The Story of Lloyd and Jerry, the Christmas Elves...

In this laid-back episode, Tim and Daniel catch up over a Saturday-morning podcast, talking through parenting milestones, holiday traditions, and the weird realization that they’re now the adults in the room. They start with lighthearted stories about kids’ basketball games, sleepovers, and Elf on the Shelf — including how children are starting to question whether their parents are just “too lazy” to move the elves.

The conversation shifts into Christmas traditions: wrapped vs. unwrapped Santa gifts, Christmas Eve versus Christmas morning routines, waiting to decorate trees, and how childhood traditions evolve once you start your own family. From there, the episode takes a more reflective turn as they talk about aging, confidence, grief, and the long list of losses Tim and his family have experienced over the years — especially how holidays tend to amplify that absence.

They also dig into adulthood realities: introversion vs. extroversion, being comfortable in social situations, impostor syndrome, and realizing that most people are just faking confidence. The episode closes with thoughtful discussion about work-from-home life, productivity, interruptions, and how both men have learned to prioritize efficiency, communication, and authenticity over appearances.

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Transcript

Daniel 0:23

I don't hear anything. That's all right. But we're good. We're live right now. All right.

Tim 0:30

How's it going? Good. How are you, bud? Good. I actually really enjoy our Saturday morning pods. Good, good. Me too. I prefer it like this.

Daniel 0:39

I agree. I like it.

Tim 0:40

Everybody wants to come over it when it's dark at night.

Daniel 0:43

Yeah, I don't like that.

Tim 0:44

You get this out of the way and then go have a good day. Exactly. I got a basketball game at one, so.

Daniel 0:49

Oh, do you? Yeah. Who's playing? Uh, the Bulls. Okay. We're in the Grassland uh basketball league, so my youngest is in the tw in the 12U league. U-12, 12U, however you want to say it. Well, that's fun. Yeah, so we're gonna go do that this afternoon, and uh yeah, that's about it. He's gonna have somebody sleep over tonight. You know? The joys of a 44-year-old.

Tim 1:13

On and having the having the young young kids. Yeah, man. Well, they're not getting they're not too much young, uh, too young anymore.

Daniel 1:20

Well, yeah, the youngest is 11, and then uh obviously Ruru is is 14. He's gonna be 15 in September, which is crazy because Mac just started driving. He's 16 now. I don't know if we if I was on last time uh if he had turned 16 yet.

Tim 1:36

I don't think so.

Daniel 1:37

I think he was just about on the cusp of it.

Tim 1:40

When did he turn 16? November. Yeah, last time we did this, it was before that.

Daniel 1:45

Yeah, because right around uh Halloween, because you're talking about me eating all the Halloween candy. That's right.

Tim 1:49

Yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah, my self-control. Well, now that it's uh holiday season, I've been kind of talking to everybody about traditions.

Daniel 1:59

Okay, I love it.

Tim 2:01

The kids all ready for for uh they are, they are.

Daniel 2:04

We uh we have Elf on the Shelf out, uh Jerry and is Jerry his name? Jerry is his name, and then we also have he has a a uh a wife too. And then then recently they've had they've added uh a couple children uh along as well. So we've got four of them. So they so they have to they all change around the house occasionally if if uh if they have the energy to move.

Tim 2:31

So sometimes you're saying one every now and then they may be in the same spot, they may be in the yeah. Lloyd was my elf. Okay, okay. And he had a tendency to stay in a lot of places.

Daniel 2:43

Actually, uh Ruby came up, we were s we were laying in bed, I think it was a couple nights ago, and uh she goes, Bo, ask, ask mom and dad. Oh, tell mom and dad what you told me. And uh and he was like all embarrassed, like we were like, No, tell us, tell us. And and uh I think Ruby had said, you know, why, you know, why do you think the elves haven't moved? And I think he said because mom and dad are too lazy or something like that. So uh I kind of felt bad about that. But uh but I think he's I think he's on the verge of of I I don't even want to say I don't even want to talk about it.

Tim 3:20

Okay.

Daniel 3:21

You know what I mean? Like I don't want to ruin it for any any I don't think we have any child listeners out there. There's no child listeners, I can pretty much yeah, but he's still writing the note to Santa and and then we kind of have it in our house if um to receive, you must believe.

Tim 3:35

Well, that's how it was over at our house. Nikki and I um we were talking about this. I don't know if it's on there's an episode that we did that I haven't released, but I think it was one that I did release. She was giving me a hard time because you know, Lloyd, our elf, was like the biggest part of Christmas to the kids. Sure. Like I asked them afterwards, I'm like, well, what was your favorite part about Christmas? Lloyd was so awesome.

Daniel 4:00

31 days of Lloyd.

Tim 4:01

Yeah, and um, but she was giving me a hard time because she was like, You never even like when you did, when you did move it, you just moved it like from here to there. She's like, I went through and made a good setup of it. I know, I know, like getting into the flower and doing the flower everywhere. And I've seen that, and so I think Erica does that too. I said, Yeah, that's fun, but you don't feel like doing that all the time, but you have to at least move the damn thing so that the the kids don't start questioning it. Yeah, but so after we had after we had that episode, I went up there and I asked Jack, I was like, What did you uh what'd you really like about Christmas? And he was like, Lloyd was awesome. And so I'm like, we gotta get Lloyd back now that we got Freya and they're gonna be staying over on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Absolutely, gotta bring it back. But Lloyd was like, you know, just imagine like your little kid, you probably and and and like can't touch him and your elf spiritual spirit. Knowing that you go up to it and you're like, You're probably talking to it. Hey Jerry, I really would like to have this thing for Christmas.

Daniel 5:08

Like Bo wrote it, bro, Bo wrote a list, a Santa's list, and and then taped it together and then put it next to the next to Jerry or whoever. Yeah. Of course, we took it and read it. And it was it's hilarious what they write, you know. Like, can we have a dog if dad's okay with it? You know, stuff like that. Like anything volunteer stuff. Like it's just it's cute.

Tim 5:29

I liked it. I like doing that. I was thinking about getting them back out. I I'd I'd mentioned to Nikki, I was like, Yeah, I don't know where Lloyd went. I think he ended up getting thrown away. She's like, Oh, I know exactly where he's at.

Daniel 5:40

I was like, Really? Yes.

Tim 5:42

I would have just moved it around because even now Jack would get up in the morning. Yeah, he's past that anyway, but he he'd be like, Where's Lloyd at?

Daniel 5:50

Yeah, yeah. We all hunt for him. Even when I if if like if Eric, I'm like, where the hell is where are they at? Yeah, where are they at? It's just fun. I mean, like, yeah, like Bo will come home, he can't find it in the morning, and he'll start hunting for it in the afternoon when he comes home from school.

Tim 6:05

Yeah, exactly. It's fun. So yeah, we did that. Actually, my kids were like, you know, halfway or a little bit more than halfway, you know, done with like that young part of young kids part of Christmas when when Elf on the Shelf actually came out. So they only got a few years of it. Sure, sure.

Daniel 6:24

Yeah, we we've been, we were we were full full force with it. I mean, wasn't there like some sort of I remember like you could follow the tracker online? I don't even know. It was some weird like I don't yeah, I don't know if that had to do anything with Elf on the Shelf, but yeah, I think that there was like a Santa's tracker and all that weird stuff, something like that.

Tim 6:44

Well, one of the one of the big things I've been kind of asking people their opinions uh here on the podcast and also like on social media about uh Joseph and I were talking about like our traditions when we were kids.

Daniel 6:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim 6:59

And so the the conversation came up, and we just thought this was normal, that like on Christmas Eve we would get presents from like, you know, a couple presents from my mom and dad, and then and you know, we'd go see the family and everything, but then on Christmas morning, it was like Santa's stuff.

Daniel 7:17

Oh, okay, okay. We'll see, okay, yeah.

Tim 7:19

And so it was Santa's stuff, okay, which is common, but we were me and Joseph.

Daniel 7:26

So you're saying you would open up like every single present that wasn't involved with Santa like the night before, or just a couple?

Tim 7:32

Just a couple, just like you know, one or two because we're going around seeing the seeing the family and all that. But sure, sure. But on Christmas morning, like there was piles, like me and me, Nathan, and Joseph had like our piles of each thing. Yeah, yeah. And here's the kicker. It was unwrapped. So my question to you is when you were growing, when you were growing up, did you how did you do how did you do it with your family? All that Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then how do you do it now, like with your family?

Daniel 8:00

All right. So growing up, I grew up Catholic, so I think we would always go to Mass Christmas Eve at some point, whether it would be whatever. I don't we never went to the midnight mass or anything late like that. So we would always typically go to Mass, come back, and then we would decorate the Christmas tree, Christmas Eve uh night. So you didn't even decorate. Well, so here hear me out, hear me out. A lot of people my wife gets up in arms about this too. Okay. Yeah, so you're like, you're so you're sitting there all months with the with the no, with no nothing on the tree. Okay, yes. So you have some of the the classic ornaments, yes, the the the the monotonous ones, you know, the the just the balls and stuff, you know, here and there peppered them on. But my mom gave us an in an individual ornament every year. Okay. So ever since we were born. So since 1981, every year she gives my sister and I a new ornament. Even to this day, y'all see. Even to this day. I don't know if we do them to this day. No, not anymore.

Tim 8:58

But you get the ornament.

Daniel 9:00

But we got them all the way through college, right? So when we so when we got married, we had, you know, 25, 30 ornaments of our own to put on the tree. So what we would do is we would put those personalized ornaments on the tree Christmas Eve and make it, you know, the personalized Christmas Eve tree. Yeah. And then we would, you know, my sister and I would exchange a present, you know, she would buy me something, I would buy her something. And obviously, we couldn't not not open something Christmas Eve, right? So we would exchange our presents with each other. So I would open hers and she would open mine just to appease us.

Tim 9:34

Yeah.

Daniel 9:35

And then obviously Christmas morning was we opened up everything. Uh, but we had one Santa gift, which was unwrapped. So that was like kind of like the big present, right? You know, if you want an electric guitar or a that was a new bike or something, that was gonna be the unwrapped Santa gift. And then obviously we had the stockings, and so I would wake up in the morning, go down there, because everyone would sleep in, and I would take my stocking, and you can kind of like play with your stocking, and then you'd have to wait to wait for everybody to wake up in order to, you know, do the present stuff.

Tim 10:07

Well, would all the presents like the normal presents be under the tree and then just the only thing different on Christmas morning would be like the same.

Daniel 10:15

And it was unwrapped, and it was unwrapped, and it you know, it said from Santa, or you just knew what you asked for, it was it was gonna be from Santa.

Tim 10:22

So Nikki is giving me a hard time, and she not giving me a hard time, but she was saying that like my parents were lazy because I told her that you know, we would get a couple gifts. It was usually like a shirt or something like that from my from my parents, and then like Santa would bring like all the stuff that you would you'd be asking for, like you know, like what do you want for Christmas? And here's my list of Santa and all that. But see, with her family, they did that similar, they'd have presents open on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas morning, like you know, you just have like this whole huge tree full of presents, but it would be like, Oh, here's a gift from dad. Yeah, yeah. Here's a gift from Santa, and everything's like wrapped.

Daniel 11:05

Okay, well, no, because Santa doesn't rap, does he? That's what I thought. Santa ain't got time for that. I I yeah, I'm I'm kind of with you. I I'm I'm now I can understand a couple rap presents, but usually that gift from Santa is pretty freaking big and awkward and weird and strange, i.e. a bike or well, me and Joseph just thought it was. You're not gonna wrap a bike, you're not gonna wrap a pair of roller skates or a pair of rollerblades, or you know, we did we thought we thought that the pogo stick.

Tim 11:34

We thought it was normal, but then it's like, but but see, that's what we do for me and Nikki have been married for over 20 years, and we do it the way that her family did it with our kids. You know, we still do the same, like I remember it's called compromise. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't that big of a deal. No, I get it. As as we as I've been doing this podcast, like kind of pulling these memories from my mind. Your each other's traditions together and you make your own. So do you do that now with your kids?

Daniel 12:03

Yes. So we we each give them a personal ornament every year, and then we my wife does get mad at me because I tell them we have to wait to put the ornaments on Christmas Eve. We have the ball, you know, the regular.

Tim 12:12

How long do you leave your tree up after Christmas?

Daniel 12:14

Probably, you know, through halfway through January. It's a fake tree until my wife, until I'm tired of it to be up and I'm like, we gotta put all this shit up. When do you put it up? I mean, I hope to God, I'm hoping by mid-January it's gone. No, I mean, when do you set it up? Oh, first of December, December 1.

Tim 12:30

Yeah, yeah.

Daniel 12:31

Eric is usually does it that weekend after Thanksgiving, kind of before, not completely like on Thanksgiving weekend, but like that following weekend.

Tim 12:39

Yeah, I'm real big on um, I don't know if you're like this, but I'm one of those people that don't want to pass over Thanksgiving because I think it's important. No, I agree. You know how a lot of people go straight from like as soon as Halloween's over, like all the Christmas decorations.

Daniel 12:52

Because I think the what the why they do that is because some of the the Christmas and Thanksgiving decorations can kind of be used simultaneously for each holiday. Like it's the same color scheme. It's the green, it's the red, it's the there's that, but I also think it's the magnolia leaves, it's the pine cones, it's the you know, that kind of shit.

Tim 13:10

I think that yes, that's that's probably a factor, but I was thinking it's because it's a money making, it's mark it's marketing. Yeah, it's marketing. But like you notice as you get older how like I mean, it was it was insane. It was it was Thanksgiving yesterday. Are we playing paper football here? Yeah, take it. You gonna win? You want me to put it in your mouth for you?

Daniel 13:29

No, just at least slide it over and try to win the game like that. Remember paper football? Yeah, but then it'd fall off on the floor. Well then that I get to kick, then you kick off to me and I start over.

Tim 13:37

All right, go ahead. But anyway, um, you know, you know how it was like Thanksgiving was literally like yesterday in my mind. That was good. You almost won yourself.

Daniel 13:48

I know how about that?

Tim 13:49

But so people want it up longer so you can enjoy it longer. I get it.

Daniel 13:54

Like I mean, I don't I can I would argue if you really wanted to, you could leave it up all the way through January.

Tim 14:01

Yeah.

Daniel 14:02

I think that's a little much, but because come February 1, I mean, come on, let's go.

Tim 14:07

Well, there's a lot of people that leave it up. I don't know. As soon as Thanksgiving's over, Thanksgiving's always on Thursday. Yeah. On Friday morning, I'm always like, all right, let's get the Christmas decorations up. Because I do want I want to see them for me. That's a little much. Well, I want to see them because you can wait three days, four days. Yeah, I guess you can, but but anyway, we set it all up. Yeah, and then as soon as Christmas is over, we usually have the tree down probably well, like this year, you know, New Year's is on a Thursday. New Year's Day is on a Thursday. So I'd say that weekend we probably take everything down. Yeah, that makes sense.

Daniel 14:41

But um, I mean, it people, it's different for everybody, right?

Tim 14:45

Yeah, family traditions are fun, you know. It's um and it's fun too now because Eli and has Eli and Taylor have Freya, and Freya's over here.

Daniel 14:54

Your grandparents.

Tim 14:55

It's so it's like one of the things I've been having trouble with is like I know what I know what Christmas is because I've been saying this the past few weeks and like I'm hearing myself and I know what like I don't want people to misunderstand. I know the purpose of Christmas. Yes, I know I I know the purpose of Christmas, but the purpose, but baby Jesus, but the purpose of Christmas, like especially when you're a little kid, is just the the the magical of it.

Daniel 15:20

It's the it's it's yes, and it's also receiving, but as a young kid, but if you're blessed enough to learn the gift of giving as at a young age, you obviously pick that up regardless. I think most people pick that up when they get older. Yeah, you know, they they prefer to give than to receive because to see the joy in other people's faces, and yeah, and I don't think you realize that until you have your own kids and you're like, oh man, you know, to see their their eyes light up at Christmas and to say, Oh man, I asked for that and I actually got it, or we were able to provide that, you know, we're fortunate enough to be able to get you that or or whatever.

Tim 15:56

You know, I like that aspect of it, but you but you remember like when you were a kid just like going around looking at Christmas lights and doing all that kind of thing. We do that too.

Daniel 16:06

I forgot about that.

Tim 16:07

That's another tradition that my brother drive around looking at the body. But do you enjoy do you enjoy doing that now as an adult? Yeah, I mean, yes. Yeah, yes and no. That's what I'm saying. It's like I just kind of feel kind of stale sometimes, like yeah, I get what you're saying.

Daniel 16:21

Yes, I I think I think you and I probably enjoy to see that joy through our children that we used to have. I think that's what gives us joy is to see that joy on their face and them experiencing uh yeah kind of that what we what we miss, so to speak.

Tim 16:38

Yeah, I'm hey man, let's let's get it back. I'm a real sentimental guy. Me like very sentimental. I haven't seen you cry once. Well, I mean, I'm sentimental in this I don't cry.

Daniel 16:49

I cry at least once a day, probably.

Tim 16:51

The thing is, it's like I don't really I don't really care about that either way, but I do want to feel the holiday.

Daniel 17:00

Feel the holiday.

Tim 17:02

Me and me and Joseph were talking the other day just about like how you know we've had so much tragedy in our in our family.

Daniel 17:10

And it's been very it's yeah, I it's it's unbelievable. And I don't think I've had a chance to discuss that with you.

Tim 17:16

It's very upsetting like on the outside for me. I know it is, and I feel bad.

Daniel 17:20

I I I think that's do you internally do you ever talk to anybody about that? Not saying like even on the podcast, but I know you and you and Joseph are very reserved in in your emotions, yeah, and expressing them outward. And I think you talk about that. You you acknowledge that, both of you. I mean, I talk to Nikki. You deal with trauma in a different way.

Tim 17:38

I talked to Nikki about it to a degree, but nothing like I'm just falling into her arms weeping about it.

Daniel 17:45

Listen, I'm not saying you have to do that in order to process to process all this trauma. I'm just saying, even talking to your brother on a on a like a reel-to-reel, I'm hopefully you guys have some sort of heart to hearts sometimes, like in here without the cameras on the and the microphones on. What you see on the camera has been really, really rough.

Tim 18:02

We lost, you know. Well, we I think that we're like, yeah, this sucks. You know, this is because it is what it is.

Daniel 18:09

It's fine. I'm just curious.

Tim 18:10

No, I'm well, I'm trying to process it right now and think of think it through, but it it's I know for me, I don't know about Joseph, but I know for me when someone dies, it's not the end of anything. No, I and so part of that part of it makes me happy. You know, I'm happy for the person, but it sucks for us here, you know, friends and family. I understand.

Daniel 18:35

I think that's it, I think that's a great outlook to look to to perceive it as and look at it from and lens to look at it through.

Tim 18:42

Well, my grandfather, for example, I mean he's 93 years old. That's a great lens. That's absolutely fine.

Daniel 18:47

That's what I'm saying. That's I get that.

Tim 18:48

What was really hard is like, you know, my dad, he was older, but not old enough. He wasn't ready. And then my brother is uh specifically, but it it's sad, and I and I hate it and I don't like it. But at the same time, I'm just like, what can I do about it? Yeah, I think I think that that's where I that's where I like why am I gonna sit here and dwell on if I can't do anything about it. Yeah, but it does kind of suck when the holidays come around because Nikki's family is massive, yeah. And we always have a great time, and it's always good to see everybody. We see each other regularly, so that's okay.

Daniel 19:20

But they're all local, right?

Tim 19:22

Yeah, they're all local here in town, and and it's an event over here.

Daniel 19:26

I mean, it's is it usually you say it's usually over here then?

Tim 19:29

Oh, it's always over here because we have the the most space, I guess, but it's our space is running out because people are like, you know, boyfriends, girlfriends, kids, married, getting married. Like as everybody gets older, sure, and so the family's getting bigger. We actually for Thanksgiving, I got this big tent and put it out there. Well, the problem was it was too cold, so we all ended up back in the house. So we're actually talking about building onto the house, not a screen and porch, like building our living room out toward yeah, like a like we're

Daniel 20:00

Where the yeah, I see what you're saying.

Tim 20:02

So n I've n Nikki's tasked with trying to uh figure out financing and all that kind of stuff for it, but uh you know, like f rolling it into our our uh our mortgage.

Daniel 20:15

Do you have a line of credit or a HELOC?

Tim 20:18

Well that's what we're looking at. We're looking at HELOC uh you have a bunch of equity in the house.

Daniel 20:22

We do, and so that's the only the only thing with the HELOC though, it's it's an adjustable rate, which which floats with with prime. And obviously, maybe an extra quarter point for the bank. Otherwise, yeah, what's the point of giving you money?

Tim 20:36

Well, we're gonna we're looking at it because we have two options. We're either gonna leave we were gonna move, but I can't afford to move back into Fairview where we want to be.

Daniel 20:46

You might as well just make what you want.

Tim 20:47

Yeah, because I like it out here. We got the pool, we got Holliswood Studios here, and you could even level it out to have like a patio underneath something. Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. I'll show it to you whenever we finish. But but anyway, so the holidays, what I was my original point was is the holidays are great because her the family and everything's here, but like it's just like it's hey Joseph. You want you to mow over my one family member?

Daniel 21:12

Well, that's all right.

Tim 21:13

But it's okay, it's okay. It's gonna happen. And then I think that what's kids, what's sad about it is I'm thinking about it for Nikki's family. Like eventually, and I'm not saying that anybody's gonna die soon, but eventually people will start dying, and there's just so many people, you know. So it's um, you know, it sucks, but it's life, it is life, unfortunately. So, anyway, last night I went to um go see Joe Mackey at uh how was that at Zany's?

Daniel 21:42

I text Greg Mackey for some reason. I text Greg Mackey. You did.

Tim 21:46

I was like, no, it's Joe Mackey. Sorry, my bad.

Daniel 21:48

But it was it was awesome. Was it? Yeah, he was it uh how was that was the audience packed out or was it it was packed. Have you ever been to Zany's? Never I I told you earlier, you know, at work the other day that I've never been to a comedy show.

Tim 22:02

Well, I hadn't either until August. Nikki got me a um a show, like a magician comedian for my birthday in July, and it was in August. It was a first I've lived here all my life, never been to Zanies.

Daniel 22:13

Neither neither have I drive, always drove past it right there on 8th Avenue.

Tim 22:15

It's right there, and it was it's great.

Daniel 22:17

The food's actually really good. It's in high school there used to be an uh an Asian massage parlor down the down the street from there. I never went there, but I always heard about it. I didn't go there.

Tim 22:28

I didn't, I didn't go there.

Daniel 22:30

That's hilarious.

Tim 22:31

But yeah, that it's cool because there's Zany's, the main club, and then they built on that this place, they call it the lab. It's like a smaller venue than Zany's, but and so Joe Mackey was actually in the lab. And and we that was the first time we'd been in there and we liked it better. Really? It's better. Is it smaller, more intimate? It's it's it is smaller, but in Zany's, it's like everything's like packed, and then there's like it's like you can tell that they just kind of crammed it together because then like if you're sitting in a certain area over here, you can't see shit because the there's poles in the way. Right, right, right. But in the lab, it's just like this open area, open area, and there's tables lined up. And so anyway, he's really funny. And you you know, if you watch him on gut fill, you know, it's very limited of what what you know what each of them are talking about, so you don't get a big a full taste of them. And so listening to him for an hour last night was it he was really funny, consistently funny. But I was gonna ask you this because I was thinking about it last night. Are you ever in a situation? Because it at comedy clubs and things like that, you're just sat wherever they want to sit you, right? So you're sitting with potentially, you know, yeah, it's kind of like family style register.

Daniel 23:41

Family style sitting.

Tim 23:42

Yeah, and it's like as much of an introvert as I am, it's like because I can be both introvert and outro or extra outrovert. You're an omnivert. I'm the omnivert. You're both. I can be both. And so I usually my um my base level is introvert. Sure. And so I go in there and I'm just like, oh, this sucks. I don't want to stop. I don't want to sit with people. Yeah, I can't. But the thing is though, is then you know, someone sits down beside you, the, you know, the the server or the host sits somebody beside you and you stripe up a conversation. Every time we've been there, it's like we've had great conversations with people.

Daniel 24:21

Sure, sure.

Tim 24:22

Do you do you like that type of situation?

Daniel 24:24

Uh I can do it. It's it's it's easy. It's easy to have my my wife with me. My wife is very, like, I'm sure, is your wife pretty outgoing? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Tim 24:33

So I do you have you ever met Nikki? Yes, I have met Nikki.

Daniel 24:36

And I'm just saying, like, obviously she's outgoing with us, but I'm saying I've never seen her in a true and like in an unknown environment. Like if she walks in a room full of people, that's one of that, right?

Tim 24:47

That's why I knew that um that's why I knew that when we went out, me, you, Erica, and Nikki went out, I knew that they would get along great.

Daniel 24:54

100% because Erica does, as you know, Erica does hair.

Tim 24:57

Yeah.

Daniel 24:58

So she's got a captive audience all day, every day. So she's got to, she's got to do small talk. Yeah. I mean, that's her job, essentially, right? Yeah. She's like a a mini psychotherapist for these people half the time.

Tim 25:11

But I guess that was a dumb question to ask you because I know that if you and her go out, like she can strike up the conversation.

Daniel 25:16

I can, yes, I can I I can engage and and and and and find it's hard for me. No, I can. There you go. Um it's hard for me to talk to another introvert. I can lead the conversation with another introvert because I know what it feels like to be like, oh, I'm shy, and this, that, and the other. It's it's I it's hard for me to walk into a room full of people by myself and be and expect to go around and be like, hey, my name is Daniel so-and-so, and I'm, you know, with such and such company. And and let's start, let's just randomly start small talking. But I I think if you walk into a room and you're one-on-one with somebody, it's a lot easier for me to do that, you know? Yeah. Because you can you look on the wall and find something that you have something in common about, right?

Tim 26:08

As I get older, I want to be better about that and be more engaging and be someone like, man, you I really want to talk to Tim.

Daniel 26:15

I think I think I'm a good listener. I think I think sometimes people are are are afraid of silence. I'm not too intimidated by silence. I think, yeah. I think sometimes like in our our AI meeting, I kind of fumbled over my words because sometimes my head just my brain races way quicker than my mouth can like spit out the words. I don't know. I don't know if that's anxiety. I don't know if that's because I'm uber smart. I'm just kidding, but you're smart, dude. It's probably anxiety driven, but like sometimes that's why I fumble or stutter because I can't, it's like I'm processing what I want to say, but my mouth, my mouth can't say it as quickly as my brain is processing in my head.

Tim 26:53

Yeah, I'm the same, I'm the same way.

Daniel 26:54

Uh so I if if I'm a it all depends on the scenario. Sometimes I'm like, I can do it, I can do it all, and then sometimes I'm like, what the fuck am I doing? Like, why like you know, my hands are sweaty and I'm like, oh shit, like what the fuck? Like, you know, that type of thing.

Tim 27:10

Yeah, that's what's funny about it for me too. It's like I I wish that I could just be one or the other, but like sometimes I'll go into a situation and I'm just like, yeah, I'm I'm fucking, I'm awesome. You're competent, I'm confident. And then and then sometimes I'm just like because I generally feel I generally feel like not superior to anybody. No, not at all.

Daniel 27:31

I mean, even I mean, you're 45, right? 44. And the same same thing with me. And I have to like keep constantly reminding myself that like you don't have to call everybody sir anymore. You're you're a sir. I know I'm a man. You're raising a family, you have a mortgage payment. Like you are an adult now, and sometimes it's like you still feel like you're that eight-year-old kid that's like sometimes I feel like I'm that 16-year-old kid.

Tim 27:53

Have any authority over anything, exactly? But I'm like, but I do have authority, exactly. I'm the boss, exactly.

Daniel 27:58

So it's so it's it's kind of constantly remind yourself it's all right, everybody. And that's why I always it's we feel the same way. You can't help but think that everybody else in this whole fucking world feels the same way. And that's always like half these fucking people are faking it, bro.

Tim 28:12

Yeah, well, I know that's what I've learned over the years. It's like as long as you just walk in with some confidence, I think you can do a whole lot. I've said this to people, it's like what you see with me is how I am all the time. Yeah, when I'm in a closed room with my wife talking, this is what this is who I am. Sure. And so, like, I always have this, I always have this thing in my head where I'm just like, you know, is everyone else like that? But what I've learned over the years is most of the time they're not. They're have this facade or this different person that they're showing you, or the shit that you see on social media of like, look how great my life is.

Daniel 28:48

Yeah, well, and we obviously social media is a bad example because we all know that's fake. Everyone's just gonna put the good side of their lives. Well, that's true, but like there's no Yeah, but I see what you're saying. It's like two versions of yourself, like it's the business version when I go to work, you know, it's the button up, yes, you're not gonna cuss and you're not gonna, you know, whatever, be sexually harassing and call, you know, women sweethearts and and all that shit. Hey, sweet, you know, you I mean, obviously you you don't mean anything by it, southern terminology, but you're obviously you're not gonna say that in the workplace. I I think I understand that, but like if you're completely are you saying like completely an utterly different personality?

Tim 29:24

Well, not not so much personality, but like everybody's got like their their, I don't want to say demons, that's kind of cliche. Everybody's got their um things that they don't want the world to see, or like I have this habit, or or maybe someone that's OCD that has to, you know, check and make sure the door's locked 20 times. Maybe they're they don't want like I wouldn't know that if that was you. Yeah, yeah. Because you're trying, you're trying to hide it. You're trying to hide this thing that you're you're you don't want other people.

Daniel 29:49

I think everybody, I think, like you say, I think everybody has a has something like that.

Tim 29:54

But I just feel like if I'm not completely who I am, what you see now, and what my family sees and everything else, then people are gonna be like, that guy's fake.

Daniel 30:05

No, yeah, I see what you're saying.

Tim 30:06

Like, fuck that guy, he's fake. Because I'm I'm not.

Daniel 30:09

No, I I yeah, I think I'm I I feel like I'm genuinely the same. Like I try I'm trying to be funny and try to just you know make people laugh. I you know, I enjoy doing that. I I think I this is kind of a I think there's a time and a place for everything, right?

Tim 30:22

This is kind of a dumb example, but whenever um whenever um Joe Mackey was making a joke last night and and Jared, the subway guy, came up, and it's like who would have thought in a million years that this guy's a pedophile?

Daniel 30:36

Yeah, I see, okay, yeah.

Tim 30:37

And so, like, how how do you Or even did you have you even watched the Diddy documentary?

Daniel 30:42

No, I haven't watched it. I've I've been meaning to watch it. You should watch that. It's it's it's insane. But yeah, I get what you're saying. Like that that would classify, yes. That's that's two different people.

Tim 30:50

He's got demons that he's got and but like could you imagine if you're like a celebrity like that and something like that comes out? That's why I'm just like I just need to be who I am all the time because I don't want there to ever be any question of like my character.

Daniel 31:03

In case you run for political well, I don't think I would ever do that. No, I see what you're saying, yeah.

Tim 31:09

But it's just strange that um people can can live that way, yeah. People live that because I I spent many years when I was younger trying to be two different people, and it's exhausting. Oh, it's it's it's hard when you're trying to do this and you're trying to do that, and it's like even uh several years ago when I was very heavily into the church of like being I've got I'm around these church people, I'm gonna act this way, and then I'm around you know, my work friends like you and Mike and Joseph and everybody, and it's like I'm gonna act this way. It's like, look, I can be both, exactly. You know, I was I was listening to um Jelly Roll on uh on Joe Rogan. Yeah, and I like you know, I don't I don't never even listen to his music before, but I just like him because he's just very honest, he's a spiritual guy, but he'll also talk a bunch of shit. Yeah, and it's like you can be both I think drinks and smokes and yeah, you can be, and he lost like 300 pounds.

Daniel 32:01

I know I've seen him he's it's that's a lot.

Tim 32:05

But you can my point is you can be both people, and as you get older, you stop caring less about trying to cater to other pe what you think other people are expecting.

Daniel 32:15

Yeah, I and again, I think that's uh like you said, as you're getting older, you you you're identify more with yourself that yes, you're a man, you're you know, you're not in that 16-year-old mind frame or 20-year-old mind frame or 21-year-old mind frame anymore. And I think that goes along with being comfortable in your own skin. You know what I mean? You're not you don't have to be two people. You can be, hey, I can talk about Jesus with my work buddies and not feel bad about it if that's how you felt. I'm not saying that's how you felt, but like if that was an example of it, you know. I can't you know what I mean? Like, we don't care if if Yeah, I know. You know what I mean? Like I know what you mean. But like I know that's not the example, but that you were feeling, but you know what I mean? That would be, I guess, one example. Yeah. But yeah, I think it's just as you get older, you're comfortable with who you are and and who you develop as.

Tim 33:00

And the thing is, is I don't know that I'm even comfortable with who I am, but I think I care less about what other people think. Yeah.

Daniel 33:07

Yeah. Cause I remember you remember walking like into a room and you're like looking around and like wondering what people are thinking, or you know, are they looking at me? Everyone's looking at me. Everyone everyone's looking at me. Guess what? Who gives a f now? And they're sitting there, and they're sitting there.

Tim 33:18

I just walk right in. I don't give a shit. I just like I'm like they're thinking now, like, oh, everybody, you know, everybody's thinking the same shit that you are. Exactly. It's it's funny because we get so wrapped up in that, and everybody else, it doesn't matter. Though you can see the most confident person in the world. They're gonna still think nine times out of ten, there's like that thing in their head that's like, Yep, no, you're not good enough, or or and you're just like telling yourself, sit up straight, engage your core, engage your core, look, look professional. Look the part. Look the part. I used to try to do that. The quietest man in the room is the smartest. I used to try to do that at work when I was more of a boss of people.

Daniel 33:54

Yeah.

Tim 33:54

And you know, and I realized that that didn't work for me because my management style is of you know, be real with people, but also them know that like if you do if you fuck up, then you're gonna you're gonna be in trouble. Yeah. But I think that everybody enjoyed working for me. I don't know. I wouldn't I would like to think that.

Daniel 34:14

I would agree. I think I think your management style is there's no there's no there's there doesn't need to be a good thing. I'm a trust but verified type of fellow. Yeah, micromanaging, yes, I agree. There you go.

Tim 34:27

Yeah. Well, so I I guess I need to discuss the elephant in the room. What is that? I know you don't listen to the podcast, and that's fine. I don't expect you to, but there's been some I should. There's been some signaling in every one of the episodes of Joseph calling me calling you a bitch.

Daniel 34:49

Well, he told me he was gonna be nice to me, and I told him before I came on here I was gonna do nothing but say nice things, and I'm tired of being meaningful.

Tim 34:57

He said, I'm gonna call him a bitch and to and see if he listen see if he hears it. I was like, he doesn't listen to it, so he's not gonna hear it. He's like, Well, I'm gonna do it. So that's what he's doing.

Daniel 35:06

That's fine. That's fine. I'll listen to it, and I guess he can call me a bitch all he wants.

Tim 35:09

That's fine. I love you, Joseph. I know. He I don't think you're a bitch. Thank you. I appreciate that, Tim. But uh, but yeah, so we do need to get uh two sad dads going.

Daniel 35:18

Well, if Mike would I offered to drive him here, but he's like, uh what did he say? Something about a splint getting off.

Tim 35:24

Yeah, he's got that splint that's coming off, I think on Wednesdays.

Daniel 35:26

As he's racing around the house on a scooter. Did you see that video? Yes. At first I was gonna question Mark, I was like, Why'd you send us a screenshot of like your utility thing? Yeah, I know I clicked on it and I was like, What the hell? Oh, okay, all right.

Tim 35:39

Yeah, his daughter, it was uh I guess it was on his daughter's TikTok or something. But yeah, that's funny.

Daniel 35:44

I was like, You you can't come up here, but yet you're racing around the the house on the the scooter.

Tim 35:50

Yeah, I hope I hope that that surgery worked because uh he's dragging that foot around for I mean I think that they he was limping the whole two years he had that.

Daniel 35:59

I was gonna say that he didn't he never had a normal walk or normal after he had that first surgery, he was worse than before when he agree. It was like kind of like your Mexican surgery.

Tim 36:08

Because I didn't even realize that like before when he had originally had that surgery a couple years ago, he would limp a little bit. Yeah, but he limped the whole time. I know, I know.

Daniel 36:18

I'm like, what are you doing? Like, how does that not affect your other side? Oh no, that's the hip, yeah. Like you're like, you know, if you're constantly overcompensating on the other leg, like how does that jack you up?

Tim 36:30

I I come I can empathize with people that have surgeries on their feet, and man, it's there's nothing worse than your and he can't take the pain meds because he's allergic to them.

Daniel 36:40

So can you even imagine having all that work done and not even like being able to just take yeah, I know like extra strength pinol, and that's it or something?

Tim 36:48

That's I think that's what he's been doing. Uh uh rather than the the narcotics. Bless his little heart. Bless his little heart. Bless your little heart. Well, the next time that we're all in here, we're gonna it'll be the two sad dads. I'll probably be called the bitch every other word. No, I think Joseph will probably be nice too. You think he'll turn it down? He might.

Daniel 37:07

I hope so.

Tim 37:08

Because he's gonna listen to this and then feel bad.

Daniel 37:10

Uh I'm not trying to aim to make you feel bad, Joseph, but if you do, we can we can make amends, don't worry, buddy.

Tim 37:20

Well, I don't know. Yeah. So everything going good in your life?

Daniel 37:24

Yeah, everything's going good, just doing the doing the work thing and doing the thing.

Tim 37:29

And I saw you twice this week at work.

Daniel 37:31

I know. I had a couple meetings. I was there Monday and then uh I was there Friday, and then uh That's probably the most I've seen you at work in like a year. Joseph said too. I was like, I'm I'm working off on my 2026 time, so I'll see y'all in 2027. What do you what do you you like working at home? Uh yes and no.

Tim 37:48

I mean, yeah, I do like I get a lot done, I'll be honest with you. You you kind of got pushed out of the office because needing more space. Of course, yeah, if we get this new place that we're looking at, you may have an office. What do you oh really? Yeah, we can talk about that offline.

Daniel 38:03

Okay.

Tim 38:03

Because I don't it's not it's not public information.

Daniel 38:06

Getcha, getcha. Um, yeah, that'd be interesting to talk about. Yeah, no, I do I do like it. It it it it allows me to because I wake up so early sometimes. Yeah. And so I can just like literally just if I'm you know, if I'm ready to go, I can just hop on the computer and just start what I need to start doing. You know what I mean? And I don't have to wait till the office opens up or get there at seven and fight traffic. And that's that's what I love. I love not fighting traffic, being able just to wake up, take a shower, go downstairs, and just start working whenever I want, and then I work my you know, my my eight hours, and then we learn what it is. We learned when uh Jack I can let the dog out the back door out out outside in the backyard to go pee and poop and when Jack was homeschooling, we learned that um you know kids go to school for seven or eight hours a day and they're only getting schooling for like three. Yeah, exactly. Because it it it's all the logistics in between, it's the walk in between classes, and that's what I find at work. Like I'll I'll be in there at seven, but I won't get started on what I'm doing until like eight, eight, you know, eight o'clock because everyone's like in and out talking and this, that, and the other. And it's like, dude, I could have had like three hours of work done at home by now.

Tim 39:15

So I'm of the opinion of that to where I mean I've also got this area here. Yeah, and you probably have a space only dedicated to the city.

Daniel 39:23

And I'm not and I'm not managing anybody, I'm managing my own workload. Yeah, it'd be it'd be a lot different if I was like going in and I'm and I'm I'm managing a crew and and and crews out, but it's definitely different. Yeah, with my with with my job description, what I do it all I need is the internet and and the vehicle.

Tim 39:42

Yeah.

Daniel 39:42

And that's it.

Tim 39:43

Yeah, I think that you you know, there's a there there's these big um actually probably saves the company money too.

Daniel 39:49

And all I mean as far as gas, I mean going from that back and forth, and you're more productive, like you said.

Tim 39:54

It's like I go to work very early, and I and the reason I started doing that is because I'm Trying to get things done because I know at seven o'clock or seven seven to eight, there's people all need something, this and that, and the other. Yep. And now it's like I get there at like 6:15 or 6:30, and it's like still people coming in and needing things, but then I'm like I get irritated about it from time to time, and then I'm like, well, I'm support, you know. So I I don't I don't mind it. I don't mind it so much because the things that I'm there's things that I'm working on, and then there's people's immediate needs, and I always try to make sure that I take care of the immediate needs. But um, but yeah, there's a lot of people though that if they're working from home, they're just fucking off.

Daniel 40:38

Yeah, no, it's it I can't do that because I we I have to produce something. Yeah, I mean, these guys have to sell X amount, and if their closing ratio is only 20 to 25%, guess how much we have to put on on the street? Yeah, you know, and you have to estimate God knows how much, and it's just that's just not feasible. Yeah, and especially with all the supporting of not only those guys, but like uh you don't even see like how much. I mean, I know you'd understand, like, but even on the request from the account managers, like from renewals and recreating the maps and adding different phases that you know, once communities have grown, and and uh yeah, it's it's I actually love my job. I really do.

Tim 41:16

I'm to the point where like I'm and this has happened as I've gotten older that like I used to juggle like 10 things at a time, and now it's like if I'm working on something and someone just comes in and interrupts me, I'm just like fuck, because I like can't see I'm I'm the same way.

Daniel 41:32

Well, and I'm not frustrated, but I'm to the I'm to the point, like if I'm working on something, I kind of I kind of approach it as a as a Dave Ramsey way. Like overall, I may be working on a big project, but if an email comes through and I can knock something out, and you know, this big project may take me a couple days or whatever, but if something comes through and I can knock that out in an hour or two, I might stop what I'm doing and just knock that off, you know, and just be done with it and just answer that question because Yeah, but you can you working from home, you can make that decision.

Tim 42:02

Sure. And I always tell everybody, please text me. And I'm not trying to be like unsociable and not take your phone call, but if you text me, then like I'm like, oh, someone's texting me, let me finish this thing, yeah, or email me or something because people call and they immediately need something, right? And I have to stop what I'm doing, and I become very frustrated by it.

Daniel 42:23

Are you are you are you somebody that when they receive when you receive an email per a request, you respond like, yeah, I got that, I'll I'll let you know, whatever, or do you just say, I I read the email, yes, I'll add that to my list, but not let them know that I've acknowledged the receipt of the email and I'm gonna I'm gonna work on this in the time 90% of the time, like I said, and some sort of time frame. And I've always I'll get with you with quite if I have any questions in the meantime or something like that.

Tim 42:53

I've always said this that I am the type of person that um there's the projects that I'm working on, and then there's stuff that immediately needs to be done. And since I'm a production-minded guy, it's like I don't want to slow down production. So if somebody says, hey, I need this thing, blah, blah, blah, I usually do it real quick and then email back.

Daniel 43:13

Yeah, so you're kind of the same way. You can you figure out what's important. If I need to knock this task out quickly, I'll stop what I'm doing and knock it out. Exactly. Exactly.

Tim 43:20

I I usually do that because like I said, I know what it's like when you're in production and you're and you're trying to get something done. I mean, even little things like that are in the in the same with you, the reason and you doing that is the reason that our company is as successful as it is, but even like even the all these little things, because I don't like it if people do that to me. I'm like, hey, and I don't expect a response like immediately, most of the time, but at least like uh, hey, I got it, let me get back with you on this or something. And there's a lot of people that don't give a shit about you.

Daniel 43:54

That see, that's amazing. See, I'm the same way. I and I almost respond because I'm OCD, because I don't like to see an open email on my email. Exactly. I can't stand it. Exactly. Me too. I mean, if if I won't let it go past 10 emails before I mean, usually if it comes in, I'm I'm I'm reading it, clicking it, and then I'm