#34: Are We Too Connected? Adulting, Tech & Nostalgia

Are we too connected for our own good?

In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to navigate adult life in a world of constant technology—where being online never really stops, and nostalgia for the past hits harder than expected.

From overstimulation to feeling disconnected despite always being connected, this conversation explores the tension between modern life and how it actually feels to live it.

00:00  Intro: Are We Too Connected?
 00:18  Adulting in a Hyper-Connected World
 01:45  Constant Stimulation & Mental Overload
 05:30  Always Being Online
 11:40  Feeling Disconnected Anyway
 18:20  Nostalgia & Missing the Past
 25:10  Why Things Felt Different Before
 32:00  Life in Boise & Slower Pace
 38:30  Environment & Perspective
 44:30  Making Sense of It All
 48:30  Final Thoughts

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Don't even bother. I told you yesterday I had injections. Yeah. Did you not understand what I was saying when I said trigger point? No. Injections. I've never heard of that. So my doctor injected me basically all in this area. In your traps, and like going down the back of that quadrant, I'd say on each side. Because it's so tense, because the whole point injected you with what? Lidocaine and saline. Oh. Yeah. So this is all post-accident. Like I've had all these problems. It's like locked up. Okay. Is this the DO? Yep. So he had said we could do trigger point injections. And I'm like, I don't know what that means, but let's do it. Sure, why not? So I went back, I went yesterday, guided by ultrasound. And I thought, okay, this is gonna be great. And uh I didn't know what to expect. It was not that. Like it was so painful because they're putting their, you know, it's him and there's a the nurse and they're doing the jelly, and all of a sudden he's like, all right, little stick, and it sticks, and I'm like, shit. Well, lagocaine burns anyway. But just the stick. I mean, I think when you don't know what you're what to expect in something, and then you get a needle, and then it's like maneuvering or for I'm not gonna say the term I'm thinking of, but it's just like swimming in your muscles and the and everything. And I just thought, what is happening? So he said it's like basically if you're injecting a Charlie horse and you're trying to like break it up, basically. I'm like, with a needle? It was so there were at least five shots on each side, and I just left the whole everything that's gone on this year is such a crazy thing in my life. Of this whole, I don't even know how I'm adulting anymore, especially post-accident, and dealing with just everything that life has been throwing that all I can do is laugh. Like it feels like I'm being punked and I'm waiting for Ashton, Ashton, to run out and say, Yeah, you're you've been punked. Because this is just one thing after another of okay, okay. I it's like par for the course. But those injections, man, that he said it should, I'll be sore for a few days just from that. But I did not like that. Zero out of 10, don't recommend, uh, unless it gives me relief. And then I totally recommend it. But I don't really know if I want to do it again. Because it was, it hurt. And I'm I have a very high pain tolerance. So that was a wild thing that happened to me yesterday. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

So I had a muscle knot for years and years and years. I joked that I should just name it in the back of my neck. Um, and I had an acupuncturist jam needles in there, and that but acupuncture needles are like a hair. They're so little. So it but it hurt. Oh, yeah. So I can imagine that an actual, you know, needle full of saline was uh a picnic.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, it was uh it was it was an experience. I do want ac I do need acupuncture. I did that back in the day and years ago in San Diego, and that was for headaches and that was for not sleeping, and that really helped a lot. But I'm having so much low back pain still from this that I just need some kind of relief, and I'm doing everything I can do that. I feel like acupuncture is let's bring it on deck, and hopefully that helps me because I sleep on my back and I can't sleep, and it's just this whole mess that I'm like, if this had happened when I was 20, would I have bounced back easier? Yeah. Yes, and you know, you still you're still expected now to do all this other shit that we have to do every day. Yeah, so I feel there's no win. It's okay, I have to do this and I have to so it's fine. It's just these crazy things that come with adulting. It's a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Well, and we've talked so many times about the need for community because I think that's our communities are getting smaller, like our personal community, and we're getting busier, and you don't have as many people to rely on to help you out. And that sucks.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

It's hard. But it's also yeah, you are alone in it. Granted, if you're parents, you're different you're right, you at least have your parent friends who, especially if you're all aligned with how your kids are. Sure. But just as the person, take the mother out of it, take the father out of it, just as the human, as the Megan. Yeah, you you do need people. Like we do need that. But it's so hard because, especially for the parents, I'm not one, but I know that you guys are busy in a different way. Yeah. Because you have all your kids' shit. Yeah. I'm busy in a different way because I have all my other shit that basically should be kid shit. There's so much on the plate still. We're never leaving space for ourselves to just have a moment where we can do nothing. I mean, how many times we've talked about, oh gosh, I cherish any five minutes that I have by myself. It's just, it's unheard of. It doesn't even come. And that's where I think it gets so heavy. Because I'm just like, dude, so now it becomes funny. Yeah. And that's not, and that's just the dark, you know, we're just coping. It's a coping mechanism to be like, oh, this shit, like one more thing, tack it on. Whatever. But I also never feel sorry. Like I never have self-pity, which uh that's never been a trait of mine through all these years of illness. Don't want it. But I'm also finding it hilarious that I have to travel to another state to get an ultrasound because the one machine my medical, I don't know, hospital system has here is booked out for four months. So I have to travel to another state for it. It's funny to me. Like I talked to, I talked to the hospital yesterday and they're like, we got a hundred pages of records. And I was like, why would you get all the records? I lit you literally needed the records from one test. One test. And I signed for that, and the office sent them a hundred pages of records. I'm like, that's that's uncalled for. It's all or nothing. Yeah, but they didn't send the order. And I'm like, you guys, like, I need to schedule this. Yeah. Like for immediately for now.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Well, and that's the thing that really annoys the shit out of me is that you can't just like if I have if I know I'm having an ear problem, I'm just gonna call the ENT. I don't want to go to a general doctor and then have him give me a referral. It's stupid. If you need to see, if you know that you need an ultrasound, why do you need permission from this other doctor to go and schedule that? That's retarded. Like if you want to pay the money, even if it's not something that you need, if you want to pay the money to go have some diagnostic thing done, why do you need permission for that? Just go do it. The referral system enrages me because it's inefficient. So my best friend, I hope she's okay with me sharing the story. She's an athletic trainer. She works at like a physical therapy and rehab place. She has worked with football teams and she knows knee injuries. So she tore her ACL. She knew that she tore her ACL. And she still had to go through this absolutely insane process of appointments before she could schedule her surgery.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Oh, lame.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

And it was like, yeah, go have the MRI to confirm or see what else is damaged or what like that's valuable. But why do you have to go to a general doctor, like a primary care doctor, to then be referred to the orthopedic guy, or you know, to get the MRI to then be referred to the orthopedic guy, and then you still have to go meet with the surgeon, and then you have to get on the surgeon schedule. It was bonkers to me.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And and that's just wild. That's also the beauty of insurance and the whole system, the way it's set up. I didn't think this was actually that complicated, though. Yeah. Because the order is in for St. Luke's. It's just St. Luke's, you can't see me for four months. So I have to take alternative action. That's fine. But it was been me for the past three weeks calling, finding out where I can go, finding out if insurance covers that hospital, finding out if there are enough all these things that it's just exhausting. Yeah. And now I'm just, I mean, I sent another message yesterday and I'm like, yeah, they received the records. We just need an order. Can you get that there? Because I need to schedule. Yeah. And if you keep making me wait, I mean, shit, at this point, I'll just wait four months and do it here and not have to drive out of state. It's so irritating. But I think it's just, it's, it's nuts. To me, it's a crazy, crazy thing. But that's that's what we deal with. Yeah. When it comes to medical stuff, and I just don't remember it being this difficult when I was younger and when I didn't have all these responsibilities. That now you have to balance in the rest of your life. Cool. When can I go to Utah? Uh, okay, it's gonna have to be on a day that's a whole day. So now we gotta can't really make meetings for these days until we know.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

And so it's like are you gonna do a turn and burn? Are you gonna what if it runs late? Are you gonna have to stay the night? It's gonna be a turn. Who's gonna take care of your dogs? There's a lot of there's a lot that goes into that.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

There's real shit that goes into it. Yeah. So it's a lot. Yeah. So that's something that I'm over. I'm also over waking up early. Decided. Yeah. I've decided because now it's just natural, you're the same way. Like when you just naturally wake up, you're like, why?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Sleeping in for me is like 6 30 or beyond. Because I'm an old man, right? Like we've talked about that. But therefore, at 8 o'clock p.m., I am wrecked. And it's like, can we in the summer? I don't mind waking up that early because I like early summer mornings, like 5 a.m. in July is like, oh, it's the best. It's my favorite time of the day. But I'm exhausted. And like, I don't think people, you know, 50 years ago, unless you were working at a factory or you were a farmer, like any farmer listening to this is gonna be like, shut up, Megan. But they I don't think they had to get up at 4 a.m. just to get all their life done. But that's like all they had to do.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

I know. Why is it so much more complicated? That's what I'm saying. There's so much more to do. I mean, there's sometimes that I think, gosh, if I just had, you know, my algorithm on Facebook Reels has been these goats and these lambs for months now. Months. And it's so, I don't know, hopeful for me, peaceful to watch these videos because I thought, oh, what would I do if I was just on a farm, like taking care with, I mean, obviously I would have help because I'm not of the farm life. Like I don't know how to do it. So I would have to be trained.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

It just reminded me of Bear Silton and Nicole Ritchie on the farm.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Oh, when they did, wasn't that like the simple life? Yeah. Um, so anyway, I mean, I'm not that bad, but I also just I would be like David from Shits Creek when he goes to the Amish for three days. But I want that. I crave that. I think it's something that even it's why I love going to Italy, because Italy is just a step back in not a step back in time. It's not that they're dated on anything, it's just chill, which is how Idaho was when I moved here from California. It's a step back of just chill. I think for me, I see this farm stuff and I'm like, if that was my only responsibility, churning butter and playing with the baby goats that are just the mini goats that are dancing around my house and I can put dresses on them. I mean, my mind goes to decorate decoration. I know. But I just think that would be that's why we have so much more.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Well, and so I was thinking about that the other day in our just general nostalgia. And I was like, do we I talk a big game for the 90s considering what fucking clown shoes my life was for that entire decade. But is it because we were kids and our parents were handling all the things? Like, we weren't thinking about taxes, and we weren't thinking about politics, and we weren't thinking about World War III, and we weren't like none of that was on our radar. Is it does everyone feel like that? Like, here's another question I need to ask my dad do you have nostalgic feelings for the 50s and 60s because your life was simpler than it was when you were in your 40s? How do you feel now? You know, I just I wonder if it's all relative. Because everybody's life gets busier and more stressful as you move into adulthood versus when you're, you know, a teenager and a kid, and or was it really truly simpler?

SPEAKER_00 13:42

I I think it was truly simpler. Also, we were the last generation who knew what life was. We had to hybrid in technology, but we didn't know what that was. Nobody before us knew what that was. So I feel we were the last ones who we ended up getting it.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Well, but yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

In that period.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

And we were fully adults when the internet was chained to us 24-7. We remember the computer room. You went into a whole other room to visit the computer. You weren't on the internet at the drop of a hat.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

So you had to kick everyone off the phone.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah. And there no one was allowed to make a phone call. So it was that was by the minute you were paying things to the landline. Yeah, there was you had things to do, shit to get done. Yeah. So very different. Yeah. And yeah, maybe that's I mean, I think that's probably why because we didn't have the worries, but I also don't remember my mom having the like all of the things that are going on now. She had different worries. She had adulting worries. Yeah, taxes are a thing and bills are a thing. But now it's just also the vibe has changed so greatly with what we're exposed to on the daily. Yeah. Nothing shuts off, everything is on, and that's fine. I get it. We've had to kind of keep up with that. I do feel bad for the young kids because that's literally all they have and all they've known. Whereas we kind of had to be shock thrown into it of, hey, this could this is gonna change quite drastically. It's gonna be very different. Which is also, I think, the past year, how it's been so wild and gnarly with all the shit that's come out of everything in your wildest dreams, not even I'd say, in your wildest dreams, could you have ever thought this is gonna happen where we find out that the people that run our country are basically sacrificing children and doing all anything in the Epstein files? I wouldn't have ever thought of it. Did it happen before and we just didn't know about it? Yeah, yeah, but we didn't know about it. Yeah, and ignorance is bliss sometimes. Being blind to something is what you need to feel okay with your day and not that, oh my god, is this real? Like, who's this person? Now you're questioning everything. And I just feel like that's a lot. But what what are you gonna do about it? That's it, that's here to stay. So it's just now we're all sink or swim and adapt to it. Yep. So that's that's the issue. Yeah. It's just that you're seeing it all the time. Not that I think it didn't happen before.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Oh, I for sure think it happened before, but yeah, well, uh so I think what led me down this questioning of our own nostalgia is because we talk about it all the time. Life before the internet. That's like our postmarker, sign marker, there's a phrase for it, I can't remember, but then Joe Rogan said something that kind of made me stop for a second. And he was like, No, we all think that pre-internet was better, but now in 2026, the news, Walter Cronkite, isn't telling you what's true. We all have access to all of the information, and that's better. It's all out in the open now. Like a lot of conspiracies have come true. They're all out in the open because we all have access to that information, and there's a lot of really valuable shit in there. And I was like, oh, that's true. So yeah, but what but why were we calmer before?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

He said it better than I did. No, no, no, but why were we calmer before? Because we didn't know. Yeah. So we were we listened to what we were told on the news. We trusted the sources. We have lost complete trust in all of the sources, which is why it is so beneficial that it is all accessible and it's out in the open because yeah, I don't trust you. Yeah, this isn't coming from a reputable source anymore anymore, excuse me, because it's all commentators. No one is an actual journalist anymore. Yeah, they all have to throw in their bullshit and sprinkle it with their opinions. So, yeah, you have to fend for yourself in that. But we were all liking the 90s and pre-internet life more because I mean, look at anything you're finding on AI right now. The the nostalgia is real and it's collective. And it's because I believe this past year of wild, crazy shit has gone so over the edge that people are like, maybe it was better when we didn't know anything. Like maybe it was just you would just play outside. You'd go home when it got dark, and now you're on your phone, and we're all everyone is controlled. The kids, especially these days, most of them are controlled by their phone. That's all they know. So it's very different in the sense of, I just feel it keeps getting more and more and more, and with AI, even more and more. And now you really question what's real. Yeah. Because even though everything's at your fingertips, you're not gonna be able to tell anymore with AI certain times, certain things.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

But what if what if we should be questioning what's real? What if we should have been doing that from the jump? You know, it makes me think of the analogy that, like, the caged lion, lion at the zoo, has no worries. He's fed, he's safe, he has all of his medical care handled, he has no worries at all. He has enrichment, but the lion in the wild has to worry about finding his next meal. He has to worry about competing lions, he has to worry about a drought. He has like, there's a lot of things that he is solely responsible for, totally free. And so which side of that coin do we want?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

I think about that a lot. Oh, I mean, I I'm still for questioning everything. I'm just saying, I think that that's where nostalgia is stemming from is the fact that we didn't know before maybe a lot of these things, maybe ignorance is bliss in many of these things. Obviously, the things that need to come to light. But I mean, from we're it's just everything is just too accessible right now. It's great to have it out in the open, but it there is a limit that I think has been reached, breached everything because it's just everyone is constantly on edge about it. And constantly, you're always thinking and you know, kind of finishing and filling in the narrative of actually of what's actually going on. Yeah. So that's where it becomes a little much, I'd say. If you do ever need a moment where you have to just unload and unwind, I will tell you that you can go online and you can play Minesweeper and you can play Oregon Trail, old school organ trail with like spacebar to shoot shit and arrows to point. And it is terrible. Like, I mean, it's terrible and also wonderful at the same time. I was on a deep dive. I made it to Oregon. I lost three, I think I lost two or three of my children. No, I lost two children and the wife. So I lost myself. Um, I just played the other day, and it's my laptop was on fire because it was this slow. I'm like, shh, you gotta get there. Like, see if see if you can get someone to help guide your your thing across. I'm like, I can't. This is wild. But it's great, and it was freaking out my dogs. But I liked that I got to step back and just pretend that I was in fifth grade computer class. Yeah. And do that. And minesweeper is one that I typically have. One of the tabs, one of the 379 tabs on my safari is typically an empty Minesweeper game that I can just always play. And then I get real competitive with myself of, oh, I made it in 16 seconds, I make it in 14. And it's just like, girl, your eyes. Are not happy. They're already, the site is already not great. But the organ trail was slow.

unknown 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

And I just I got this rush of remembering what it was like when I would play that in school and what you would tell people and what you would spend. Are you a banker? Are you a farmer? Are you a construction worker? Like whatever the choices were. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

It was fun. I feel like it's like a bubble that's about to pop, and it's just getting more and more and more. And they're just injecting more and more and more information, whether it's true or not. I don't even like, and you have to discern, and that's exhausting in its own right. But now let's throw aliens in there. And they just know yeah. And like, but I do feel like at some point it's gonna pop. And I don't know if that's the apocalypse or what I don't know. But it's gonna happen. I feel like it's gonna happen, and something there's a huge, something huge coming down the pike.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

We're well, and they're banking on the fact that we're already so overstimulated. That's what I think it is. With all of this stuff that we have access to, it's so overstimulating, which is why go be unstimulated. Go play organ trail, Google play organ trail, and it'll be one of the first links. And you get to go through the whole process and you get to shoot those buffalo, and then you get to be frustrated with when they place you in a hunting ground that you really can't move beyond the trees and the rock. And you're like, well, this is a wasted, this is a wasted hunt. So be unlike less stimulated by something simple like that. I think of just how everything has evolved, even with basic video games. That that to us was a computer game. Nintendo had Mario. Mario 3 was like, oh, you can warp worlds. That's crazy. Now I don't even know. It you know, went to like GTA and then it went to the halos and the all of this, and it's too much. It's getting too realistic. It's too much. Remember who you are and where you are. You're a human sitting at a computer or at a TV and you're playing a game. And I don't like the fact that kids communicate on that to me is weird, but whatever. I don't do that. It's uh it's like you're another way to let a stranger in your life, which is so weird to me, but keep you do you boo.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Well, it's like the modern chat room.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Yeah, discussing basically murder of I don't know. It's just it's so crazy that I just I like it simple, I miss it simple. Even cars. Cars got so damn fancy.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Well, and we were driving to school this morning, and we saw a car that was like yellow, which uh, but I said, you know what? When I was growing up, the cars were yellow and green and blue and red. But you were like risque if you had a red car. And now they're all just gray and black and white, which like that's every vehicle at my house and every vehicle at your house. But nowadays, if you have a blue, and I'm not talking about navy blue, I'm talking about blue. You have a blue car or a yellow car or a green car, it's a statement. And it didn't used to be that way. You know, if you look back at pictures of the 70s and 80s, every vehicle was a color. Yeah. And they just had a little more personality. And and I don't need my car to know when I'm getting close to the lane line. Yeah, I I would like a key for my ignition. Oh, I would love a key.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Key would be great. Give me two keys. I miss my forerunner so much. All of these uh the fobs and the fobs are just crazy. Did you ever watch that show on Netflix, Mindhunter? It's about how the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI started. No. Set in the 80s.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Is it real or is it?

SPEAKER_00 25:58

It's like based on it's based on the real. But I think they stopped what I heard was they stopped filming it. I think there were two seasons, phenomenal. Um, just they would talk to serial killers. I mean, it was so cool, but everything was set. I mean, you could tell that that show had some money that went into it to produce because when they would be on planes, it was how planes used to be like back in the days of like TWA, where flying was an experience. They were serving you coffee out of like a silver heart, you know, like the good shit carafe, that kind of stuff. I was on planes to Italy when smoking was a thing. Oh, yeah. And people were smoking next to me, and I'm like, I'm a nine-year-old child. I shouldn't have this much secondhand smoke in my face. But so everything, the cars, so everything that they had to do to recreate that movie, I heard that that's why they didn't produce it past two seasons because it was expensive, but it was so good. And that's allegedly. So if I'm wrong, Netflix, I'm sorry, but Mind Hunter was a phenomenal show, just really interesting. And I'm already a criminal minds fan. So to hear, oh, this is the backstory of how that unit of the FBI was even created was really fascinating. That is cool. But I just I think I liked all the old shit in it. I liked it. I liked seeing them on the plane. I liked seeing the cars that they were getting into, just all the buildings and the deck, the decor. And it's just those were days that we just miss, and everything is so different. So I walked into a house last week that was uh, I don't know, 5700 square feet, the main house. Oh, gosh. And then there was the pool house that so 72, over 7,200 square feet, the whole thing. It was grand, it was huge, but it was so different than walking into this was at an over$4.5 million price point. Okay. Okay. But if you're walking built, I don't know, maybe 90s, but redone, but also like not redone in a what we find today house. Okay. I would much rather spend that price point on a house like that that's grand literally in every way. They had um, it was almost like a safe room. Okay. Like a gun. You could just have them like, oh, these look at the guns that were here. So cool. A vault. It was a vault. Okay. It was so rad. But I would rather have that than I would a custom home in the foothills for the same price point that's super modern and looks like Iron Man.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yeah. I want some character. Yeah. Oh, I I get made fun of all the time because I would buy right now, today, I would buy a split level house.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

You can find them.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah. Oh, I would. I'm like, you can find them. I would buy a split level house. Throw some new carpet in there, some new paint, slap it on the walls. But like I just and my my husband grew up in one and he's like, no. But I just would. I just think that there's a lot of character to be had and that we're missing out on. And I, yeah, I have nostalgia for that. And I don't need everything to be sterile in my house. I want my house to be comfy. We live here. Let's let's paint. You know, I don't want white shiplap on the walls. You know, sorry, Joanna Gaines, but I'm over it.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

I want some character, some charm. And that's that's all it is. It's just everything is very oh gosh. Copy paste. Yeah. Same Z's. Okay, maybe this is a better quartz. I'm like, I don't. And then I mean I love my quartz in my house, but damn, I miss my granite that I could put hot stuff. And it could you can put hot on granite.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

But I mean, I love my quartz. You just have to be really careful. And so when people come over to my house, I'm I put out all the hot things. Just you can't put anything hot on quartz. And but granite, you could throw hot pan, like cookies, cookie sheets from the oven on the granite. Totally fine. Not quartz. So I miss those kinds of things where I'm just like, oh man, you've made it. We've elevated and also made ourselves more in a bubble, more padded, basically.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Well, that's what I hate about the car I currently drive. Because it's it tries to drive for me. And I'm like, I am a good driver. And it will drive. It will drive for me. It will not, it is not a Tesla. I it will not drive for me. No, no, no, but I'm keeping the lane if I want it to.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Or slam on the brakes.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

It tells me what the speed limit is through this area, which is wrong a lot of the time. But yeah, it'll slam on the brakes. It's it's too sensitive, and I hate it.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

There's no way to turn off those sensors either because No.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And I want to go back to when I had a, you know, 87 and a half Bronco that was just like driving an ammo can down the road. That's what I want. I just, you know, want the experience of it.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah. It's too much to be That's what I'm saying. We've elevated and we've padded ourselves, which just sucks.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Well, it's that thing that we talked about when Carmen was here. Like, hard times create strong men, strong men create weak times, weak times create soft men, soft men create hard times, and it's just the never-ending cycle. And it's like, you know, I told my daughter who's probably gonna drive this car as her first car. And it was like, I expect you to learn how to drive without all this shit. I expect you to learn how to be a good driver, even though this car will help you far too much. Like, and she she understands what I'm saying, I think. But like we have to take it down a notch.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

In in everything. I don't I don't remember when I was growing up, I don't remember any kind of appliance of the household being so complex as the freaking vacuum I just finally bought. I finally gave in and bought a new vacuum. I finally bought a Dyson. I have to do probably, I don't know, a 12 credit class on how the hell to use this and what what all the attachments are for. That's what it is. What all the attachments are for. What's the best way to store this? Like, do I need to screw the thing on the wall? Because that's it looks like that, but it's kind of heavy. How many bolts? I mean, there are so many things that go in with this Dyson. I think I have 14 attachments or something. And I just think, dude, I don't know. Like I have hardwood and pretty much 99% of my house, except the areas that there's area rugs. Okay, go. What do I do? I have couches, I have a car that could use it to vacuum all that, but it's so complex. And yet somehow I love it, but I'm still very confused by it. But I don't ever remember vacuums being that complicated. Thing I love is that I had a shark before, but it was corded, and this one's cordless. And I kind of really like that because I have a little more flexibility. There is one attachment that it's for hardwood only, and it has a laser, and so the laser light is the head is lighting up all the shit on the floor, and you're like, this is beautiful because you're getting all the dust and just all the particles. And then it'll tell you. I mean, it's very complex, it's basically like a Tesla. It's telling you how much of the collection of crap is, you know, allergen and how much I'm like, I don't even know anymore what's happening, but can you just give me a crash course on how to use this vacuum? Because I've tried to watch some of their videos and they're very calm and peaceful. And I'm like, but okay, do it quick because you're, you know, someone just made a mess, but you have a guest coming in 15 minutes. Go fast. Like, I need to see it quickly. I need to see you this in action fast. Just not that easy. That's wild. Very complicated.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

So cars, vacuums, washing machines. You know my stance. That's why I I did not want a washing machine with an electric panel. I just want a washing machine with a metal drum and knobs. And then you just that's it. Yeah. Because then if it breaks, it's easier to fix. Yeah. But it's not even supposed to break for 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Hopefully. And I I think yours will. Yeah. I mean it'll last. I don't, yeah, because it's but they don't make things like they used to. That's one thing that they kept doing, but they don't make Amana refrigerators like they used to, or Maytag uh laundry shit. It's just, it's also different. And I think that that's what's really hard. That not only do we have, oh, we just want that simpler time and we're so overstimulated, but what we trusted before, now we don't even know what to trust anymore because you have so many damn influencers all over the TV and the internet telling you what's the best. And you're like, but are you even using this? You're right. Are you just getting paid to use this? I would never represent something that I didn't actually use. Oh, yeah. But how many people are doing? Everybody's doing that. I mean, 98% of people who are making money from selling brands online aren't really using it. They're using it to show you how it works, or they're using it to put their stamp of approval on it. But now we have to deal with influencer culture also.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Well, I worked at a car dealership once and it was a brand of car. I am a car racist.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

And it was a brand of car that I would never drive. And it was one of the worst shops I've ever had because I was like, I why am I working here? I cannot, I don't support this brand. I don't, I would never drive this car. Why am I working here? Oh, yeah. Then why did you work? So I was Did it have other things too? Was it a one-off? It was a one-off dealership. It was part of a group. So I did end up getting transferred to a different store, but you know, to a different brand. But being honest and sabotaging sales and I've worked at so many luckily, I wasn't selling them. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Um, I was just the receptionist at that one. And the general manager and all the sales managers were absolute trash human beings at that particular store. But I was actively looking for another job all the time. I cannot work somewhere where I don't agree with, believe in, would purchase the product. Cannot do it.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

No. No, you can't. Well, because you're devoting like time and self into that as well. Yeah. So, no, there's no way you that I don't even think that that's possible. But there are so many people who do it. Yeah. And they're making a lot of money. And that's when you start, you know, you kind of kick it of how willing am I to like to make money? Not like that. I haven't sold feet pics yet. So apparently not that willing. Not that willing.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Well, and that's being a freelance copywriter. Um I'm in a lot of groups, you know, like Facebook groups or whatever, that discuss different ways to market yourself, different ways to find clients, blah, blah, blah. And the big money for freelance copywriters has always been in like the supplement world. And I just can't, I can't do it. I don't know if your supplements work. I don't know. I cannot write advertising material for you if I don't. Oh, sure. If I don't really believe, if I feel like you're just a shyster trying to sell somebody, you know, sure, powders and potions that aren't going to do anything.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

I just got an approach from a supplement company that wants me to do stuff for them. And I was like, I've never even heard of this. Um, so I'm out, obviously. But they'll find, they'll find creators on, I mean, TikTok especially. That's where people are making money. So they found my personal one on TikTok and and reached out for that. And I'm like, I don't, I don't know anything about this. And I'd have to do so much research. And before I even accept free products, to me, it's like, I don't even want to waste that. I mean, I I just I don't want it sent to me if I know that number one, I'm not going to use it. Like two, can I research it first? But I really have to be committed because if I get sent something and I think it tastes like shit and I will never use it again, now I just got free stuff. So now you almost feel a little obligated that you have to do something. But I'm kind of like, I'd rather try it in a totally different setting. And if I love it, I'd rather reach out to you and be like, hey, if you ever want me to say anything about this, like I love it, I'm already buying it, you know. That's the kind of stuff that I would want to represent. Things that I'm already using. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_01 38:42

You know what I think is sketchy as hell is the people who talk about these products that they're using, but they won't tell you what it's called. I see that a lot. Oh, like what? Like, do you have to like click the link? Probably. Oh. I'm not doing that. They won't even tell you the name of it. This particular drink or supplement changed my life. My hair stopped falling out. Like it's all these just miraculous things, but then they won't tell you the name of it. What are they trying to do? Like capture your information? I don't know. Because I will not do it, but it annoys me like you would not believe. Well, you have to find out what it is. I mean, that's something. It's usually like MLM stuff, I think, but it's just like that's just terrible marketing strategy, in my opinion. But I see it a lot.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

That's interesting. I I never see it like that. I always DM me for details. Oh, you know what else? DM me for details, I see. But I still get the detail. Like, I still see it. Someone in the comments will be like, save you the two minutes.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Yeah, here it is. Like DM me for details. I'm out. You know what else I'm out? Comment, blah, blah, blah. And I'll send you the link.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Like, no. So all of the Amazon influencers who that was really big with them, now all of a sudden the link is actually popping up. Because I see a lot of really cool things that I'm like, I would want that for cleaning in my own house. And it'll be, you know, her description, whoever the influencer is, the description. And then it'll say, comment, you know, uh scrub for a and I'll send you a link. And so there's people commenting, but also if you watch that video, it'll have the link that pops up that's like shop now. So it'll give you the call to action. It'll take you to that influencer's Amazon storefront, basically, right? And then they're getting a commission from it. So I don't care about that. If you want to take the time to record all the shit that you do to clean your shower and then make money off of the proceeds of it, of the item, good for you. I don't have the, I don't have the time or the patience, or I don't want to edit a video to do that. But I that I'm okay with. The comment, I'll never comment. But if there's a link, then I'll click the link and I'll see what it is and I'll check the reviews and I'll be like, how much of this is bullshit? And how much of this is actually real? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

There's like one person that I'll click their Amazon link. Otherwise, am I writing it down? What is what's that what's the description of that? And then I'll go search it myself.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

Yeah, because they rarely also show you the actual product. You have to click the link to get it. And this is the miracle product, and half the time it's that like, oh gosh, it's typically a yellow and white, some kind of cleaner, but then it comes in different colors. I also see a lot of, and I do want to buy those, is a wax putty stick for chips in your cabinet, and you can basically like color it as almost a crayon uh wax stick, and it'll like fill in the little tiny chip in the white cupboard or something. You can get different colors. I thought that that was fascinating. So I gotta look into that. It's like a wood putty.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Well, you know why also I just want I miss wood furniture. I'm in I'm in the market for a piece of furniture in my house, and yes, I could go on Amazon and find a piece that fits those exact specifications, which is weird. But I was like, nope, I'm gonna start going to consignment stores. I want a real tree piece of wood furniture because and I don't really care. I am not the person whose you know coffee table and kitchen table need to be the same kind of wood. I don't I am not that way. But um if you have a walnut desk and it gets a scratch in it, you can take a walnut and fix the scratch with that.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

It's wild. I've seen it. Oh, like an actual walnut. Oh, that's cool. I guess that that would make I guess that would make sense. Yeah theoretically.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

And I saw a video of that like pre-AI, so I feel like it was real, and I was like, this is amazing. Nice. And I just want I want real things that are gonna last for a long time. You know, I'm tired of fast fashion and fast products, and I I order plenty on Amazon because I don't have the time or the brain power to go to 12 different stores to find all these things. I have a certain protein bar that I like, so they come to my house the next day rather than me trying to go around and find that one flavor, you know. But I'm I want to be intentional about the things that I buy.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Yeah. Um slowly. I didn't know about the walnut thing. That's really cool. I I will say that I have a colored marker that matches my wood coffee table pretty well because when Gracie had all the puppies, they gnawed on my coffee table. Oh, sure. And therefore discolored it a little bit and chippy chipped it. And so I just go and it's colored. I had this, I had this song come on. This is so random. When I was driving, when I left my house today to come to you, I had this song pop in my head, and I was like, you know when a random song comes on in your head, like in your head, and it's just the sound I made just reminded me. Me of it because then I can't get it out of my head until I put it into words who it is. And I knew who it was the second it came on like came in my brain. But and maybe you will. So now we're gonna do the test. Do do do do do do do do. Ah it's freaking No More I Love You by Annie Lennox. I'm like, why do I know that song? Why did why is that coming up in 2026 in my brain? But it was just that random, like, what is happening? But that's the way my head goes these days, is because I just can't keep anything straight. And I really think that spending two hours on Oregon Trail the other day did it. Okay. Really set it like ablaze because now I've got cholera. I mean, in the first 20 miles, one of my kids got cholera and I was she made it, but I was just a little confused because I was giving them filling rations too. You know, I was hunting all the time to make sure I had all the food. That's so funny. It was just it was a wild thing. Damn it, Bessie, get it together. I mean we have a trip to take. Just you gotta, you gotta do it. But um, yeah, so if you need it, if you need a release and you just need to like zone out of your crazy minesweeper and organ trail. Organ trail is a little slower. I mean, we do do family Mario Kart races on the Wii. Okay, this is a solo person game, though. So you can't like You can play solo Mario Kart. No, no, no. I'm saying No, I know. Oh, the Oregon Trail. You can't log in. They haven't they haven't gotten to that capacity. Yeah, you can't play with people on the They do have an organ trail board game. Oh, do they? Yeah, I'm thinking about getting it for my kids. Oh, that would be fun. Yeah. And it would move faster than this. And it's probably a little more up to date, but I was just amazed at all.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

I hope it's all like spinach green pixelated.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

Yeah. I was it was so crazy to me to think of people that would actually break into your wagon in the middle of the night and steal a wagon tongue. I'm just thinking, first of all, are y'all sleeping in your wagon? Because who's just breaking in? No, they weren't sleeping in their wagon. They were just camping? Yeah. Another reason.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

No, because the wagon had nobody only like injured, really old people, and maybe babies were in the wagon. It was only like it was storage. And everyone else just rode outside. They walked or they rode a horse. Yeah. But you couldn't have that many horses because then you had to still feed them and make sure that they were cared for. So most people walked.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Well, I'm just saying there is a reason I would not have been on the organ trail. And, you know, that's it. But it was fun to play. There you go. So that's highly recommend just if you need a if you need a dose of what life was like in the 90s when you had a 30-minute session of, you know, your library, but you got to play on these things called computers.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Go to the computer lab.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Yeah. With that floppy disk. With the floppy disk, which kids don't even know what they are anymore. I know. It's crazy. That was in in the CD ROMs that we've talked about, which is just funny to me. So yeah, I'd say I'm gonna get in my car with a key fob. I'm really good about changing the um battery every now and then. If I think, hmm, I don't want to be stuck somewhere without one. I'll just change that lithium-ion battery. I don't even want to do that anymore. Just give me a good old-fashioned double-A something.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

I want a car with a key. I want a manual transmission. I want to be able to change the oil myself. Yeah, I don't want that.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

I want all of that. Uh I don't want that. I don't want a sunroof, though. My next vehicle, I do not want a sunroof.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Yeah, I don't, I have one and I don't care about it. I don't ever use it. Even the sun. I also can't have the sun, so I will use it like when I park in the garage. Like last night we had to get drive-thru food. And so that was in the car. And so I popped the sunroof in the garage overnight to get the smell out. Sure. That's handy. But you could crack the windows. You can crack the windows. Like it's not. Sunroofs are overrated.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

They are. And then if you ever have a leak, right, you're getting it from the sunroof because you have a hole in your the roof of your car. Yeah. So I just think that there's a lot that I would just want it to be simpler. I do want to give a message to Jeep because I have a Jeep and I love my grand Cherokee, but the new versions of them are fugly. And I'm saying it with a capital F. Oh. They look like minivans, but not cool ones. And make them scary. Make them well, you know, there were useful, coolish, cooler ones that could do more things, is what I meant. Okay. No, I I obviously would never drive a minivan because I don't need to. But the Jeeps just look like they need a revamp. And so before I buy my next one, and I'm hoping I have at least another five years, get it together because these are just wild. No, no Magusta at all. Like, not even a little bit. So yeah, old computer games and keep playing Mario Kart because that's at least cool because you're on the Wii and doing that. And I'll learn my vacuum. Hopefully, the next time, next time we discuss this, I will be a pro.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

Get your associate's degree in vacuums.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

Yeah, in that particular vacuum, because it just has to be the fancy, all the fancy ones. Nice. That's it. Yeah. And on that note. Anything else? Anything else you gotta chime in with this? I mean, probably a lot, but we'll we'll keep it simple. We'll save it. Alright, well, I guess have a good day to everyone except the people who should know better, who maybe have transplanted here, and still refuse to pronounce boisey, boise, and they keep saying boisey. Oh, that hurts my brain. Makes me so sad. It is the first thing I learned here, and let me tell you, I have never faltered, and it is just crazy to me that people have lived here have moved here, and there's signs all over downtown. Hey, welcome to Boise. Yeah. And it's just nuts. So have a good day to everyone but you. Solid. Yeah, perfect. Bye. Bye.