leaving Hungary. This was butt-ass expensive. What am I doing here? I don't need to be seen, I want to eat. But again, if you're into that, it's cool yeah, and Bill Gates, yeah, oh no.

Speaker 3 4:20

Are you, are you part of the federal government? Oh god, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 2 4:24

I mean I just listened to a podcast the other day and you were on it talking about how you're going to step up?

Speaker 3 4:27

Yeah, you would have some choice words to say I feel like you'd be, like you're a no-boosh?

Driver's Unexpected Journey Into Ridesharing

Speaker 1 4:31

Yeah, you're fine, I have not. I've been doing this not very long, a couple of weeks right, okay, nice. And then I became oddly addicted to the engagement with people. By doing it, everyone's got a story. It's kind of like part therapy, part tour guide and vice versa. Like people have cracked me open, we talk about my childhood for 10 minutes. It was fucking hysterical, that's an amazing perspective.

Speaker 1 4:59

Yeah, it really it's fascinating so it's just been really cool. It's like an exercise in getting out of your comfort zone. Like my wife thinks I'm absolutely fucking insane. But you know there's you know there's people who don't want to talk. That's perfectly fine. Yeah, there's one or two complete raging assholes, but most people are very fascinating. I've had one young lady. Just can I talk to you? I just broke up with my boyfriend. One lady got divorced and then there was some guy who got a promotion to be an SVP and was a complete dickhead, was like really condescending to me and I kind of just verbally beat him down. Yeah, because I don't really need the job so to speak.

Speaker 2 5:42

I don't care about a bad review or whatever.

Speaker 1 5:44

Yeah, so anyways, um, tell me about the whole USAID thing. Well, you're a good company for sure, I mean.

Speaker 3 5:53

I was a gender program analyst, so I worked in the gender and development hub.

USAID Work and Recent Layoffs

Speaker 1 5:59

What does that mean? I'm a lay person. What does that mean?

Speaker 3 6:02

Yeah, so I worked. So my job was helping decide which projects throughout the entire world were going to get funded. So people would submit proposals I had about $30 million and people like missions, so like, let's say, like embassies, would write a proposal and say I want to work on, you know, agricultural relief in Moldova. What we're going to do is we're going to train women in these three agricultural practices. Here's our evidence for why these agricultural practices in Moldova specifically work and here's the things that we think were going to happen with the money you're specifically going to give us in four years. That's how long we think the project is going to go.

Speaker 3 6:39

Random Monday, exactly a month ago, on the 27th of January, was in the office and we were told I was a contractor which most people don't know this, but like 60% of USAID's workforce is contractors Sure, usaid doesn't have a lot of direct hires. Um, we got told that we were going to be probably going to stop work border that night and so, thankfully, I was in the office, so I got to collect most of my belongings in real time um, and then for a month I've just been in this like weird limbo, like usually when you get furloughed or laid off, you're just.

Speaker 3 7:14

You just move to a competitor, you move to like someone else in the field. But this is just like reading the news and like the full decimation and all that anxiety that I would have if I just had any old job, like if I was a teacher or whatever. I'd have the same anxiety, but then not having a job because of what you're reading in the news, yeah, it's just like a two-fold thing and you know, I'm a lay person, right, but I'm also a journalist by trade a thousand years ago.

Speaker 1 7:40

But most people, a lot of people don't. They don't have a framework of what usaid does. So when I'm watching this get rolled out rather quickly, which is always always a tell you know, everything all at once is is a tactic, right? Um, in my opinion, no, of course um, but like when you single-handedly say we're going to occupy and take over gaza and then you're going to furlough.

Speaker 1 8:03

let go of a large part of the cia and then usaid, which is instrumental in forming relationships that protect us. What good is going to happen there? Right, it's not just's not just the good work you're doing, it's the bigger umbrella, it's the things that have our logo.

Speaker 3 8:18

I mean, I was working on a USAID project in Afghanistan that set up like irrigation canals and after every single one of those canals was finished, you would have a plaque that had the USAID logo, which has the USAID flag, the United States flag. It would have like like our little, like america for or by the american people whatever the slogan is with the american flag and that would be there permanently in afghanistan by an irrigation canal and that's just like one small example. But after every single activity project you have something that stays there all throughout the world and that's just subliminally telling people that, like the united states government helped build this thing hearts and minds um there's so many other long-lasting effects that that one activity can have it's a lot, isn't it?

Speaker 1 8:58

it's a lot. Let's go back to the sushi place. Yeah, let's restart. I mean I got lucky.

Speaker 3 9:04

I didn't even order a drink. I was like I don't need a drink, and then the bartender accidentally made a drink that no one had ordered and gave it to me. So that was what you said.

Speaker 1 9:12

He accidentally made you a drink yeah that's usually the start of a really bad horror movie.

Speaker 2 9:18

This guy accidentally made me a drink.

Speaker 3 9:20

Oh yeah, or a love story, yeah, well, depending on what, you're into Sounds like. Like really pornstack Mabel yeah.

Speaker 1 9:31

Sounds like a great way to wind up at a bus stop, missing a kidney.

Speaker 2 9:34

Oh God.

Speaker 1 9:36

And that's like a great way to wind up at a bus stop, missing a kidney.

Hospital Dietician Working in ICU

Speaker 2 9:39

Oh God, and what about you? What's your story? Oh gosh, I work in a hospital. Okay, so a little bit different. I'm a dietician, oh help me. Help me, but I work in the ICU. Okay, so I do. I work with, just like, a lot of people that are very critically ill and they, you know, aren't conscious enough to eat on their own. So I do like tube feeding and nutrition through an IV. That sucks.

Speaker 1 10:09

I mean I'm glad they have you to do that, but that sucks. I mean I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 10:12

Yeah, no it's. I never thought that that's what I was going to get into, like I thought it would be more so, just like overall healthy lifestyle, whatever. But I it's very scientific and I really enjoy that. That's cool. Um, like I said, never thought I would, but oh did you study that in school?

Speaker 1 10:30

yeah, I did um.

Speaker 2 10:32

After my undergrad I went to do like a residency program where'd you go to school? I went to virginia tech okay, cool yeah yeah, are you from virginia?

Speaker 1 10:42

I'm from maryland, maryland, okay, nice my, uh, my oldest son goes to tennessee nice he's there studying business analytics or something like that nice something along those, along those lines. Yeah, you know he's getting in-state tuition. They have a common market exchange and for some reason Maryland did not offer it, and so if another school in the exchange does, you get their in-state tuition. Oh, that's nice.

Speaker 2 11:07

Interesting.

Speaker 1 11:08

There's like 13 states that participate, that's actually kind of a lot. There's some master's level work also, some really interesting majors too, like you used to probably Clemson have like sports management for a while. Yeah, lsu was in there with lots of petroleum engineering. Tennessee has a lot of nuclear research or whatever you call it. That major Interesting.

Speaker 3 11:34

Yeah, it was. It was very interesting. My brother is starting to apply for college, so I need to tell him.

Speaker 1 11:40

Yeah, what state Virginia? Okay, yeah, I don't know if Virginia is in the thing. My brother is starting to apply for college, so I need to tell him yeah, what state virginia? Okay, yeah, I don't know if virginia is in the exchange I don't think, I don't think, because they have so many in-state schools that are pretty decent.

Speaker 2 11:51

I feel like I mean, my parents did not give me the option. They were like you're going in-state or else you know, figure it out.

Speaker 3 11:58

Yeah, like, yeah, my friends humored me and took me places, and afterwards they're like really that was fun. I'm like yeah, I love it here, that's so funny. I'm like wait yeah, yeah.

Weight Loss and Mediterranean Diet

Speaker 1 12:10

So how come I can't lose weight? Help me out. No, actually that's not true. I've lost some weight. I got some really funky blood work. Talked to a specialist, oh yeah. Not so great news, but it's not going to kill me at least. But I lost like 30, 35 pounds.

Speaker 2 12:27

That's pretty good.

Speaker 1 12:28

But I plateaued for like three months now Totally, radically changed my diet.

Speaker 2 12:32

It's fine now Nice. I wish I had all the answers. Like, I don't even know how to lose five pounds myself, so I'm sure I am not the right person to ask.

Speaker 1 12:44

Neither of you need to, I think.

Speaker 2 12:47

It's tough, I don't even know.

Speaker 1 12:49

But everyone's different. It's like an alchemy right. Everyone's chemistry is different.

Speaker 2 12:53

Exactly Like that's what I have to tell all my patients. I'm like you're not going to be the same. You know your body's not going to be the same, as you know, john Smith, down the road, Like it's. You know, it's so hard to predict.

Speaker 1 13:06

I mean, I was always very athletic when I was a kid. Yeah, constantly on the move, whatever. I don't remember sitting around and eating like 10 pizzas and 12 whole chickens when I was 13. Yeah, I was always heavy, I was always overweight. And it I was 13, I was always heavy, I was always overweight. And it's just very strange to me the amount of you know.

Speaker 1 13:24

I'd run ball every day with my friends for hours and hours and hours, and if you just put that on paper, you know all genetics, I guess, right yeah, has to be.

Speaker 2 13:34

I do think that's a big part of it, for sure.

Speaker 1 13:37

I do think there's something to the Mediterranean diet for sure for sure. That's actually the only diet that I ever recommend Between the diet itself and the genetics of that culture, and just like the olive oil and just like the heavy influence on like lean fish and lean meat, yeah yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm Greek and Italian.

Speaker 2 13:57

Okay. And hopefully that'll be enough to give me you know yeah, that'll give you 20, 25 more, you know yeah yeah there's definitely some some good scientific backing to the mediterranean diet too, but also like, uh, the way that people live in japan too, like they live so long right, so not to be an but asian women have beautiful hair too yeah it's just from like the fish and all the omega-3s and all that stuff

Speaker 2 14:34

yeah, sorry, that was probably creepy, but no, no, it's true like yeah, it's all the the good fish oil stuff that's on my list next place to go yeah, I love japanese food, the whole.

Speaker 1 14:49

Thing.

Speaker 2 14:49

I need to go right here is good okay oh, we're doing a stop, okay, oh yeah, yeah one stop and then all good.

Speaker 1 14:57

Next one, all good. Thank you, it was nice chatting with you yeah, so nice chatting with you.

Speaker 2 15:01

Have a good night okay, take care.