Richmond Folklore, Fights & Phones (boyfriend bootcamp, hidden pools, government boxing and best rooftops) - Unscripted #021

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Less buzz, more clarity. We open with adaptogens over caffeine—Kin, L-theanine, lion’s mane—and why “awake” doesn’t have to mean jittery. Then we launch Boyfriend iPhone Bootcamp: turning a running joke into basics that actually matter—angles, light, distance, framing. 

From there, a tour through Richmond’s layers: 18th-Street throwbacks (Tiki Bob’s, Alley Cats, On The Rocks), the Altria/Mosque pool that used to exist, underground water and hidden rooms, and why rooftop pools never quite stuck here. We break down what works now—Black Olive’s tucked-in rooftop energy—then talk service as product with a candid Coalescence debrief. 

We close on resilience (doing the hard thing when the numbers pinch) and a real community moment: RPD vs RFD charity boxing at River City Roll, training at Vintage Boxing, and why shared rituals beat hot takes.

Keywords: Richmond VA, adaptogens vs caffeine, Kin Euphorics, L-theanine, lion’s mane, Boyfriend iPhone Bootcamp, Richmond nightlife history, Altria Theater pool, rooftop pools RVA, Black Olive rooftop, Coalescence coffee, River City Roll boxing, Vintage Boxing.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the VeriHouse podcast. Today we spoke about a bunch of fun stuff. It was a good conversation. We talked about the upcoming Boyfriend Bootcamp. If you have no idea how to take photos of your baddie or your girlfriend, there's a bootcamp coming up that you need to attend so that you can get it figured out. There's also a, we don't know if it'll, we don't know what to expect, but it's an upcoming boxing match between cops and firefighters here in Richmond. And me and Perry are going to try and sit front row. And then we also spent some time having a authentic conversation about money and the increasing rise in cost of everything and our thoughts about it and what to do about it or the lack of knowing what to even do about it and the frustrations behind it. And just why is everything so expensive and it seems like there's no solutions. So yeah, a lot of different topics today, but we had, we had fun. Yeah, we had a good time. We also talked about a pool in a, not so, but maybe pretty well-known location. We're finding out about these historic underground waterways. So this is one of those, those kind of hidden gems. We talked about the arts districts, Broad street. It needs help. It's getting there, but it still needs a lot of help. And we talked about coffee specifically for me tea, but we also talked about coffee and coffee shops and our experiences with one in particular. So stay tuned. It's going to be a good one. I was and still am a blimp biscuit like fan. I'll listen to their, the chocolate starfish hotdog flavored water religiously for like a year. Yeah. I was working, I'll never forget this. I was working at King's dominion, didn't have a car. So me and my friend would go cause he had a car and we dropped to work blasting blimp biscuit. Yeah. It's, it's a millennial thing. Maybe, you know, I guess, is it? I'm what? Yeah. Cause I mean, we're millennials. I never actually know what the difference is. I didn't haven't invested into learning the difference between millennial and Gen Z like when the cutoff and, and Jenna, I don't know, man, I was born in the eighties and I'm still alive. That's, that's all I got for you. You're doing great, man. I'm barely in that club. I was born in 89. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So you were there. See, I'm always going to reference a cult or like a, um, like a movie or pop culture reference from the eighties and nineties, but I know that you probably don't know what it is. Yeah. So I'm not going to do you like that. Well, it's perfect. We got a good thing going, you know, like, you know, don't ruin a good thing. You know, you bring up a thing and I'm like, what's that? Yeah. And then I feel, I get the privilege to, uh, to educate you a little bit. Exactly. Yeah. You know, Hey dude, I'm here to learn. I love it. I love it. We, we, we need a, that spirit, that curious spirit of gathering knowledge. I am like endlessly curious just about everything. Yeah. Uh, and I wouldn't change a thing, even though it does send me like down all these different rabbit holes and makes me very scatterbrained, but we love the rabbit holes, man. That's the best part about being curious and curiosity. Didn't kill the cat that I know of. Yeah. Cause last I checked, Francine is still doing pretty good. And cats are pretty hard to kill in general. Yeah. You know, just little tiny lions running around the neighborhood. Um, so how you doing, man? How's everything been? What's new? I'm doing good. We, we've had a busy week. I think you and I were just kind of exchanging texts here and there, which says to me that we've both been having a busy week. Yeah. And you know, we, we, we stay in pretty good contact, but when I don't hear from you for like a whole day or like a two days, I'm like, yeah, we're both kind of in the weeds. Been pretty good. I've been working on some side projects, getting things wrapped up with some others, getting geared up for a DJ gig on Saturday. So this coming Saturday, which is the first November 1st. It is. Yeah. I'll be up in Charlottesville with the Tom, Tom group. Tom, Tom foundation is a organization up there. They host a party called nocturne. So it's like Halloween nocturne. And I remember the venue this time it's at the Mary mill estate. I don't know where it is, but that's where the venue, that's the name of the venue. That's cool. Yeah. And speaking of Halloween, hopefully everybody enjoyed our Halloween episode. Yeah. So appreciate all the feedback on that. If you've seen it. Um, but yeah, dude, I'm a new man. I got a new phone case. You did. Do you have a case? Did you have a case on your phone prior? I did. Okay. But I do remember there being a period of time where you didn't like, and I, I, I don't understand the people that don't have cases on their phones. You just run and run with a naked iPhone. I don't, I don't get it. Yeah. It's weird. I pretty much, yeah. I always have to have a case on my phone for sure, but there's nothing like a brand new phone case. It just makes you feel brand new, you know, feel like a whole new person. And it's nice and fresh. I mean, I hope you didn't spend too much money on it. I usually don't spend like 18 bucks on Amazon. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I wouldn't think I spent that much on phone cases like the Otter box cases. Yeah. 50, $70 for a case. Yeah. That is probably going to be trash in a year or two. Yeah. I just, I don't get it. And speaking of the generations, right? Like I feel like Otter box is totally like a boomer thing, you know, like you gotta have the belt clip and the Otter box and like, you know, you can't even get a new phone because you can't get your old one out of the original case. Right. It's locked in there. You need like Allen keys and whatever to get your phone back. It's too much. It's definitely a boomer thing. And I thought this went like by the wayside, but headsets are still around man. Yeah. Like the earpiece with the big boom arm that comes down with the mouthpiece that comes down to your mouth. And I see people just casually wearing it like not on the phone, just out in the streets in the wild. Yeah. Like, um, here's pop culture, like Ari gold from entourage, that type of vibe, right? There you go. Great reference. Good job. Yeah. I know that one. I know that one. Yeah. Great show. Yeah. Um, and I got a haircut, so I'm feeling brand new. There you go. You didn't have to cut it yourself. Good job. I didn't know I had an actual, uh, what do you call those people? Barbers barber. I had a barber cut my hair. You know, I felt like I'm, I'm getting very conspiracy lately and I can't also have a mullet and be like hardcore. And like, it's just too much. It's a lot for people to take. Yeah. I think fast forward maybe 40 years that look 100% suits who I'm sure you'll become, you know, kind of secluded in a, you know, uh, not a, not a compound, but compound esque. Yeah. And fully indulged in conspiracy theories, if not have proven one to be true already. Yeah. Cause I definitely see that in the future. That's my dream. So thank you for saying that. And yeah, I'll totally, I could always revisit the mullet. You make a great point, you know, but I think for now it's, it's ran its course. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure getting, you know, I'm sure it's, it's probably a combination of like, I think I can manage without getting a haircut, like going to a barber to get a haircut and you know, taking the shears to it versus let me stop looking like a bum. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the problem I ran into is my barber, shout out Jr, uh, moved temporarily to New York to go back to school for like six months. And you know, speaking of being busy, I've just been so busy that I haven't made it a priority to figure out like, Oh, well how am I going to get my haircut now? And uh, funny enough, one of my like family friends, which Jr is also originally a family friend. He moved here from New York and started cutting my hair. And then now he moved back within a different family friend, moved down from New York and now that guy's cutting my hair. Nice. So at this rate, I just have an endless supply of New York barbers, I guess. There you go. Yeah. That's not a bad way to go, man. I, I can relate to the not knowing where to get your haircut. Like I went to the same guy for years when I was younger, when I was like late teens or the twenties. And then I moved from the County where he was located to the city. And then I would bounce back and forth in RICO, you know, to Richmond. But I went through like five different barbers and salons over the last, I don't know, however many years. Cause no one ever cut my hair. Right. It's kind of hard to go to a barber and be like, you're doing it, but you're not really doing the best job. And a lot of times these for me, I don't know if anybody else can relate to this. You just need a haircut. And like, you're good enough. Just here's my $25, which is really dating. When I would see that person because a haircut is not $25 anymore. I would go to him, get a decent haircut, wear a hat, you know, but now I got my guy. I've been going to him for like two years. It's AB over at salon 201. That's my guy. Yeah. Yeah. I love it, dude. I do the typical hardcore kid thing. And I go to high point. Hey, shout out to the high point guys. Yeah. Yeah, dude. I will tell you the funniest story. So, um, my brother, his hair is like down past his butt. It's like super long because of this moment. Oh, okay. So, um, uh, originally he lived in Florida and he would come up here to visit and eventually ended up living here. But he came here and was like, Oh, where, where can I get my haircut? And I, I won't do this place dirty, but it's a place on main street. And it was where I was getting my haircut at the time because my friend worked there. And so I was like, well, just come with me and just get a haircut at this place that I go to. And I guess, uh, for whatever reason, you know, maybe my brother doesn't get his haircut so frequently, or it doesn't have like a go to haircut, you know, but he knew he needed a haircut. And I was like, come with me, let's get your haircut. So go to this place on main street. We get in there. I sit down with my buddy, get the regular haircut that I pretty much was always getting at that time. And my brother's sitting next to me in the barber chair talking to, uh, one of the people that work there that was getting ready to cut his hair. And the guy's like, all right, man, like, what are you, you know, what are you thinking today? What do you want? And he's like, uh, you know, I don't know. Just, I just need like a cleanup, you know, just something, something good. Just need to look fresh. Uh, you know, haven't got my haircut in a while. Guys like, okay, like, you know, what are you thinking? You want to leave some length on the top. You want to like, you know, buzz down the sides, you know, like what are you thinking? Do you have any references? It's like, no, not really. Like I don't have any pictures or anything. Um, but yeah, like, uh, like, uh, a fade or something would be cool. And he's like, okay, yeah. A fade. And he's like, okay. So like a fade, like, what do you think? Like, like what kind of fade? And he's like, yeah, I guess like short to long or like medium or it was like the weirdest conversation I'd ever heard. Okay. So the barber's like, okay, like I think, yeah, we could, I could do that. Like I could do that. He's like, all right, so you want it like short, like faded to long. And he's like, and my brother's like, yeah. And the guy's like, all right, I got you. I got you. We're like, okay, bro, just wait, just wait. I will include the clip of that together. Okay. Oh man. I will include the clip of this because it is the craziest thing. So we sit there for like 40 minutes, we're getting our haircut and you know, I'm looks pretty normal to me. I get my haircut, I'm looking sharp. And uh, and we had rode together. So we finish up, we pay, we tip, we get in the car and we go to drive back and he flips down the mirror and he's looking in the mirror and he's kind of looking at it and he's like, all right. And uh, I'm like, you good? And he's like, he's like, can you look at me, dude? I look at him and he's like, is this side longer than the other side? I'm looking at him and I was like, hold on. All right. Turn around and I'm looking at one side of his head and I'm looking at the other and this homie faded his head like from one side, like a boomerang dude, one side around to the other. So he has like, yeah, like a normal, you know, like military cut on the top. And then the whole sides of his head is faded from like skin to like around the back to where it just gradually gets longer around this side. It was the craziest thing, dude. And you have to, like, I, we don't want to put them on blast. Do you want to call them out? Oh man. I, I, I'm so curious as to where this was. Okay. It was at refuge. And is refuge even still there? I have no idea. All right. Hopefully not. Go to refuge. Yeah, me too. Yeah. All right. So it was at refuge. And, um, I mean, dude, craziest thing I've ever seen. And when I started going to high point, and this is like over a decade ago, it was like at least 10 years ago. Yeah. Um, and when I started going to high point, I told this story and then I showed them the video because I have a video of it of like a whole like wraparound. Yeah. And, um, the, these guys could not stop laughing. They're like in tears laughing from this story. It's like one of my favorite stories. And, uh, speaking of barbers, of course it just reminded me of that. It's just like the silliest thing ever. I did. Of course. I have so many questions like this guy is he, was he new? Why did he think that that's what a fade meant? Right. Right. Like why you, you know what a fade is. Was he taking the piss? Was he just like this guy I'm gonna fuck his head all up. Like he didn't say what he wanted. So he was going to get, you know, the sideways special. It's getting the, you know, the, the old boomerang. And that's what he got, dude. He got the boomerang. And the thing is like, if that was the haircut you were going for, he did a great job. Like I was impressed. I'm like, dude, how did this guy even do this? Yeah. Um, crazy. You know, he took pictures and added it to his lookbook. It's like, I nailed that. He's like, I'm never going to do this haircut ever again. Cause who's ever going to ask for this. And here's the funniest part. My brother never got his haircut again after that. Really? He just grew his hair out. Yes. Now his hair is dead. He literally was like, all right, I'm good on that. I'm never getting my haircut anywhere ever again. Amazing. I mean, I don't have a story that's that bad, but I've definitely gone to some random kind of in a pinch barber shops. Cause like in the process of like leaving the place where I was going and trying to find a new barber, you got to go and get your haircut. Right. You can't just assume that they're going to do a good job. You have to go and like grow your hair out, get it cut and see if it works out. And I went to this joint and it was like a new salon that was just opening up over in South side. And I, you know, black barbershop, black barber found him online, go in there. And I'm like, all right, new place. They got some like the equipment's new, the chairs are new. They just starting up. Not a lot of people. So I'm like, all right, cool. This would be, this could be my new spot cause I've been looking for another barbershop. I'm like, yeah, uh, I just want it short cause my hair was really long at the time and faded on the sides and, you know, trim up the beard, blah, blah, blah. And similarly, but not as bad as that, the guy cuts my hair and I feel him like, normally when I say short, I mean like just a little off the top. And I think I even said a little off the top and normally they'll take the clippers and to put the guard on them. So it doesn't like close cut. Yeah. Like it'll just take a little bit off of the Langley cause I like the length, but I just want a little bit on top. Dude straight up takes the guard off and like almost buzzes me. And I'm like, ah, definitely that was way too close. And I couldn't see cause there's no mirror. Yeah. And I'm like, definitely way too close. And he, and I know he's doing it wrong because he does it from the front to the back. And that's not how you cut my hair. That's not how you cut a lot of black folks here. You don't buzz from the front to the back. You like go with the flow and you, you know, kind of use the guards to take the length off. And sure enough, he's like, he holds me the mirror. Like he's proud of his work. And I'm like, I look fucking ridiculous. Dude, I didn't, I didn't show anybody my hair for like a month. Oh, it's the worst man. Yeah. And like I needed a haircut for like work. So I had to eventually like take my hat off and like wear my hair on. It was just like, Oh, this is ridiculous. Yeah. Like I, you know, you pay the guy, you tip them and you're like, did you, did you think that was a good haircut? Like what's the deal here? What's really happening. Yeah. That's the worst feeling. Even though I will say I have two types of videos that I love. And anytime I come across them on social media, I always like save them to a folder. And one is the slot, the disaster slides of death, right? Like people just getting catastrophically injured on slides. I don't know why. I just think it's so funny. And the second one is like barbershop pranks. Yeah. And they're so funny, dude. I don't know why I think they're so funny. There's like this one where, you know, there's this kid he's leaning back and he's washing his hair and he's like, you good? And he's like, yeah, and he's washing his hair. But then like every couple of seconds, he just starts getting closer and spraying the water down his face. And it gets to a point where the kid's there and the barber's just like waterboarding him and spraying his face. And the kid just like doesn't say anything. And the guy's like, you good, man? You good. And he's like, yeah, I'm good. It's yeah. I like those tears laughing, man. I love those too. The one that I like is the, when he's like cleaning, he's like cleaning up the hair off of you with a, with a brush. And then like a hair blow dryer and he blows the hair off of your shoulders, but then blows it inside your mouth. So the, and he'll do it to like, and this is usually like a black barber and he'll do it to like real tough looking guys. And they're, they're there. They're really calm. Cause you know, you can haircut, you're usually like calm. You're just like tranquil. You're sitting there and he's got like a little hair, the blow dryer. Yes. He's like all in your mouth and you're like, bro, what the, what are you doing? They're like super mad. He's a joke. It's a joke. It's a joke. I'm sure you've seen the one where he's like, he's like, all right, man, you're all good. You want me to oil you up? And the guy's like, and the guy's like, oil me up. He's like, yeah. And he's like, man, he's like, chill with that. And he's like, he's like, all right, all right. My bad. And he's like, all right, well, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna just hit you from the back and get, and let you get out of here. And the guy's like, he gets up. He's like, hit me from the back. He's like, he's like, man, I'm done coming to this place. And you guys always do this to me. And he literally gets up and like storms out because they're just always hitting them with like some sus little innuendo. Like, and he's like, what? It's like, I just met with the talcum powder, man. I'm gonna hit you from the back. And he's like, what, bro? Why you gotta say it like that? I love that that like that took off, but it never got played out. Like it's still funny as shit. Yeah. I love it. Oh man. Just, yeah. The funny little funny little videos on social media. Yeah. No, it's the, it'll, it'll always be like a little funny little grab. Yeah. Like, well, I guess we should probably talk about what we came to talk about today. Yeah, man. Where, uh, well, what we should do is I want to crack this beer first. Oh yeah. Correct. The beer beverage. I've got a, uh, I've got a margarita, canned margarita, dude. There you go. I don't know what I have, but, uh, we're going to dive into it. So for anybody listening, and obviously if you're watching these beverages are supplied by 0.5. So 0.5 is a non-alcoholic and alternative beverage shop right here in Cary town. They are the official sponsor of the Vera house podcast, and you can find them here in Cary town, right at 3435 West Cary street, amazing people. And for anybody that's sober curious or even interested in things like deep focus productivity, they have nootropic and adapted gin based drinks there, as well as some alternatives like THC and CBD and Kava and things like that. So we have an exclusive deal with them where you can get 10% off of your next purchase. And to get the voucher, in order to do so, you go to Vera house.co slash 0.5 P O I N T the number five, and be sure to download or screenshot that voucher there, go visit the wonderful people over at 0.5 and you can find plenty of beverages just like these and more, including not non-alcoholic wines, non-alcoholic beers, spirit alternatives, uh, just really, really cool stuff. And yeah, there's always like one of my favorite parts of the episode where you dive into this and figure this out. Yeah, this is from athletic brewing. It's a Pina Colada sour. And I grabbed this one intentionally because it was very unique. It's um, it's a beer, an NA beer with pineapple, coconut and lactose. It says, so the, uh, ingredients, where were they? Um, bursting with luscious pineapple, coconut and notes of citrus. Tropical reset is our take on a Pina Colada sour. Whether you're on a tropical vacation or just want to feel like you are this refreshing and slightly sweet brew makes for an excellent compadre. Treat yourself. You deserve it. I do. You do. I do deserve correct that beer. Yeah. Um, I do love like a classic, even when I was drinking like margarita, you can't beat it, man. It's just such a good, like classic. You know, not, not drinking alcohol and like a regular anymore. You don't get an opportunity to have a margarita. So this is like a nice, you know, a nice break from the mundane. This is free spirits, non-alcoholic margarita cocktail, the spirit of tequila with notes of ripe agave tangy lime and tangerine. Our lightly carbonated margarita is fresh is a fresh take on a classic cocktail. And I was just looking at, I always look at the nutrition facts nowadays, you know, I'm watching what I eat is a priority and trying to be on a healthy diet. I look at the nutrition facts all the time. And a lot of these, these beverages from 0.5 are whole beverages. So they don't contain chemicals or additives or false colors. They're usually made with natural ingredients. And this one is no exception, water, agave cane, sugar, tangerine juice, concentrate, lime juice, clarified lime juice, sea salt, citric acid and vitamin B3. Sign me up, man. Right. That's great. That's good. This is, it's like, well, I don't want to say I was expecting it to be bad, but when I hear beer and pineapple and coconut and lactose, that's not totally what I was expecting, but it's super good. Yeah. It sounds like it tastes like a beer milkshake. Yeah, it doesn't. It tastes like a sour, like if you're familiar with like sour beers it's actually really good. I really like it. Yeah. It's a shame that, um, somehow we live in a society where like our food is not food and our drinks are not drinks and our water isn't water. Uh, so yeah, it's nice to like, have like ingest something that's actually real. Right. So that's nice. It tastes good and it's good for you. Definitely check out 0.5 if you haven't been, it's one of my favorite places to go to get just alternative can drinks, the nootropic and the adaptogen drinks. Those are my favorite. Yeah. Cause I drink, I drink green tea, but I don't drink coffee. And I really don't drink a lot of caffeinated beverages, but every now and then you want slash need a little boost, a little pick me up. And my favorite is like the Ken euphorics drink and like their rise drink, which has like L-theanine and lion's mane. And these adaptogens that are natural cognitive energy boosts instead of like a chemically induced energy boost. It's the best man. Yeah. Yeah. And we just had a really great interview with Jody Seidel, the founder of 0.5. So be sure to go into our episode list, find that one and be sure to check it out. So did you see, uh, are you going to the boyfriend photo camp? What did the boyfriend photo camp? I have no idea what you're talking about. Um, okay. Well, um, it reminds me of a biceps for Jesus. Yeah. Uh, it's the boyfriend iPhone bootcamp, the boyfriend iPhone photo bootcamp where you can bring your partner with you and learn tips and tricks to photograph them on your iPhone. So that way you can level up your boyfriend's skills and make sure that they know what they're doing in order to help you feel beautiful and celebrated. Uh, specifically says go from WTF is this to hell? Yeah. Um, and be trusted to photograph your baddie. So for any of you boys and men out there that have a baddie, uh, you gotta be sure that that translates onto the iPhone and that you know how to take a good picture of your bad. So this is a class for you to take a better picture of your girlfriend. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. Incredible. It is. Uh, it's kind of awesome. It is. Look, I, the creativity never ceases to amaze me. A class. I look, I get it. Women and girls are widely known to be better at taking photos of themselves and better at taking photos in general. They just, they come out the womb knowing how to handle an iPhone. I didn't know the angles it's it's in their DNA. I don't get it, but you know, it's pretty cool. And if you don't take the time to learn how to use your phone, then obviously you wouldn't take good photos with it. So I can see the benefit if somebody who, uh, wants to improve their, their iPhone photo game. Yeah. It says if you're sick of your boyfriend taking subpar photos or you're the boyfriend tired of hearing, take another one. This one's for you. Uh, yeah, it's at scuffle town park on November 16th starts at 11. Oh man, we got to go to that. I'll see you there, man. Uh, yeah, you know, you gotta, you gotta get the angles. You know, you gotta take it from up high and that's kind of all I know, but yeah, get up high. Don't shoot into light. Always shoot with the light facing your subject. This is just there's photography one-on-one. Yeah. You don't shoot at the sun. You shoot with the sun under your back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I came across that on Instagram. I was like, that's awesome slash hilarious slash weird slash cool slash. So Richmond, yeah. Such a Richmond thing. And I love that they're doing it at scuffle town. That's one of my favorite like little sneaky parks. Exactly. Yeah. It's a cool, yeah. It's a cool little hang spot. A lot of times, uh, when I do my Tuesday night bike rides, we end, we end at scuffle town. Nice. Yeah. Get a little, uh, you know, fake beer or a little milkshake or, you know, ice cream cone from scoop. Oh yeah. I haven't been there in a minute. I got to check. Yeah. Yeah. Me neither. I used to go, um, well during the spring and summer, it would just be at scuffle town a few nights a week. Go to, uh, Kerry street cafe before it was blue, uh, blue Habanero. Yep. So go to Kerry street cafe or pop into the deli that's right next door. It's strawberry street cafe. Strawberry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pop into the deli, the kind of bodega that's right there. Or if you want to level up, go to eight and a half, get you a good sandwich, maybe a pizza, maybe a couple sides, sit in the park, have a nice dinner. Yeah. Yeah. That's the move, man. I miss the salad bar that was at strawberry street cafe. They had a salad bar. I don't remember that. Yeah. It was like a killer salad bar. It was like a whole thing in the, in the middle. Um, wasn't it in like a bathtub or something? Yeah, that's right. Okay. Yeah. And then, um, you know, they removed it, but I've, it's been a little while, but I've eaten at blue Habanero a handful of times. And it's pretty good. Yeah. I think it's, I think it's good food. I forget that it's there because I don't go seeking Mexican food very often, but I'm easily swayed by like one, just getting in and out. I don't, it's rare that I'll make a point to go have a big long sit down dinner. I'm usually kind of two hours and it's, is a good enough time for dinner. And if I'm going to go to somewhere for a good sit down dinner, I want it to be like nice and you know, good service, good lighting, good ambience, good food. And I'll just forget about that place. Cause they have all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Well also like when I'm thinking about going to dinner, it's like at the top of the list is probably just quality of food. Then you got patio, right? Like patio is always like at the top of the list of desires. Right. Uh, and then, yeah, like how convenient is it? And although there's some great stuff over there, if you're going to drive, like parking is a bit of a pain, especially around dinner time, you know, when people are getting off work and eating dinner and stuff, it's like, yeah, it's a pain to find parking over there. So yeah, yeah. Blue habanero doesn't always like cross my mind, but it is good. Yeah. I mean, fancy Mexican, I wouldn't say fancy mid to high tier fancy or mid to high tier Mexican food. There aren't enough restaurants like that, which is probably why I forget about it. I think about Lolita's and that's like my frame of rest for reference, for upscale Mexican restaurants. Otherwise it's like TVT El Gallo or there was this place on, on broad called Lalo's Cochina. Yep. But now it's something else. It's like La Playa. I think it's what it's called. There's a spot over near you. Um, and it's got like a little drive up window actually. And it's really good. Um, Cochi Loco. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, no, no, no, no. Not that place. Um, you took me there for the first time or like, yeah, you brought that up in the first time I went there. You had already been there, but um, no, there's another place. Drive up place. Yeah. There's like a little drive up window. It's not far from where you live. Um, I'll have to look it up later, but yeah, it's, that spot is really good too. Like you can literally walk to it. It's, it's like authentic Mexican food. Oh, yeah. Um, El Cheeto. Thank you. Yes, that's it. That place is good. Yeah. That place is a good spot. Yup. And TBT El Gallo is great. Yeah. Um, and um, did you know that I used to bartend at Margarita's downtown, like 18th and Franklin? I did not know that, but that is not surprising at all. Margar, I've never been there by the way. Yeah. I've, I've been everywhere else on that block except for Margarita's. Yeah. Partly because I think I grew out of the 18th street area and really didn't go back down there and now I have zero reason to go down there. So probably whenever we go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. I bartended there, man. Uh, good times. Good times. No, I didn't. I didn't know that. That's like 18th street reminds me of Tiki Bob's have a nice day cafe. Yup. Um, Alley cats. Yeah. Uh, dude. Yeah. RIP alley cats, man. I love that place. I spent so much time there when I was younger. Um, there's also a bar next there called on the rocks. Um, I don't think, I think it's something else now, but yeah. Throwbacks. I know, man. Yeah. Well, speaking of throwbacks, did you know that Altria has a pool now? Like the theater? Yeah. I'll try the theater. Yeah. No, I didn't know that either. So I stumbled across this and kind of piqued my interest. Altria theater's history and there's a pool. Whoa. Yeah. That's like the bird theater has the spring underneath it. Right. Like, so there's a whole underground Richmond that we don't know about. There really is like, this place is old as hell. So there's all this crazy history, but like when it was built in 1925, it was the Akka temple shrine. And it was like a vast, they say it's a vast, amazingly plush, Moorish revival style facility built and used by the Shriners. Um, they were living like Kings, uh, like Kings and princes back then, you know, lots of lavish tile and gold and ornaments. So if you look at the outside of it, you can see that it used to be like, or that it is very gaudy in its design because it was a temple and a shrine. And after that it had been used for lots of different things, but they built a nine foot pool in the lower level of the theater. And then after the Shriners stopped using it, it became the mosque and the mosque was like in a concert venue, but also like, you know, that plays similar to the Altria theater. That's what I remember it being called was the mosque, but it was used by the Richmond police department for training. They would use it as class. They would use it for, uh, arms, firearms training. And then it became the Altria theater and the pool is still there. No one uses it, but the pool is still there, which is kind of crazy. Whoa. Why wouldn't they use it? You know, I'd be taking like a after work dip. Yeah. Uh, so the mosque was renamed the landmark theater. Then the Altria theater as it was recently completed and carefully remodeled to the tune of $65 million, the pool was filled in and covered with concrete. It was just too structurally unsound, but the original wall tile and floor edging, including depth markers remain in the 90 year old uncanny pool room now serving as a storage area. That's crazy. Yeah. Um, Richmond does have a, I remember, you know, years ago the handful of rooftop kind of pools around Richmond were like quite easy to just get into. Yeah. Uh, not so much anymore, unfortunately. Yeah. Uh, yeah. The rooftop pools thing is it's, it was a good idea, but I don't think anyone really figured it or really nailed it. Like did it right and did it to did it in a way that it was an example that could be easily repeated? Yeah. Because there are a couple of them, but you know, Cabana used to have one and now they've covered it up. Um, the graduate hotel, which was a Hilton hotel. Uh, I should know it wasn't a Hilton. It's a Hilton now, but it was a double tree. And the double tree used to have a pool and that pool was massive. I mean, you know, 30 feet, something like that. Yeah. And the graduate didn't use the pool when they acquired the hotel, but the pool was still there. And I just heard recently that they're going to be filling it in and, you know, covering it up. I heard that too, you know, and in both those examples, like the Cabana pool and the graduate pool, they're both not bad, but they're kind of like excluded from where you would want to hang out at those spaces. Yeah. You know, like the Cabana pool was all the way over around the side and kind of like excluded. Yeah. And then same thing with the graduates, like a whole separate part of the roof basically. Um, which I guess is to divide up like the bar from the pool, but yeah, there's, there's some decent rooftop pools. Like even one of the new buildings on broad, um, actually it might be the building like right above Cochiloco. Um, I think that one has a pool, the apartment building. I think so. Really? I think so. Um, I could be thinking about the wrong building, but then there's another one, the building that's like next to the Hoff. I think that one has a pool. Oh yeah. But isn't there a pool like on like the third floor? Yeah, maybe. Right. Like, cause yeah, it's not like on the top. Yeah. Cause if you're on the roof of the Hoff, you can like look down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rooftop pools, man. I know. I didn't get it right. I know. I'd be okay with just a really nice rooftop deck. And for some reason, no one seems to be able to get it right. Yeah. The Hoff is the closest one because they've been doing it the longest. And then Cabana came around and they did their thing, but I have my opinions about Cabana. I'll leave them, I'll leave them alone for this, this run at it. Yeah. You know, I mean that place, it's been so many concepts over the years. It's never really seemed to like get ahead of the ball. It's in a weird area. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's tough, you know, and that area now it, you know, I was just over that way, um, at the quirk and I even checked out coalescence coffee and I was kind of in that area and I was like, all right, like, you know, things are kind of popping over here. There's stuff happening. Um, which it's not exactly near Cabana, but it's close enough. Yeah. Uh, it has potential, but yeah, that building's always, always struggled. Yeah. It's the shame. And it reminds me of like, we, we talked about the sixth street marketplace on the episode or on one of our previous episodes and you know, I drive down broad street every now and then. I think the last time I went down broad was to go to city hall to deal with the personal property tax lady, which I had to go back there. That's the whole thing. Fun stuff. Yeah. But it just reminds me, it's like, Oh man, there's, there's a lot on broad. Like there are a lot of storefronts and shops, but it's, they're kind of hard to see. And if you're not walking, you know, up and down the blocks, then you wouldn't really know that they were there unless you were, you know, you found out online and you've made a purposeful trip to go. But then let's say you're walking by common house, you going by common house and there's birdies right there, which has a great storefront window. Well, like really cool bar right there. And then a block down is the cork. And then across the street is, uh, uh, what's that spot called? Um, there's like lift coffee and, uh, it's across the street, not across broad, but the next block on the corner right there is another restaurant. What's that called? I'm spacing on it. Well, there's like comfort. There's the dim sum place. There's Terrence. So it's a call. This is, you're, you're naming all of the spots that are around this one spot. Uh, Barcelona Barcelona. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, if you're, if you're walking from birdies to cork, Barcelona and dim sum, you've got the, um, the arts district is back there. You've got first Friday activities back there. You've got, you know, Ryder boot shop. There's a couple of like little clothing stores, but then one block up, there's nothing on either side. There's Ember music hall. And that's the only thing on the block. And then on the other side of the street, there's ML steak and that's the only thing on that block. And then you're at the Marriott and then there's no more broad street. Yeah. No more walkable street. It's a bummer. Yeah. There's a few little things scattered here and there. There's like a thing called gather and hem, which is the restaurant inside of the hotel. Yeah. But you'd have to walk past Ember, which is a parking lot. Yeah. And then get to the hill. And it is kind of where everything ends. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's a place, I think it's called Juan's Cantina. And they actually have a rooftop, but I've never been up there. Not Juan Gonzalez. No, not that place. No, it's called Juan's Cantina. And, um, I've been in there before. It's been a few years, but like, it was, it was pretty popular. I know, I know what you're talking about. Like it was crazy. So that place wild. Yeah. It is also owned by the cabana group. Okay. Um, they have a bottom floor, I believe it's called or a basement restaurant that's called black olive. So if you go, that used to be called switch. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it was, um, the first floor, it was like a different concept. Like the first floor is one concept and the basement was another concept. And then they opened up Juan's next door. So there's like black olive and then Juan's and they have like a little rooftop, which is kind of cool. Cause it's in between two buildings. Yeah. It makes me feel like being in Brooklyn. Yeah. Right. The roof isn't as tall as the buildings in between, like the buildings on either side. Yeah. It's kind of cool. Yeah. New York definitely has a lot of, a lot of spaces like that. Um, I like that name black olive. That's cool. Better than switch. Oh, for sure. And I've heard from numerous people that they've been there. So the food is really good. The, uh, the vibe is good. And you know, we should check it out. Yeah. I'm down. That'd be super cool. Um, we've already mentioned a handful of different coffee shops. I mentioned Lyft and, um, I was curious about that coalescence place. So I went in there and, um, kind of a weird vibe. Yeah. Uh, I've, I think you've probably heard or read, I've heard and read some things about coalescence. I'm curious. How was it? So the coffee was great. Yeah. Coffee was great. Um, and the space is amazing. Like it's sick. It's really nice. Like very high end coffee shop. Okay. Um, like really nice furniture, like an Apple store. Definitely similar vibe. Yeah. Like, you know, really nice, like high fidelity speakers and they got nice music going on in there. Um, but of course, because it's in that area, there's hardly anybody in there, which is a shame because it makes you wonder like, how much is this space? Right. Yeah. It's massive. It's huge. It's huge. Um, you know, really nice high end merchandise and stuff. Um, and I don't know, this is my only experience there, but you know, I walked in and kind of walked and like, it seemed like they were closing or something. And so I walked in, walked up to the counter, like nobody really said anything to me. So I kind of waited. And, um, you know, there was a person behind the counter, but they just didn't acknowledge me. Really? Yeah. It was very strange. Like, and so I, and then I thought to myself, I'm like, Oh, maybe I walked in here like literally right as they're closing. Right. And then I would be like, Oh, well totally understand. Right. I walked in here four minutes before you're about to close maybe. Um, and I was like, I was like, are you getting ready to close right now? And she was like, no, we close at five. I was like, Oh, okay. And then still there was not anything like, um, like what can I get you or anything? She just kind of went back to whatever she was doing. Yeah. I was like, okay. So I waited like, you know, 45 seconds or so. And I was like, I'm ready to order whenever you are like, I'm ready whenever you are. Yeah. She was like, Oh, okay. What can I get you? And I ordered what I wanted. And then like not a single word was spoken after that. It wasn't like a, okay, thanks. Or like you tap here. There was like nothing. There's just like total silence. And I was like, this is very strange. And, um, so I'm like, okay. And uh, you know, tap pay, leave a little tip and I go and sit and, you know, waiting for my coffee. And I, maybe I'm wrong here, but like, I don't know. I sat down and I'm like, this is a really cool space. So I kind of sit, I'm doing a little people watching. I'm not on my phone. Like my phone is cause I'm just kind of looking at the space. I'm like, this is actually pretty cool. And I'm kind of looking out the window. The bus stop is right in front and I'm just chilling. And what I'm expecting is one of a few things, right? Like her to either just walk and put the drink next to me. Right. Because a lot of high end coffee shops are like that, right? Like they actually bring the coffee to you. Like I was, I was just at, in Brooklyn at a place called say, which is known to be like a coffee snob, high end coffee place. Yeah. And they make your drink and they bring it out to you. And this place actually kind of reminded me of that as far as like aesthetic and vibe and everything. Um, and even the price and you know, sitting there and I'm sitting there for, you know, a few minutes or whatever. And I'm thinking that it's not ready yet because I figured, okay, well, if it was ready and she asked my name, she did ask my name actually. So I said it's for Mike and okay. So I was expecting someone to say like order for Mike or something. It was just like nothing. So I was sitting there for like 10 minutes. And maybe that's on me. But like I did, I'm sitting there for like 10 minutes like waiting, you know, and then I turn around and the drinks just like sitting on the counter and I'm like, Oh, just no name, no call out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then I walked up and got the counter off the drain and then there was nobody even back there anymore. So I just got it and left. I was like, all right. So like the coffee was great. Place is really cool. You know, maybe this person was having an off day. You never know. But um, yeah, a little bit of a weird vibe. Interesting. And how, how much was that coffee? I'm curious because you know, we drank a lot of coffee, tea, coffee for you. And we like to frequent the coffee shops for work and to just have a casual place to hang out and chill and enjoy your, your beverage. But I feel like it's getting more expensive. It is dude. It definitely is. I mean, I've, I don't even know if I want to admit this, right? Like probably on a pretty frequent basis, I'm paying 12 plus dollars for like a coffee, like you know, an ice dirty chai or you know, something like that. Yeah. Um, yeah. 12 bucks, sometimes like $14. Sheesh dude.$15 for fricking. And it's because like beans and water. I know, I know this is terrible, but it's because I'm like sometimes just not really paying attention. And because you're not, you're not expecting that. Right. Yeah. It's such a routine of like getting a coffee. You go in, you order your coffee, you just tap your phone and it's like, wait, what did that say? And then you kind of walk away dumbfounded. Like, okay, I paid what?$14 plus a $2. I paid $16 for this coffee. Yeah. Wait a second. Right. What's happening. It is. Yeah. It kind of catches me off guard every now and then. Cause I don't know about you, but I don't really focus too heavily on the things, the price of the things that I'm usually consuming coffee stuff at the grocery store. But, and for no particular reason, I just kind of started taking a little, just an extra second, another look at the little, the iPad as you're going to swipe or, or pay for your coffee. And I was at the coffee shop today and I looked down and it was $7 and change after tip actually was $8 after tip for an iced green tea, which is my drink of choice. Yeah. That's why. And it's literally water and a bag of tea and you don't, you don't do anything else to it. You poured over ice and you put it in a cup. Yeah. Why is it $8? Yeah. And it's just, it's across the board. I was actually at Kroger, um, last night I went to the Kroger to, to buy some groceries to make dinner. And I usually buy the same things because I'm used to kind of meal prepping and having the same ingredients. And I definitely noticed that things were a dollar or two more just across the board. Like everything that I was buying was more expensive. And it's not a thing that I dwell on too much, but I'm taking more of a notice of it now partially to just be aware of it, but also to kind of plan for what may be kind of coming down the pipe. Like we hear that things are being more or becoming more expensive and you know, there's tariffs and all this kind of stuff. A lot of it I don't pay attention to because it's for me in my experience, diving headfirst into things that don't directly affect you, cause you unnecessary stress. Yeah. But this is one of those things that is directly affecting lots of people. And yeah, just being aware of it is like, it's a bummer. I thought we could make it through or thought I would be able to make it through without too much of an impact. And it's slowly making its way into the, to my goings on. It is frustrating, man. Cause I've experienced some, it's not just coffee. Like even when I was grocery shopping, I was looking at frozen pizzas, you know, and like, like five years ago, man, you get a frozen pizza for, you know, six bucks, seven bucks, eight bucks, you know, and sure. Maybe it's not like the best. Um, but at least it was an option. Right. Right. And dude, you could even get some frozen pizzas for like two 99. If you really wanted to like a couple bucks. Right. Yeah. I'm in Kroger. So it's not like I'm in one of the other, it's not like I'm in whole foods or something at Kroger and like the cheapest frozen pizzas, like 11 bucks. It's like, what is happening? What is going on, man? That's so $11 probably, you know, plus change plus tax. You look at 13, $14 maybe. So 13, $14. I will never forget this because I think back to when I was younger, my mom and our family, we used to order pizza all the time because it was easy to feed three kids with two pizzas. Right. Yep. You get two pizzas from pizza hut for 1499. Yeah. That was the special. Yeah. And like, I think even Nick nowadays, you can still get like a 12 inch, a 12 inch, one topping pizza for like 15 bucks, but it's cooked and it's delivered to you a frozen pizza. That's $15. Nah, it's, it's crazy, man. And it is, it's frustrating. Like I could go on a whole tangent, like our money system is a scam. The whole thing is like rigged for people to lose the game. Yeah. And you have to be like educated as much as you can and really pay attention to these details. And it's hard, you know, like I'm guilty of it too. I completely forget to like pay attention to things. I went through my finances at the end of 2023 to like look at where, you know, I was spending and dude, I was like horrified. Yeah. Looking at like what I was spending on dining and entertainment and, you know, going out to the bars and all this stuff. Yeah. Um, and it's just like, dude, Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's just insane. And I, it is frustrating, you know, and it's like, I'm, I'm lucky cause I own a home, but even that's a scam. Like even that's a whole setup too. You know, whether it's, it's like there's this whole debate back and forth about renting versus owning. They're both insanely difficult and they both have their drawbacks. Like there's no clear solution. And our great grandparents bought a house for like 6,000 bucks and a car for 800 bucks. It's like, what's going on? Like, you know, there was a period of time where I was considering buying a house a couple of years ago and, you know, started getting my ducks in a row, getting some numbers, getting some estimates, getting some prices. And it wasn't until I like really started digging into what you get for what I was like qualified for that I realized like, well, I'm not really prepared to buy what I would ideally want to buy. You know, it's a bummer because like the, the, just a year before I remember looking at houses on Zillow every now and then, you know, I was a renter and I still am, but you know, you look at Zillow, you see some rentals and then you look at the houses that are for sale. It's like, oh yeah, this neighborhood looks really nice. You know, a house for sale, $125,000, you know, thousand square feet, two bedrooms, nice little front lawn. Perfect. And it's not a shithole.$125,000 isn't even enough to get a house in like Southside that's undeveloped because one, there's all of the developing that the neighborhoods are being improved upon and there's more housing being built, which is good. It's good that the things are being improved upon. But because of that, people are trying to starting to move here in droves. You know, you see all these new apartments and condos. So rent's going up and the home prices are going up. Like I think that to get a good house for somebody like me, two bedroom, nice backyard, nice front yard in a decent neighborhood. It's not too far away from where I work. $350,000. Yeah, for sure. Right. Like that's a hundred,$100,000 more than what I would have been prepared to pay two years ago, which is kind of crazy. And now I'm like, to your point, what's the better outcome or what's the better way to go? Knowing that getting into a home you can't afford is worse than not having a home at all. I'm a renter. Yeah. But I pay 1500 and change and rent and I have a really nice place and it's most, it is a hundred percent going to go up next year. So there's, it's a win. It's a lose lose no matter how you look at it. And that's actually not bad. Like, you know, there's some people like it's, it's just crazy, man. It, this isn't funny, but I saw a Zillow listing. I came across this online is it was this house for sale up in new England somewhere. And it was at that $125,000 price range. Right. And when you looked at the pictures of the house, I'm not kidding. It was literally a murder scene. Like the pic, the Zillow pictures, the crime scene wasn't even cleaned up. The actual Zillow pictures were of a murder scene. Like, I don't want to get too graphic, like blood on the walls. Like it was insane. Like, and of course it went viral for this reason. Cause people are like, wait, what? You know, cause you see a house for that price and you look it up and it's like, are you kidding me? Is this real dead? Serious? Yes. Seriously. It's crazy, man. And you know, I'm the type of person that would look at that. And if I kind of already knew that I was interested in buying something, I like the idea of a fixer upper, like the idea of getting something without a lot of initial investment and then building it up over time. What the scam there is that you kind of can't do that unless you have lots and lots of expendable funds. A fixer upper is a project that you invest in. If you have money to invest, not to be, you know, not a, not a project that you also live inside of. I was talking to my stepbrother, he rents a, he had, he owned a house in Henrico and now he lives up in, um, I think he lives in Charlington. So he has a condo up there. And he was like, if you're looking at buying a house, do not buy a fixer upper. The last thing you want to do is be house poor, where you can afford your rent. You can afford your insurance. You afforded, you afforded your down payment, but that was pretty much all the money that you had. And you still need to knock down a wall. You still need to fix the electric. You still need to put a new kitchen and you still need to redo your backyard. And yeah, you're in the house for 30 years, but do you want to spend 30 years fixing your house? No. Yeah. It's good advice. You know, um, I bought my house in 2019 and I did have the cash to renovate it. And I got really lucky with where I found it. Like the location was all I cared about. Yeah. So as soon as I saw a house that was there, I was like, I don't care. I'll turn it into whatever I want. Um, but that's almost seven years ago now, you know, and like, it's wildly different. And they call it a 30 year fixed mortgage. It's not fixed, man. Like it is not fixed. Like we're getting close to my mortgage being almost double. That's a little bit of a stretch, but like at least, um, I don't know how you would fraction that out, but it's not quite double. It's less than that, but like it's increased. Right. And that's because of taxes and that's because of, um, insurance. Right. And we were talking about health insurance the other day. Like the whole thing is a scheme, you know, and this happens all over the world, but it definitely happens in this country and it's happening here in Virginia too, where somehow this structure and this system that we're in is designed to take advantage of the people that live inside of it. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, I was thinking about that exact thing today is like, how, how did we get to this place where you, as a citizen in the city that you were sometimes born in, maybe it wasn't a choice that you live here, but born in, you're born into this community or you moved here, you're dependent on the community for all of your needs and resources, food and water, shelter, entertainment, work, work, but you need the work. You have to have work to afford the resources that the city can provide you, but you have to pay for them via taxes, your time and your hard earned money, which seems a little backwards to me. It's just like, okay, so you're here and you have all this stuff and I need all this stuff, but you have to, you have to work somewhere, sort of afford to be alive. I don't, that's where the conversation always drifts one way or the other is like, yeah, you got to get your nose to the grindstone or people advocate for universal base income, which is, you know, there's a larger conversation there, but it's becoming a huge sweeping problem across all industries, across all different types of people. I'd be curious to see like what some of our listeners have to say about it because I've, I know personally I have some friends that have been impacted like with drastic rent increases with no notice, just a letter in the mailbox that says your rent is going up $700. You either pay it or you have to move out. So I'd be curious to, uh, to know if anybody else that listens to our podcast has, you know, stories or, or, you know, testimonials to that regard. I would as well. So, you know, we've talked about coffee and rent and groceries and stuff. Surely there are plenty of other things. So whatever platform you're listening on, please leave us a comment, drop a comment. You can comment on Spotify, Instagram, YouTube, wherever you're listening. Um, and we'd love to hear from you just to, so we can continue to wrap our heads around it as well because it is an ongoing discussion and there's not a super clear solution. Yeah. I have one top tip in this, in this vein. So if anyone who's listening or watching, um, finds herself in a position where their income isn't meeting their needs, meaning they don't have quite enough money to sustain their lifestyle, or, you know, they're finding themselves out of work suddenly and finances are tight and they can't afford things like food. Uh, I just found this out a few weeks ago that feed more does a food hall or a food kitchen, um, a free food kitchen at the Jewish community center on monument Avenue near Libby, I believe, uh, every Sunday. So all you have to do is go there every Sunday. I think it starts at 11. It's free. You sign up, they give you a feed more membership card. And you go in with someone, they ask you what you need and they say, okay, this is what we have based on what you need. And you know, that you tell them how much money you make. You don't have to be honest. You can just be like, I make $0 and they'll, they'll give you a box full of food for free. Yeah. I know there's a lot of people doing that, you know, and it is very much based on like people call it the honor system. You know, it's like there's obviously people out there doing good and donating and trying to help how they can. And the hope is obviously that people don't take advantage of it, but the people that feed more are great. I've worked with them in the past. Um, yeah. And it's tough, you know, and you take the help when, where you can get it and when you can get it. And you know, I, I have my own personal story, which we won't get into today, but you know, I had to fight back from over a quarter million dollars in tax debt starting in 2023. Um, and that's a whole long story, but I know, you know, what it feels like to just be exhausted of like feeling like there's no end in sight. And it's like, when am I going to like, just get my head above water? Um, and you know, I was in a strange backwards roundabout kind of way. I was privileged to even put myself into that position to begin with. Uh, and that's a whole thing, but, um, you, I know it sounds woo, woo, but like, you have to be in the mindset that like, you can figure it out. Right. Cause like, if it is to be, it's up to me. Right. And it's like, if the solution isn't clear, there's no choice, but to like figure it out, you know, it's like, or what, just roll over and give up and just, you know, complain and, you know, be negative and just, you know, be pessimistic about it all the time. It's, that's the easy thing to do. Um, the hard thing to do is to face adversity head on and say, okay, I'm in a really difficult situation, but I know that I have what it takes to overcome it. And yeah, maybe the answer isn't clear right away, but you have to put yourself in a position where you know that you're going to do everything you can to figure it out. Yeah. You know, easier said than done, but it's also still necessary. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, hope that provides, you know, some, uh, some help, some resources to some people who may be listening that, uh, could use it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely agree. Um, you want to go watch some cops and, uh, firefighters beat the hell out of each other. Yes. So did you see this thing where in the beginning of November, so November 5th, the Richmond fire department and the Richmond police department will square off in a charity boxing match at river city roll. I like, I look, I've, I've so many thoughts on this. I want to see it. It's going to be, it's going to be so bad and so corny, but like so entertaining. Yeah. I can't, I have so many questions and thoughts about this. This is, it sounds great. So it says that there's three professional bouts. Um, so does that mean like the, that one of the firefighters or police officers are like professional fighters? I don't think so. I would imagine maybe like the preliminary fights are the ones between the cops and the, um, firefighters. So it says the match is tentatively scheduled as five service member fights and three professional bouts are part of a monthly series orchestrated by river city promotions that benefits its nonprofit guardian of the gloves, which creates opportunities for local youth to learn boxing. Um, really interesting. So most of the people who are participating had no prior experience and their preparation is credit to Eric, which I guess is one of the guys who owns the gym that's on Boulevard called vintage boxing. I believe it's called, it says he let us use the gym and offered free training for months to get everybody prepared for the event. Uh, they were kind of nervous. They didn't know what they were getting into and now they're all about it. They're in the gym all the time and it's so much fun. More fights could be on the way. They had to turn away service members from other localities so that they could focus on an event exclusively benefiting Richmond. Uh, yeah. So I say let's go watch these, you know, government funded or tax funded government employees beat each other up. Yeah. Sounds like a good time. Yeah. Sounds like a good time. It sounds like it's for a good cause. Yeah. Yeah. Little by little you do start to see these kind of like boxing MMA, uh, WWE style events going on here. Yeah. There's way more than I thought would ever catch on. Yeah. For me, every time I see one, it gives me like the cringe. Cause I look at the WWE, which I used to watch a lot of don't anymore, but I was a big fan. And then I see like gymnasium wrestling tournaments that have like 120 chairs, but like 70 people showed up. So there's like a bunch of empty chairs. And then like two decently indecently good shape wrestlers. I'm using air quotes. If you can't see me wrestlers do whatever they're doing for 20 minutes, 30 minutes. I don't know how long the matches are. I'm just like, what, what's happening here. But from what I've seen, one is popular and two, it looks like a good time. Yeah. So I'm coming around to it. I mean, you know, it's, it's a novelty, you know, it's, it's like going to see monster trucks, you know? I mean, monster trucks is a whole thing. Good or bad. Good. Okay. Monster trucks are awesome. Yeah. I don't know if we can compare them to amateur wrestling. Well, I guess, okay. Yeah, that's okay. Totally agree. But I guess in the sense of like, if you go to actually, yeah, you have a good point. But what I was going to say is, you know, if you go to a big monster truck thing, a lot of people in the crowd, they don't know anything about it. It's not like they follow monster trucks or know anything about some of them do, of course, but it's like a, it's a spectacle. I see what you're saying. And you don't have to really get it. You just go and enjoy it. Yeah. It's like a spectacle. It's like, yeah. You know, my company gave me tickets to this thing and now I'm here with my kids and I'm just, you know, eating cotton candy and watching these old men beat each other up drinking a$70 bud light. And yeah, I'm watching some trucks jump over other trucks. Yeah. Or two, you know, 58 year old men hitting each other with fold up chairs. So old. Oh man. Yeah. It just, it reminds me of the movie, The Wrestler. I know you haven't seen it. I haven't. It is. If you like dramas and wrestling, watch The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. I will. Yes. Did you watch, I think it's called Iron Claw with Zac Efron. No, I feel like I have, but yeah. Great movie. Devastatingly sad. You know, but when I think of Zac Efron, I think of like high school musical or something. Yeah. Dude, he crushed that movie. Like, like unbelievable performance. Like I've seen a couple of movies with him. Probably one of the best movies I've seen like in that genre. Yeah. What's the movie with Christian Bale? The boxing movie. That one's really good. I think it might literally just be called Fighter. I think you're right. That's a really great movie too. So I've seen some movies kind of in that world. I watched the documentary on Vince McMahon. That was the craziest thing ever. Yeah. I haven't seen that. I remember I was fully indulged or fully immersed in like. WWF back then. Yeah. When Vince McMahon ran it. Because back, I mean, I'm sure that the documentary kind of illuminated some of these crazy things, but you know, there are allegations back then. But I mean, I was in high school. I didn't know what was really happening. Right. I could always remember he just had this goofy ass walk. Yeah. It's like the stupid, swaggy walk that he had. And he was the best villain. Yeah. He was the owner of the WWF, but he was a villain and he did it so well. That's where the credit that I would give to these people came in is like, yeah, you, you can go in there and like fake, fake fight. And, you know, throw a chair around, jump off the top rope, screaming to the crowd. But then you also have to like be in a soap opera. Yeah. And you have to be decently good at acting. Otherwise, people will hate you for it. So it's yeah. Well, you got to watch the documentary because the reason he was a great villain is because he's a villain in real life. Right. I think the documentary is literally just called McMahon. Definitely worth a watch, though, especially if you followed that really closely as a kid. I watched it a bit, too, but not not super close. But yeah, you'll get a kick out of the documentary. It's definitely some wild stuff. Yeah. Well, we would love to hear from you. So if you've been listening to our ramblings thus far, drop a comment, Instagram, Spotify, YouTube. Just stay in touch. We want to hear from you. We want to know what's going on and. We're going to keep these we keep these little jams coming. Yeah, I think we're having a good time. I think we're going to keep this going. We definitely are. And if you happen to be a local business that's been listening to this podcast, keep in mind that we are not just a podcast. You know, we are a studio and we exist to champion local brands and to highlight what you're doing as well. So you've probably seen or potentially heard some of our interviews with other business owners and local brands, highlighting the products and services that they offer, as well as their stories and just their experience. And a lot of founder interviews to learn more about just amazing people and why they've started amazing companies, brands and started products and services here locally. So if that sounds interesting, be sure to reach out to us however you'd like. But you can also go to Vera House dot co for more info. This podcast was recorded at Vera House Studios in Richmond, Virginia and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.