He Was Cheating Through His Butt

it's about chess, get your head out of the gutter

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Howdy everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. Appreciate you joining us for another week. Um continuing to get in the flow of things, got a bunch of topics, bringing back trivia this week that I got for you guys. So hopefully you look forward to that. Another question of the week that's a little bit deeper and kind of vulnerable uh in the question. It made me kind of uncomfortable as I thought about the question, which I guess is indicative that it's hopefully a good question. Um so uh yes, we'll see where where it goes once we get there. Um hope everyone's having a good week. Enjoying the World Cup. We are game one down of the semifinals. I unfortunately wasn't able to watch any of it, but uh surprising outcome. Um Luke and I Luke and I were both uh expecting he's he now knows that Argentina is a juggernaut. Uh he knows that they have the best player in the world, and he also knows, you know, he knows a little bit of history about it that I've been explained to him. So uh both of us, you know, I don't it'd be what I found with kids is that in the beginning, I feel like I thought that it was fun to like, hey, you find a team that you're rooting for, and I'll root for the other one. You know, and that way, like it's it's like a healthy, like, oh, you know, like we're each rooting for one. No, no, no, no, no. Like, especially with kids, they love being on your team. No matter what it is, they want to be on your team. So I say, what team do you want to root for? And I'm like, that's the team I'm rooting for too. And that's way more fun to be on the same team as your kid rooting for the same one. Um, so we were uh kind of expecting France and Argentina to move on. And uh, I guess no spoiler alerts because by the time you're listening to this, it's probably well in the past. And if you don't know about it, well, that's kind of on you, but uh that Spain defeated France 2-0 today. Brandon, did you watch it? You were kind of shaking your head that it maybe wasn't as unexpected as what I may have thought.

SPEAKER_05 1:50

Um, I I mean I think I think Spain is one of the best teams in the world. And I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I mean they've given up one goal in the tournament? Is that right?

SPEAKER_05 2:02

Uh yeah. Last game they gave up one goal, and that was their first. They hadn't they hadn't given up anything since then. Yeah, I mean they're they're really good. And you look at their like like up and down their roster, um they have have guys that are like they they were bringing on the starting forward for uh Barcelona as a sub today for Antoras game on SSL. Like they're they're an incredibly deep team. Uh Lamin Yamal is is I think he has a chance to take the reins from Mbappe as the best player in the world like sooner rather than later. Because that kid is is just lights out on fire. He won he won the penalty for them um for their for their first goal and was just creating havoc down the the right side uh that that entire game. He is like stupid good. He's I don't know, 19, 20 years old, uh something like that. So he's he's even younger than Mbappe is, and Mbappe is still uh you know in the early parts of of his prime, but that dude is is insanely, insanely talented. So yeah, I I mean I I don't I think France was probably favored given that they're where they've been and that they were you know returning finalists. Uh they won the Euros uh and they're you know they're they're no slouch either with a lot of their team playing for PSG who won who won the Champions League and and all that stuff. Um but I don't I I thought that this that this game was basically the final. I thought the winner of this game is gonna go ahead and and beat whoever comes out of Argentina. Really? Um Argentina England. Yeah. And Argentina is uh again, one of the top teams in the world. You can never discount Messi, uh, but they've been cheated. They've been on borrowed times.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Yeah. Yeah. Um England's kind of been the same way.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

England hasn't really dominated too, which is why they've they both looked kind of underwhelming at times and they've had some like moments of of of magic where they've been able to pull out their their games. And I think that there's I mean, there's an element to that where you get through a tournament and you you're you're never out of it, and all it takes is you know one good game. If they're able to win on their bad days, if they end up having a one good day in the final, both of those teams can beat Spain and they could they could beat France too. Um they are like they're this was the first time I think in World Cup history that literally the top four ranked teams in the world are the ones who were the final four in in the World Cup. So they're they're the four best teams, and I think that they've they've probably shown that. Um Argentina and England are the ones that have been, I I think, a little bit shaky. So um and you know, if they're struggling to create growing up against a team like Spain who has only conceded one goal in the entire tournament, you got your work cut out for you.

SPEAKER_06 4:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:39

So um, yeah, I I would not be surprised if uh if Spain wins and and wins kind of comfortably uh against whoever comes out of tomorrow's game.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I can see that. Yeah, you mentioned about Yeah, you're talking about how uh you know, some like Mbappe who's letting the world on fire and he's kind of like in his prime right now, I guess, entering it. Um that's kind of that's just that's the bummer of the World Cup is that time goes by so fast that it's four years later, so he's 27 now. Next when he's gonna be 31. It's like there's a big difference between that. 27, you're like, oh yeah, man, you're young, you're fast. Especially when you put it for us in terms of football terms, like you know, the running back Cliff is at 28 once you're past that. And then once you get into your 30s as a wide receiver, even you're like, okay, man, he's getting up there in age, like you're not gonna sign him to a long-term contract contract anymore, things like that. So it's like the fact that in four years, okay, he's 31, four years after that, he's 35. It's like, all right, that's you know, we're we're kind of nearing the downslip now. Um, someone even mentioned about um about Erling Holland that it's like this could possibly be the only World Cup he's ever at. Yeah. Yeah. Which is which is so easy to think about.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yeah, you know, that's like this dude who could just he he's so exciting and fun to watch. But if Norway doesn't qualify, which is in the realm of possibility, again, like this could be it. And that's that was just one World Cup.

SPEAKER_07 6:00

And also, like, you know, 25, 25 might be kind of up there in terms of like peak physique. Even if you do like the Messi Djokovic, like all these people that have extended their like athletic, you know, careers really effectively, I still feel like you know, you you're not going in at 31 being like, this is the best I'm gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yeah, and it and it is weird about whether is it's like, is this the new norm, or have we been just blessed with some you know, otherworldly out athletes, yeah. Yeah, between Tom Brady, LeBron James, Messi, Ronaldo, you know, Serena Williams still laced him up for another Wimbledon. Like, is this the new norm of just medicine has gotten to this point where and you know money can put can buy you longevity to your careers this easily now? Or is it just like these people were just absolute freaks and we're never gonna get this again?

SPEAKER_07 6:54

Uh I feel like it's both. I think it's both. Like, right? Like I don't think it's one or the other. Like, I don't think if even if all these things were available to like everyone and you didn't need a lot of money, like I still think only a few psychos will commit themselves the way that you know O'Brady has, right? Where it's like, all right, uh, it's 2 43 p.m., time for my six almonds for the day. Like, you know, like that that kind of shit is crazy if you're really that obsessed about like, you know, maintaining your athleticism. Like, not everyone's gonna do that.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, I heard I forget who it was now, um, but the specific interview, but they were talking about these top-tier athletes, you know, your goats uh in each sport, um, and kind of like the difference between professional athletes and them. And he's like, Well, yeah, you know, like if you're just a regular person, right? Do you want to be in the NBA? Of course. Like, who doesn't want to be in the A making millions of dollars to play basketball? Like, that's awesome. But you realize that A, there's a physical difference between between you and an NBA player, significant physical difference, and then there's a big mental difference as well about the work that goes into it and how hard those guys grind. Um, he's like, it's the exact same thing for like us in the NBA to that level of greatness. It's like it's almost the same gap exists from regular person sitting on their couch at home to an NBA player, as there is from NBA player to Michael Jordan or LeBron James. You know what I mean? Like, of course, like, do I want to be the best there's ever been? Of course. But there is a significant physical difference, and then there's an even greater mental difference. You know, we've talked about on here about how insane it is that Brady and guys like Sean McVeigh can like replay any play that they've ever had in their career, exactly with the situation you know, like that's just that's not a normal thing. So it was just funny hearing that like that that gap difference is like you know, it's like two deviations away from even like people that are in the NBA or in those upper leagues to like the top level people like you know, for soccer Mbappe or or Holland or you know, something like that. So you're right. I think it's you know, it probably is a little bit of both technologies and medicine's getting better, and then also but then also like it takes a free freak to be able to to like dedicate all that to it.

SPEAKER_05 9:07

Um yeah, and I mean and I like it's you're talking about the best of the best. So I think you're you are seeing m more of them. Um whether that will bear fruit and like those people are coming like the next four years at the next World Cup, or are all those people are the same stars gonna be participating at the same level? That's the that's I I don't know. I can see some of them falling off, but um it I don't know that there's like a uh uh rhyme or reason or or like a thing that can point to identifying that early on whether they have it or not. Because it's because you know the you have your your best of the best and your LeBrons and your um your Messies and and Ronaldo's, but then there's you know it's kind of like a crapshoot when you get to everybody else where there's some guys who who aren't the best and who end up like just having like crazy longevity. Somebody like a Eudannis Has Haslum, who played in the league forever and was able to just kind of get by and like cat Kyle Lowry was was still playing.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

I mean played in the league. So he was on a team.

SPEAKER_05 10:16

At the end of at the end of his career, he was just a member on the team. But he was still playing in his like he was actually playing in his late thirties. Same thing with Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry was was playing in his late thirties. And granted it wasn't at the same level, but it was at a level enough where he was he was uh you know beyond beyond his peak, but not falling off enough where he it would be a be a detriment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

So uh yeah, anyways, I mean, World Cup halfway through the semifinals to see what happens tomorrow, then on to the finals. It's been good as a distraction throughout the summer. We're also in the all-star break for baseball, um, which I again I did I I always think this used to be such an awesome time. I mean, home run derbies, I mean, most of this podcast is us complaining about how good things used to be and how they're not anymore. So I'll try not to dwell on that too much, but we all but at least for people that are even casual baseball fans, remember the awesome home run derbies with McGuire and Griffey and Sosa back in the day. And I mean, even like uh Prince Fielder. Uh I think it was print, no, Cecil Fielder. I don't know. Now I don't even know which Fielder it was in Milwaukee. I don't know. But anyways, they're they were awesome home run derbies. Now it's just kind of like especially because they've changed the rules so much every year that it's really hard to follow what the rules are, and like none of the big name players are usually in it. Um so we had the home run derby last night that was uh it was awesome. Uh I remember I was I was just watching the tail end of it, and Brandon and I were about to uh get on to play some Overwatch. I was like, hey man, you ready? And he was like, Oh, I'm just finishing watching the home run derby. And this is after um Kyle Schwaber, who continues to just mash home runs till he I don't know how that guy does it. He's gonna have 500 home runs in his career, which is wild. Um, but so he had just hit like 11 in the final round. I'm like, oh, it's a wrap. And then uh and then Jordan Walker came in and hit six home runs in his last six balls to win it. That was awesome. Uh I saw someone mention that I think last year the amount of home runs was like 270 something, and this year there was like 130 something. Like it was a drastic downturn just because of because it keeps switching up the format, and now it was just a number of swings. Um but what remains is that like the excitement is at the end of it, if it comes, you know, if you have someone coming down to the last few swings, like that's awesome, regardless of how many total home runs are hit. Um so it seems like at least this format has been getting a lot of positive reviews for it. Um and then the all-star game tonight, which I could I could care less about, unfortunately. It used to be really fun seeing all those players getting out there, but now it's just I don't know, half you know, more than well over half of these players. I don't know who they are anymore. Um yeah. So uh all right, let's you know what I wanted to follow up one thing from last week. Another uh minor thing that I realized is we were talking about things that are generally loved, but that you don't like. Another one from my list, and I apologize if I'm insulting either of you or anyone else that's listening, but hokas. I so many guys just are wearing hokas just as they're like regular outfit shoes. And uh I get it, they're probably super comfortable. Uh I don't own any any hokas for working out or anything, but I get they're probably comfortable, but they just look ridiculous. Like they're so oversized to me that they just they just look out of place anyways, and then now you're wearing them with like jeans and regular clothes, or it's like, what the hell are we doing?

SPEAKER_07 13:30

Are they like are they like big like dad sneakers? Um I know the brand, I'm having trouble like visualizing.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

It's it's like the it's the soul part of it. It's like that they're running. Yeah, the soul's super thick. My sister-in-law, she ran track like in at Princeton, and then when she graduated, she like her first job was like she joined a like a club track team. So there's like a team in New York that's like like they they they do meets.

SPEAKER_07 14:01

Um yeah, yeah, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_05 14:03

So she her team was sponsored by Hoka. And this was in 20, I don't know, 14, 2015, something like that. I had no idea, like I had no idea what this brand was. I had never heard of it. Hoka One One.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

I didn't even know there was more to it. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:19

Yeah, they're actually and I think uh they may have rebrained it sense. I think they I think they might be shortened to to Hoka, but it it looked like it looked like Hoka one, and I was like, I like I don't even know what this is, but it's like part of her thing was every, I don't know, every three months or something, she like like would get a new pair of shoes and like could put an order in for whatever she wanted. So she like would have her running shoes, get her running shoes or whatever, and then she would just kind of like go through rotation. And I eventually got like a pair of hokas, but I I didn't get their running shoe. I got like they had made like a casual sneaker, so I was like, oh yeah, let me grab one of these and like see what all the all the fuss is about. I didn't think it was any more comfortable than like a regular shoe. And it it had the same kind of like like really thick padding. Megan, like those are her running shoes. Like Megan will run in hokas and and like like like she doesn't wear them out other than when she's working out, but like loves them as as running shoes. But uh it was never something that I really I'm I couldn't bring myself to do it as a non-runner. Like I I would never want a pair of them for myself.

SPEAKER_07 15:16

Yeah, Brendan, your problem is with the with just like how the shoe looks, even if it was just for even if it was running or like. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

If you're using it for running, like there's a lot of benefits about how it helps with your stride, it's good cushioning, it's easier on your knees. Like, there's a lot of benefits for running because it was developed as a running shoe. But then the problem that I have is when people take me like, oh, this is a really comfortable shoe, I'm just gonna wear it as part of my outfit now. It's like, no man, like that's a running shoe and it looks ridiculous. It's just I I you know, you see a lot of people, especially traveling and going through airports, and it's like, guys, men, can we just try a little? Can we put a little bit of effort into how we look?

SPEAKER_05 15:52

You know, there's I think there are more comfortable shoes out there that are like work as like a casual sneaker. I have a pair of alvers that I love that like look more like a casual sneaker that are not like a not a a running shoe that looks like you should be on the track, but you're in jeans and a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah, right. And it's just it it it's it's it's one of those things where like now that I'm aware of them, I see them more often. Uh, because it just like bugs me. So now I've whenever I'm looking around when I'm on like the shuttle to get to the airport, I'm like, look at all these goddamn people wearing hokas. Like, what are you doing? Uh again, I get it, you're traveling, you're maybe walking a lot on your feet, fine, but just in in general, just put a little bit of effort. We don't need to be wearing hokas with jeans. You look you look ridiculous. Um, I just wanted to follow up with that from last week's conversation. All right, let's let's roll into what's good. Uh I'll just I'll just kick it off and then we'll go from there. My what's good. Uh usually come from just some free time and things that we're able to do with it. So uh I was able to manufacture a day off this past weekend. Um it was it was a really long day because uh wound up having to wake up at uh three o'clock in the morning to go do a flight. I was there and back and then landed by luckily back home by like 11:30 in the morning. Um so it was brutal in the morning, but it'll allowed us to have the rest of the day, which was the goal. And so uh we met up with a couple of our friends at their house um and really enjoyable. They're good people, the kids get along with them, they have really well behaved, well-spoken, um, good kids that are uh um that our kids get along with well. Um so that's always a positive. And then they always and so for this one, he had um we did crabs. So he had a buddy across the street that uh that went fishing for crabs and prepared them, and it was you know, it's obviously a Maryland staple. Um, but I had never actually had like had full crabs, like obviously crab cakes and crab meat and a bunch of different things I've had. And I've had lobster, where you like go in and crack it open and get all the meat out of it. But I've never done the actual like Maryland crab bakes. So we just had a big old box of them. He put out some cardboard table on the outdoor um patio table and then just like dumped out the crabs essentially, and then there's a certain way he had to show us all how to like crack it open and get the meat out of it. Um, so it's just a cool experience that I had. It's just uh my thoughts about it that I imagined uh even before having crabs still stood up in that it is a lot of a lot more work for very little bits of meat. Um so that's what I expected, and that's kind of why I've never gone out of my way to go have crabs in that way. Now, all you can eat, snow crab leg buffet, sign me up. You just get me crab leg clusters where I can just crack it open and get a big old thing of meat, dunk it in butter, and just all that I can eat, because I can put down some food. That I'm there for. But full crabs where you have to break everything open and every little bit of piece and you're just you know scrounging for little morsels of crab. Eh, I can take it or leave it. But destroyed some crab and it was awesome. Uh I also, we're also, it seems like this summer for us is becoming the summer of danger and us being exposed to uh to or being put into situations where exposing our kids to things before we've even like considered it. So I mentioned on a couple podcasts ago that we did at one of our friends' house and we had gel blasters. We were like, oh man, this is an interesting, you know, we have to like now go through the safety of this and how to handle this appropriately. On this one, at the end of the night, the dude brought out a kid size, but still uh substantial, a dirt bike. And it was an electronic dirt bike that you just you know rip back on the handle and that thing can go. Um, I I could ride on it. Uh, the other guy could ride on it, and he's bigger than me. He's like 6'4, like 240. Like he's a tall, big, big dude. Um, and so Luke uh was out there and he wanted to give it a shot. It's like Megan's like, hold on, wait, is he ready for this? Is he tall enough? Can he put his foot down on it? What if it goes too fast? What if he just rips back in it and then tips it backwards? What if he brakes too hard and he goes flying over the handlebars? I'm like, all valid concerns. I'm I'm I totally understand, but I think, you know, hey, like it's in the guy's backyard, it's grass, you know, it it's not a full-size motorbike. So uh, you know, we'll just see where it goes. And uh, of course, Luke got on and loved it, uh, as every kid would. Anything that he doesn't have to do any work, you just pull this and I just shoot and I'm out is uh is always fun. Um, but uh yeah, so uh it's the summer of danger of just being exposed to things before we were like expecting to at all. So now we're gonna have to fight him off because obviously now he just wants a dirt bike as well. And he wants to go back over to their place. I know. We just need we just need the space to do it because as I've talked about, very you know, I don't want it tearing up my lawn in the back. I'm very particular about my lawn. We're gonna have to sell the house again soon. Like, this isn't the time to build a big dirt patch uh with ramps and stuff. So uh yeah, there's a lot of logistics that go into it as well. Just get fine with it.

SPEAKER_07 21:06

Just get them a pelleton. Here you go.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, same, buddy. This is exactly good time with good friends. So it was uh a good weekend overall. Nice. Who's got the next one? I'll go next.

SPEAKER_05 21:20

Um had a had a good weekend as well. Uh and I'll start I could two things. Um, first on Sunday, uh for Father's Day, I uh I got my dad around a golf to like do with all of like my brothers and me. I didn't know that Steve was a big golfer. None of us are a big golfer. Um I think the last time any of us golfed was uh John's Bachelor Party, which was three years ago now. And I don't think any of us had gone golfing since then. But uh golf is something great. I used to go golfing with my dad quite often. Okay. And it was kind of like a thing. So my dad's birthday is July 2nd. My birthday was the First. So it was like kind of like a thing that we could do on our birthdays because Father's Day is right around there, too. So it's like just kind of like a natural thing for me and him to do. And I was more into golf than either either John or Steve were. So we went, I don't I don't know if it was a yearly thing, but we we would go quite often while I was in in high school. And then my dad, and even when I was in college, but then my dad tore his rotator cuff, and he ended up tearing it like both of his rotator cuffs and having surgery on them. So then like Yeah, it's tough to play golf with. So then it was much harder to play golf with.

SPEAKER_06 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

So then so then we stopped going, and that was just kind of always like my thing, like, oh yeah, he probably can't golf anymore. But for some reason, like a few weeks ago um or a few months ago, we were talking, golf came up somehow. Um it was probably because we were talking something about Ironamic and the um PGA championships being like like around our area. Uh he mentioned something about wanting to go golf. And I was like, oh, I didn't think he would be like into something like that. Megan picked up on it and she's like, well, that would be a good father's day gift. Um shout out to Megan for uh a good idea uh in in doing that, and that's that's what I ended up getting him. But he wanted to he like practiced out in in the backyard for a bit, and he was like, Man, I I just I can't really drive. So he's like, so I like I want to do a par three course, which there's there's a bunch of them in South Jersey. And that's so, and that's that's what we did would do quite often, especially when I was I was um like a freshman or or like younger, we would do more of those, those par threes. So I was looking for some, he wanted to do it around here, it's not like an hour away from uh both my brothers and from him. So it's like a centrally located thing. Nobody has to travel too far. Uh do it around here. And the thing about this area in Delaware County is like there are some of the some of the best public golf courses in the region are like in this area, like right around here. There's a whole bunch of of good private ones, obviously, like like Ironomic was like like what the the big one. There's Lower Marion, there's there's there's been a lot of PGA type of of courses around here. But the public ones here are like notably like one of the one of the best public courses. But they're all these like 7100, they're like really good courses, which is not what we were looking for. And they they they don't have like the par threes. So trying to find what we could do around there was was interesting, but came upon this thing called Cobbs Creek, which um just opened up this year. And it's like Tiger Woods, his foundation, because it's in Philadelphia. They like got some kind of grant money, and Tiger Woods Foundation like put in is put pumping a whole bunch of money into this golf thing where they have a learning center for like inner city kids uh on campus there. And then he built this like nine-hole par three course, which like all of like the main golfers, like like golf Reddit is for this area says like that's a legit course, it's it's really nice uh to be able to go to, and and it's it's got some challenging elements to it, but like you you can as a as a novice pick it up and go there. So we said, Oh, what the hell, let's go check it out. Uh and it isn't the projects. If you go like two blocks past, you're like, well, uh there's no way there's a golf course around here. Um but the actual facility itself was super nice, really nicely done. Uh the course itself was a lot of fun. Um it like uh it probably easy for like like really avid golfers, but for us it was like the the perfect amount of like challenge to it uh to be able to do it. So it was just a like and Sunday ended up being this gorgeous, beautiful day uh where it was like low 80s, low humidity. So being out on the course was was really pleasant. It was just it was just a nice, it took us we were done in under an hour and a half, and then there's like a really nice new restaurant that had just opened up on campus there that we were able to grab one chat, uh, which had really good food uh and grabbed a couple beers there. So it was it was a a nice day out with just the the guys that like my brothers and and my dad haven't really had the chance to do too often, especially now that everybody's busy with with kids and and the family and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

You guys keep on popping out kids, damn.

SPEAKER_05 25:56

I know there's there's ten, but I think I think we're all finished now. So that we're we're we're done at 10 between the three of us.

SPEAKER_06 26:04

You all finished the lots.

SPEAKER_05 26:06

Do you think that this is opening the door for you guys to do it more? That's that's what I said. I said I said we should totally do this more often, especially since it's uh like given that spot, you know, it it was like a half day thing for Steve and John to be able to get out to. So it's not like you're you're cooled away and it it tanks your whole day. Like my dad was able to go home and and my dad was able to go home and do his like yard work and get the stuff done in the afternoon that he wanted to do. So uh I hope it is something that we're able to do do more often because it was uh it it was a lot of fun. So it was Sunday, and I'm I'm glad the weather held out for Sunday because Saturday, apparently a whole bunch of like nasty storms rolled through this area, uh which I had no idea about because we spent the day at the All-Star Experience in Philadelphia. So because the MLB All-Star Game is here, like for from Saturday to I guess tomorrow. So Saturday to Wednesday, they had this like all-star village that they've set up in the the Pennsylvania Convention Center that you can like kind of come and see. And Megan and I were like, at first we would we wanted to go to either like the home run derby or the all-star game. Tickets to that were absolutely insane. Like it was it was a thousand dollars to get in to either of those to go. So it's like, all right, well, we're not doing that. But then we saw this all-star experience. So this is like a way to participate. It was like 30 bucks ahead for us to get in. The little kids got in free. So it was like, yeah, let's let's go check it out. Megan's a capital, Megan has a Capital One card, so we could get in. It's supposed to open at 10. You get it in an hour early at nine. And the thing that I saw that was like the thing that I was really excited about was they have food from different concessions from the stadiums all over the all over the country. I was like, man, that sounds awesome. Yeah. And I was just hoping, I was like, man, like we're gonna get there early. I hope we can keep the kids engaged enough and can like just find stuff to do so that we can make it and have an early lunch because I really want to try this stuff from all over the place. That thing was nuts. It was insane in there. It blew it. I thought it was gonna be like, you know, they have some of the trophies that are up in there, and they have like a couple of like like interactive things that you can do, like uh how far, how hard can you throw, and like a batting cage thing or whatever, and then that was it. It was way more than this. They had like three full-on fields for like kids to go on and play, like within the like on the show floor. One of them had uh like legends, like all these like retired players that would come in and like play with the kids uh who were there during the these given times. Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. Like uh Mickey Morandini, who was like a second baseman, he was like the second baseman for the Phillies while I was growing up. Yeah, uh, he was the one that played on the kids, ended up getting on somehow because they like you could you had to make a reservation uh through the app to get on to it, but then they also had like a standby line. Uh and they opened up the standby line when we were at the concession stand, which was right next door to it. So we're like, oh well, you guys just go right ahead. So then they just went on and they played for like the full hour and were able to play like the MO MLB youth ambassadors, and then they had these, yeah, Juan Samuel was there, and they had a couple of uh of other like old retired players that were coming out to play.

SPEAKER_06 29:10

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_05 29:11

Yeah, that was awesome. They and and they had a ball, and then they had like a little kid area that had like the same thing, just a miniature, but like the legends and stuff didn't come through. But they had like cutouts of all the mascots and this like like steal the bases where like their like a home plate was like not that far, and it was like perfect for Millie and George to just go and run around. And it was like this this cordoned off section of the the show floor where not a lot of people were there, so they like got to like all the little kids could run around and and have a good time, uh, which they absolutely loved. So like the interactivity of it was awesome. Uh, it was so cool. They had these other exhibits um for like the history of stuff, which I thought, again, was gonna be more for me to go in and like see all this stuff from like years past, but they had this like little stage that was set up in the corner of it, and they had people who were like bringing kids up and they had uh jerseys from like like some actual game jerseys from like today's athletes, and then they had like the wool ones that they used to wear. Yeah, and they had they had like like a silk, like I guess when they when they ended up putting lights on all the fields, they dressed all the all the players in silk jerseys so that they would shine and that it would look cool, not knowing that silk is just gonna soak up all their sweat and just gets really heavy and disgusting. So that lasted for like one one season.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 30:29

But they they had that kind of stuff on and they were like bringing the kids up and like having them put it on and take pictures with all the stuff and like letting them handle all this stuff, which was which was really cool. Um and I was and I was thinking about how like baseball's baseball's reputation is that it's this like old stodgy thing like that's not exciting, that doesn't really draw in a bunch of youth like interest, and like kids are more interested in in some of the other sports. But their like community outreach and like the the the way that they try to make it interactive for kids is really engaging, and I get why baseball stays around and why like as I never really understand why like t for some reason Teddy and George baseball is their thing. Baseball is like life for them, like they love it and they are into it. And now there's this like this kind of stuff, which is just feeding fuel onto that fire, um, which is just just really neat to see. And I I think that baseball does a really good job of that kind of engagement for uh for the younger generation.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Yeah, that was exactly what I thought of when you first started talking about it was how weird it is that baseball is seen as this dying sport when the youth programs that they have seem to be so robust and there's so much support for youth baseball programs from Cal Ripkin and you know, like like what other sport has the Little League World Series where you're watching 12-year-olds play baseball on ESPN, like you know, from like the youth aspect of it is so strong that it's so weird that there's just such a disconnect between that and then actually getting to the major leagues and having people actually, you know, consume it as uh you know as like an entertainment um option that it just uh it's just weird because things like that are so cool that you can play baseball with you know people that your parents grew up uh watching on TV, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:22

Um that like so Teddy, my my parents have like all of the old baseball cards that like that they had and my brothers had growing up, like in these little like card boxes or whatever. And Teddy loves going over there and like like just looking through them and kind of looking at all these things and asking, you know, who's this guy, who's this guy. So he like he he knew who Mickey Morandini was ahead of time. Like we had talked about it and like we had had some other things. I I I had a baseball signed by him, or no, my my uncle got him a baseball that was signed by Mickey Morandini from from something or Soraboo. So he like had and then he got to like see him and and and play on the same same field as him, which was really cool. It's like youth, the youth engagement on and so I was like interested in because I was looking at it. Um, how far has baseball falling out? Because it seems, and some of this is like rose-colored glasses, right? Like I was just at this big thing, and it was it, it was busy, it wasn't packed like shoulder to shoulder. It's this massive, massive convention center. So plenty of room for people, but there's a lot of people there. It was insane. But I'm like, man, and and there's a ton of kids of all ages, like like a lot of like older kids too. Um I was just thinking, like, like, man, how far has baseball fallen off? Baseball's like like the ratings and and stuff is like it's comparable to the NBA. Like baseball is just as popular in the U. Like obviously everything is is trailing, uh, trailing football. But when you're looking at number two, like the NBA and the MLB are like neck and neck in terms of popularity.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

The I mean, I don't I don't have any numbers or data to support it, but it seems like baseball is just so much more a regional sport that rather than a national sport, right? Like NBA, you have these big games on every night, and it might be like LA versus Dallas, and you're like, oh sweet, I get to watch LeBron James play against Cooper Flags, you know, and like I'm super interested in it. But it's like baseball seems like if I'm in Baltimore, I'm an Orioles fan. And like I don't care about the Giants playing or the Diamondbacks or, you know, who who cares about though, like if you're in an area with a baseball team, you're all about that team, and you don't really care about what else is going on in the rest of the league. Whereas like sports like basketball and football, like, hey, is there a good game on? Easier to be awesome. I'm in it to watch it, you know. So I don't know how that affects ratings or how that's captured, but it just seems like they it's it's just it's just more fragmented. They don't have the big national uh TV broadcast deals that the other sports do, and so it's just harder to get engagement outside of your local team. But I don't know. Uh well, hey man, I'll I'll you know, I'm jealous because you are you're crushing it on the sports front uh for for your kids. Like you know, from like the All-Star game and World Cup, and I mean, you you're you're really taking advantage of these big things being close to them, uh, and they don't know how lucky they are to have these experiences at such a young age, you know what I mean? Uh that's it.

SPEAKER_05 35:07

That's what Megan, especially with the World Cup. Megan was like, man, they understand that you waited 37 years to do something like this, and they're, you know, six and seven years old and able to do it. But the like the thing is is that and I want to be really cognizant of it, because it's like we're in Philadelphia, the 250th anniversary, and I I I was thinking this too. Like the next big milestone for like uh anniversary or birthday or whatever for uh the US is like 300. I hope I'm here for that.

SPEAKER_04 35:39

Yeah, but that's that's a long, that's a long way away.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

So it's like 275 is probably gonna get some excitement.

SPEAKER_05 35:46

Yeah, you know, yeah, but I mean maybe probably, but not as big as 250. Like like 250 feels like a big thing, and like everybody's made a big deal of it. And then we had the World Cup roll through, we got the All-Star game. There's like all this stuff happening in like around the same time. And like I get a little bit of FOMO. It's like like when are we gonna have this again? So it's like really we've uh it's been really intentional to try to like make these experiences so that we get to at least like exp like have a little part of it. Because I don't know when we're gonna have something like this again. And that's like been a really cool thing. And it feels like we're kind of like coming to the tail end of that kind of stuff now. Um, but the last you know, like three, four weeks have been been been really cool around here. We had the PGA championship uh thing around here. All these really cool things that are going on here that's like it feels like the planets are aligned and this stuff is all happening. It's probably never gonna happen again. So let's uh it's let's make the most of it and then hopefully, you know, when when the kids get older and they look back on it, they can be like, wow, that was really cool. I now see that that shit never happens. Um, but it was really awesome that we got to do it when when we did, even though they were super young. That's cool. Yeah, I it was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

It's awesome that you're able to get that engagement from your kids that they can latch onto these things and that they're showing such an interest in it, and you can feed that continuously. Um, but uh so tangentially, I was thinking about similarly, but how much easier West Coast dads have it of getting their kids involved stuff just because of the time difference. Like I would love for Luke to be a part of these major sporting events, but when they start at 8 30 at night, it's like I mean, look at the World Cup has been on throughout the day, and that's been great to have that. But most of the big games that are going on, if they're East Coast, they're starting at you know 8 30. If they're West Coast, they're starting at like 11:30 at standard time or 10:30. Like, yeah, right. Uh, so it's just so much harder when it's like he's like, hey dad, when I wake up, can you tell me about how this is? Like how the Villanova game went, you know, and it's like, man, like it'd be great if we could watch it together and like get you involved in it. Um, but like the that that West Coast, when it's starting at 5 30 at night, it's like, oh, it's perfect. Like, this is right in the sweet spot. You know, they get home from school, everything's good, and then you get to roll into these awesome games going on. Um, so I just I just had that thought of like, man, West Coast dads and kids have it so much easier because they can watch these things uh without worrying about you know bedtime and school the next day and all this sort of stuff. But um that's so true.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

And we we we had that last night because uh George loves Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper is George's like hero. He wants to be Bryce Harper at all times. Um he wanted to see the so he wanted to see the home run derby. It's like, man, you're three years old, and that home run derby starts at eight, and then Bryce Harper ended up being like the last person in the first round. So I don't even know what time it was at. Yeah, I think he went on at like nine o'clock because Teddy we did let stay up for it. Um even that was a little bit of a late night for Teddy. Yeah. Good news is that it was on it was on Netflix. They can play like some of it for him so he could still like see it after the fact. But it's not the same as catching it live.

SPEAKER_06 38:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:49

That's tough. But yeah, I I didn't even think about if we had been on the West Coast, it would have been great. Everybody could have watched it. We could have watched the whole thing. Uh and then everybody got to bed on time, it would have been fine. Yeah. Man, San Diego. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Awesome that you're able to take advantage of that. It's really cool. Good for the kids.

SPEAKER_05 39:03

Um so we were we were at that um at that all-star experience until four o'clock, and like we ended up having to just just like bounce because it was it it was time to go at that point. Nobody has to leave. Everybody was like into it the whole time. There's there's so much to do. Uh blew blew all expectations I had for it away. It was it was really cool. Yeah, that's cool. But Sarab, what's good?

SPEAKER_07 39:27

Mine is uh one I think I've maybe done in a way before, but uh mine is just hanging out with people you don't normally hang out with or you've never hung out with. And how like, I don't know, it feels like you you enter a different reality sometimes. Like I know that sounds like a lot, but like when you hang out with different people who don't do the things you do, who don't like they're not your friends in your regular life, different tastes, different whatever. It just feels like you're like, holy shit, like how have I never seen this, or have I never been here? Like it's just a lot of that, which is really cool. Um, but the whole thing was um I have a coworker who started a few months back. Uh he's Australian, he's a couple years older than us, he's divorced. Um and so I think when he started and we like first kind of got to know each other, there was a little bit of this like oh, we're we're kind of like we're two middle-aged single guys who live in the city. Um so I think it was just like opportunity to not just be only co-workers, but maybe do stuff outside of it. Um and so he he had hit me up a while ago and he was like, hey man, let's find a weekend in July that we can like go, you know, get a bunch of drinks and just like tear it up. Um so we had we had we had picked last uh last Friday night. Um context I'll add here, he's like a tall Australian, like former military, like I think you can kind of imagine enough, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Yes, you guys are two P's in a pod.

SPEAKER_07 40:55

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly right. Um and and and so we got we were joined on Friday by his brother, who somehow is like takes all of his qualities and punctuates them even further. Like, if my coworker's in shape, like this guy is like model, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Like I'm imagining Chris Hemsworth is your friend and his brother is Liam Hemsworth.

SPEAKER_07 41:20

Honestly, that is a great that is an excellent, that is an excellent parallel. I would say that's probably a pretty good parallel. Um man. Although, like, yeah, if if Liam Emsworth was like even more like kind of like not skinnier, but like even more like just like lean muscle, if that makes sense. Um my God, who is this man? I know. Jesus. What I'm getting at though is as you can imagine, they have lived a different life than I have.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_07 41:52

And for me, I felt like I was I felt like I was getting to be like a human anthropologist where I'm like, I'm observing how a like these like people live in different. It feels like a different species. So we're we we meet up, and it was such a fun night in general. Like we get there, uh, and I'm like, listen, I'm along for the ride. I want to do what you guys like want to do. Like, I'm not gonna so it's like we start with just like being at this bar where they know this bartender who pours us like three back-to-back rounds of espresso martinis. So we just get like kind of hammered, like jacked up very fast. Yeah, yeah. And you know, we're talking about stuff, and like they really love talking about dating stuff, so they started like unpacking like my history a little bit. Uh, and it was weird because it was like loud music playing, and I'm like yelling really personal stuff over the music, trying to like tell them like what my story is. Uh and then I licked her beehole. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not true. Yeah, you fact straight. She licked my beehole. There we go. There we go. Okay. No, so the moment that really starts this evening is just like a cute girl sits down next to me. Now, you guys can't really relate to this because you got, you know, uh you started dating and got married when you did. When you are single at my age, I would like to think me and a lot of other men. Uh, you remember that episode of Scrubs where the main character, JD, like if there's a woman who has like an engagement ring, she becomes invisible to him as if it's like out of the the Lord of the Rings. Yeah. That is kind of what happens to women who look a certain age of like young, right? It's like you might be able to objectively be like, you're very beautiful, whatever, and maybe 10 years ago, like whatever. But like there's a babyface quality, there's something about it that's like you seem really young that you're like, I don't even see this. Like, I don't register this, I'm like chilling. But she sits up next to me, and that's my mode, right? And I'm with two guys who are older. Than me, uh, by by a couple years. Not the case, not to you know, shame them or anything, like everyone's got their own thing. Um, she sits down. This dude stops whatever we were talking about and immediately starts talking to her. And it's like a very it like it was both like mind-blowing, but also like really impressive, and it was like kind of surprising in how like casual it was that he just stopped everything we were talking about and he was like, Hey, hey, welcome, welcome, what brings you here? Just immediately within like a f and I if I timed it, I would say from the beginning of that chat to maybe like four and a half minutes in of him peppering her with like questions here and there. He does the thing that I was like, man, in my world, I can't imagine this working, but I guess when you're this guy, you could do this. He was just like, So you probably have a really hot husband, right? Yeah. And she was like, No, uh, no, no, I'm not married. I'm like, whatever. And he was like, Oh, oh, then we should have a date. Hey, that's it. Yeah. That's awesome. Now, it didn't it didn't work out only because she was into it, but as she as it got real when he asked her on a date, I think is that that was when she felt some guilt because she was like, actually, like, I'm kind of seeing someone. I don't know what it is, but like I'm seeing someone, and like, you know, I shouldn't. And she was like, and then this was this is a very interesting interaction. She was like, but I mean, like, we can be friends, like if you want. And I was like, I was like, this is so kind of like it is there is a little bit of like ickiness to it, but also I get it. Like, if I'm a girl who's like with a guy and it's not I don't know for with full clarity that it's going somewhere, hell yeah. I gotta keep it around. Yeah, I'm like, I would love to find out that you're my actual husband someday. Uh so she was leaving that open, and he was like, No, no, no, no, no. If you're if you're with a guy, I I do not want to, I'm not gonna be a distraction or like whatever. And so he like basically was like, we shouldn't be friends, and he like cut it down. No, no, but but but but I was just like, oh, this is so interesting that he like went into it so fast, but also he was just as fast and like principled and like cutting it, cutting it down as soon as it was like she was maybe seeing somebody. Um, so that was just I I I got to see those kinds of encounters over the course of this evening, and it was just so interesting. Um, and I don't know if this is the right takeaway, but there is a part of me that couldn't help but wonder I know a huge part of this is that he looks the way he looks, but me be I'm like, there's a part of me that's also like a lot of this is just doing it. Confidence, I think, is and it's just doing it. And not saying that everyone will get the reception he gets or whatever, but I was just like, oh man, it was weird getting to see someone who you're like, well, of course you can do this, but also maybe anyone can do this, and it still like it adds a lot to life to just I don't know, connect and talk to people that way and make friends. Um so that was just that was really interesting, a lot of fun. Um and then the only other piece was just like the places that they were taking me. I was like, yeah, it is a very different set of bars and restaurants and venues when you exclusively set yourself up around like hot people. Um there's like one place where it's like, yeah, Taylor Swift likes to come here. I'm like, what? Also, uh multiple bars where there's like lines and we got to just walk in because the guy knew the bouncer.

SPEAKER_06 47:36

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:39

Also, again, not to be not to be offensive about us, three like older dudes compared to the average, right? Like we're not like we we don't I don't I don't know, whatever. But like it was just fascinating the number of times he was like, Oh yeah, we'll just go in here. I know the the door guy. And so it's just like walking, I was like, this is fucking cool. Um Wow. And then the coolest thing was again, is my so I have my my colleague, and then his brother is who I was explaining. Uh Liam Hemsworth in this scenario.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Okay, yeah, that's that's exactly how I'm picturing them. So I appreciate you now. I I can't get that out of my head.

SPEAKER_07 48:18

He's just casually talking about like, yeah, I went to the I decided to do a trip in the Hamptons by myself, uh, and he was talking about this happened like a year ago or something. And I was at the pool and I was about to grab a drink, and it was like 11 a.m. And the only other people at the pool with this like group of women, like older women, and I was like, oh my god, we're doing the same thing. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna become friends with them, we're gonna hang out. And so he just did that. And turns out these are like a set of like uh billionaire wives who have now uh brought him into their circle. So he was I so wish this worked out. He was like, I'm gonna text, I don't know, let's imagine her name is like Elizabeth or something. I'm gonna text Elizabeth, see if we can go to her penthouse. I was like, if I if we do this, like like this incredible story. She didn't respond or anything, but then he like you know ends up telling us stories of like other stuff, and he's like, Yeah, like honestly, you guys need to come to the house in the Hamptons. Like, they have houses with like like God knows how many bedrooms that just have like fucking mothballs rolling in them. Like, it's like, yeah, you guys should come to that. I was like, buddy, I will tell you this as soberly as I can. I know we've had a lot of drinks. Yes, I will. I want to come. Like, think of me. Remember this moment when you do this. So yeah, I was just like, it was like I hope I can parlay this into that, those experiences as well, because that'd be insane. But I was just like, oh yeah, this is what it is to like, you know, expand your horizons in terms of like who you spend time with. I don't mean that, like, you know, always make a point of hanging out with like strangers or something, but it's just like it's such a refreshing thing. And I don't know that we're all like best friends now or something, but uh when it's at least when it's not a big Manhattan, then you're gonna be besties. But at least when the baseline is like good people, uh it always makes for just like something really interesting and you getting to learn about the world in a way that you would never have maybe gotten to yourself. Um it's it's just it was so interesting.

SPEAKER_00 50:34

So yeah, I really have two things that maybe think of is that now like it's it'd be funny that this is like the realization that like you go back to hanging out with your regular friends and like you have none of those experiences, and you're like, holy shit, we're ugly.

SPEAKER_04 50:48

We are we are we're so ugly. You try you try to do all of that same exact stuff with your regular friend group and none of it works.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

You just like walk up to the bouncer at the front of the line at this club, hey man, remember me from last week?

SPEAKER_01 51:02

And they're like, Who the fuck are you? Get to the end of the line. You're not getting in here. It's like don't get in line, leave. I don't want you here.

SPEAKER_07 51:09

This is not for you, just that's your realization that you're just ugly. But uh it like it wouldn't even be that. It would it would be more of just like I think, and uh again, not to not make this humorous, it was actually very much a relief also to switch back to my friends because you ever like you know when like uh you see like dogs react to like a door knock or or whatever, and it's just like it's a thing that like they don't know how to like not like notice and immediately focus on it. Like that was these guys with like attractive women, yeah, you know, yeah, and so in my mind, I was like, I'm actually glad that we kind of left even 50% of this energy behind in our 20s because like it's a lot, it's a lot to just these guys sounded like they were military, dude. Like we'd be talking, like getting drinks or something, and then I would just hear like a I look and it's just like what what are they looking at? And I noticed, and it's like a girl that like just walked in. So it was like it was just like instant, constant, like we are clocking what's around here, and like, oh, target acquired. It was I I was like, you know what? I I I don't mind not making this my reality all the time.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

Yeah, yeah. Man, I'm I'm I'm also really glad that the story ended up as positively as it did because when you first started telling it and you're like, yeah, this girl sat down and she was merely invisible because of how young she was. And then this guy started talking to her, he didn't care how young she was.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

He didn't give a shit. Wasn't even in his wasn't even in his mindset. It was like oh boy. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_07 52:48

And that's why I kind of like contextualized what I said too. But I also asked him after she left, I was like, I'm curious, like, do you guys look at like do you guys consider someone's age in terms of like who you would actually date? And my question was like, if you if that girl said she was actually 23, like how would you react? And they were like, Oh yeah, absolutely not. Like, I'm done with girls in their 20s, like they like there's a generational kind of gap now.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

I think he says that, but also because it doesn't like are they looking to like date and settle down? It seems like that's not really their agenda. They are that was their motive. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_07 53:23

I think both of them, I think both of them are old enough that they want to find love, but I think they're also guys that you know have spent their entire lives being these like ladies' men in some ways, right? So it's like I think the wiring is still there, and that's why they still operate in a in the setting the way they do, but actually it's like they're looking for, you know, the uh uh you know soulmate situation. Yeah. It's actually kind of sweet too. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Yeah, that's interesting. Well, cool. Um all right, let's you know, just real quick, uh as the theme that I was talking about earlier was my uh summer of danger. Um they I was mowing the lawn the other day, and uh and I was mowing close to my uh to the edge where the trees are, and uh, and I felt something on my leg, and then all of a sudden, holy hell, I've never felt pain like that before. It was it was excruciating. And I I like I booked it out of there. I went inside, I was like, Megan, like I just got lit up by something on my calf as I was mowing it, and um went out there to check it out. And I the only thing I can imagine is that I mowed over a yellow jacket nest in the ground because there was still a bunch of them like swarming around it. And uh I mean it's been it's been like you know, since I was a kid, since I was stung by something like that. And uh man, it I mean, it was on fire for the rest of the day easily. Uh, and then the next two to three days, it was like sore to the touch. Um and and the so I don't know, have you guys been stung recently? I can't remember last time I was stung.

SPEAKER_07 55:06

I've been I've been bit. I haven't been stung. What have you been bitten by? I think it was like uh it wasn't bad. Like it wasn't bad. No, no, no. It was like a it was there was it was it was a household bug. It was a household bug. I don't know, I don't remember what it was, but it was it might have been like a little spider, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

Yeah, yeah. And so uh part of me was like, holy shit, this really sucks, and I hate that that happened. But also I was a little bit like after the fact, I was like, you know what? I am glad that I got stung because it gives me a little bit of perspective. Because especially with young kids, uh it's really hard to tell. You know, like they think that everything's the worst pain in the world. So it's really hard to tell, hey man, like are you just like putting on a show or is this legit? Now I know if those kids get stung by something, I know it's legit. And I have all the sympathy in the world for that now because it's happened to me. Because I feel like in my head, I'm like, okay, if I got stung by a bee, like it's probably like a shot, you know? Like, oh okay, it's just like a little like sting, and but like you get over it. And this was not that at all. It was brutal.

SPEAKER_07 56:09

I think this is what happened to I think it was Luke when we were in the poke, and I was like two years ago.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

And it was yeah, yeah. But was it a caterpillar?

SPEAKER_05 56:19

It was on the it was on the slide, right?

SPEAKER_00 56:21

But it was a white caterpillar, yeah. Yeah, Megan actually brought that up because I was having this conversation with her that I'm like, I'm glad it gave me a little bit of perspective. And she brought that up. I remember that.

SPEAKER_07 56:30

Yeah, I remember that happening and us being like, holy cow, like, is it really that bad? Or like are you reacting? I don't know, yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

Yeah, yeah, like especially like a weird colored something like that. Like, it's probably pretty bad. It's probably pretty bad. Now I'm like, yeah, those man, good on you for taking that. Because yeah, it's it, yeah, that's it's just funny that Megan brought up that exact thing. Um uh you know what? Let's where are we at? Okay, I just want to bring up one thing real quick because I watched two things uh in the past week that were that the juxtaposition between them was very interesting. One of them was Project Hail Mary, finally got around to it. You we had it on our entertainment on a flight, so on a way back, I was able to watch it, which is great. And then last night we watched Maternal Instincts, which I don't know if we did we talk about it here on the podcast.

SPEAKER_07 57:15

I am the one who told Megan about it because it sounded like the kind of thing she'd be into. And I think I think it's like stayed pretty top ten on like Netflix for a while.

SPEAKER_00 57:24

Yeah, I just didn't know if we brought it up on the podcast. I don't know if we did. I can I can give the context useful.

SPEAKER_07 57:30

Yeah. Brandon, this is a documentary about I'm gonna I'm gonna try to stick to like what its actual description is, because the description is like very seductive in how like it's worded, or seductive because it's like the mystery is like, what the fuck is going on here? Um it's about a woman who shows up uh at a hospital saying she's giving birth. Uh and then after the baby arrives, uh the hospital like tests the blood and finds that the baby is not her baby. Huh. And so this documentary is I mean, that's a very like sensational starting point of like, yeah, uh what? I would like to figure out what the fuck is going on there. And that becomes the basis of this this documentary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Uh it starts out with uh a car's being pulled over and a cop approaches her, and it's this woman in the front seat of her car, and she's like, I just delivered this baby. I'm trying to get to the hospital because they pulled her over because she was like speeding and passing people on the shoulder and all this sort of stuff. So she got pulled over. She's like, Can you just get me to the hospital? I'm trying to get to the hospital. My husband's right there. I just delivered this baby, uh, is how it starts. And then it like goes to like the delivery room, and or police officers in there, and they have a doctor come in to like examine her. And he comes out and he's like, Yeah, she she did deliver a baby. Like, there's no sign of any of her delivering a baby. Like, that's it's impossible for that to be. Wait, what? Um yeah, so that's so that's like the opening scene of this documentary. Um so uh so yeah, so we watched it last night. So um Project Hail Mary, I know we've talked about it a bunch here, just uh I thought it was I thought it was awesome. I thought it was a great feel-good. I will I will at least give the context that I watch it at the end when I'm coming home on a flight, and I'm going into like you know, a day off, and I get my classic, I get glass of ice and my espresso martini and Bailey's, and I get two of those. So like I'm in a good spirit already. And Project Tail Mary was it just fit that vibe very perfectly. It was a really feel good movie. Uh, loved what they did today. I thought that it was funny that they basically just they scrapped all the scientific stuff. It's like they're like, you don't need to know. Wait, have you seen it, Brandon? No, I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

No, no, I mean I read the book. I know what happened. It's funny. Yeah. It just seemed like they went into it. They were like, this is gonna be a good vibes movie. And like the book was very heavy on with the experiment. Yeah, and they were like, You you that's not the point of this. The point of this is not like that stuff's interesting reading about it in a book about how he figures it out. And I thought that was hugely entertaining to read through it. Um, but with the movie, they were like, that's not important at all. Like, who cares about all that sort of stuff? The guy's smart, he's figuring it out. What it is is the relationship between these two and how they coexist for this period of time and how they progress in the future and how they handle these sorts of situations. And that's what they like went in. And like the music choices were just like I thought of it when as he's like peering into the tunnel and he's like, and it's just just dark tunnel that he just you know attached to his ship, and he's like looking out to see if he can see anything. And like the music was just very like upbeat and joyous, and it's like, oh, what's he gonna find? It's like if it was any, if it's you in that situation, like you're shitting your pants. Like, that's the scary that's terrifying. That this alien ship just created a tunnel to your airlock, and now you're like, you don't know what's coming through that. Like, that's terrifying. But so they were just like, no, no, no, it's not scary at all. This is really exciting and fun. And um, so there is that contrasted to this uh maternal instincts where you know we finished it. I'm like, great, I'm super depressed and down, like that's awesome. Uh well, you know, and it was it was just a realization that like Megan and I like two very different things. I thought it was very interesting. Um, and uh, and it was funny because when they showed the the video of the hospital room where the doctor was giving her the examination, I was like, I've seen this video. Like I didn't know about it going into it, but like once I saw that, I was like, this is this is definitely familiar. Um, and I've seen that before. So I was able to piece a little bit together. But like in general, I want to watch things and consume things that make me feel good inside. Um, and whereas Megan likes that more of that like drama, you know, murder mystery sort of stuff. Um, so uh yeah, so like you know, we just finished it. I was like, all right, cool. That was really depressing. Thank you. You know, there's no happy ending here. Like that was great. Uh you know, compared to like Project Hill Mary, where I like got off the plane, I was like, life is great, that was a great movie. I'm a little buzzed.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:02

This is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:04

You know, just like last time I was like, okay, this sucks. Um, but yeah, I mean, good, great, great documentary, and they filmed it really well, and you know, the pacing was awesome throughout it. So uh highly suggest both of those, very different reasons. Just know what you're getting into when you're watching paternal instincts. It's gonna make you feel a little dark and heavy. Uh and Project Hail Mary is the exact opposite. So I'm glad I finally got to watch both of those. Um I mentioned earlier that I do have trivia for this week, so uh we'll start transitioning into that. So Rob, do you have a this week in history?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:39

I do. I have uh I have a few um that seemed genuinely interesting and worth sharing. Come on. Okay. Uh I'm actually gonna try to go backwards to so that we start with we end with what I thought was most interesting. Uh okay, July 13th, 1972. Bobby Fisher forfeited game two of his World Chess Championship match over a dispute over TV cameras in the hall, uh, before then recovering to beat Spasky and becoming the first American world champion. I know you guys may know about that. I had never like heard of like that whole thing or this thing where he was like forfeiting the second game over cameras, but like I just found that kind of interesting and made me want to watch um that other chess show on on the Queen's Gambit. Queen's Gambit. Just because I don't know. There's like uh I don't know why. I feel like I've been exposed to like chess stuff lately. Not like playing chess, but like what's going on in the chess space. Um dildo. No. What? Was that a thing?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:45

Dildo?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:46

You guys you guys are both looking at me confused? Yeah. And I hope I'm not totally off base with this, but there was a chess scandal where people thought that he was getting because he had a vibrating uh insertion that was vibrating for his different moves that was tipping him off.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:03

Wait, you guys didn't hear it. Is that a real thing, or are you talking about the always sunny episode?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:07

I know that it was at least alleged. I don't know if it was I mean, this was a real story. This was a real story. I don't know, I can't recall if it was like a confirmed thing uh or not, but that was the belief.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:19

Now I have to Always Sunny has an actual episode, but I'm guessing it's maybe meant meant to make fun of the thing you're describing, where they like drug Frank and then they stick like anal beads in his butt with like a phone app and then they use it to tell him what to do in the game.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

The infamous chess vibrating dildo refers to a viral cheating theory involving a grandmaster who allegedly used hidden, vibrating, wireless anal beads to receive computer-generated moves from a chess engine. I do like that the AI used the word hidden. They had to specify that the anal beads were hidden. But yeah, uh, that was in 2022. A 19-year-old grandmaster uh defeated Magnus Carlson, prompting Carlson to abruptly withdraw from the tournament. Rumors of cheating quickly circulated. Commentators and internet sluice began speculating that Neiman received real-time vibrational cues corresponding to the best possible moves calculated by a chess engine. Now that's a documentary I'd watch the shit out of. What were these internet sluice? What were the clues that they picked up on? I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:24

Also, it's like it's like this guy learning Morse code so he can understand what vibrations mean in his album.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:32

It's probably Magnus Carlson's there keep checking his phone. It's like, I swear my phone's vibrating. I I swear it's going off the phone. You can feel it on the floor a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

There's something. Dude, I would watch the shit out of that documentary, whether it's true or not. I just want to know the facts that they dug up.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:47

I like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:48

Um sorry, he for he forfeited because cameras were in the hallway. Like, did he think that they were cheating with those?

SPEAKER_07 1:05:58

Yeah, so this was. The reason I thought you guys may have known about this because it was the US versus the Soviet Union. So there was a lot of like Cold War like stuff kind of context that was feeding into why people were following this as well. Yeah. Yeah. So you just thought the Russians were were cheating. Um another one I thought that was kind of interesting. Um in July 1179, there's a uh I think it's a satellite, uh, or something called the Skylab. It was named Skylab and it cr it crashed and it scattered debris all over Western Australia. So there's a uh organization called the Shire of Esperance in Australia that fined NASA $400 for littering uh when this happened in 1979. Uh and and and if you can uh guess we did not pay that shit uh and uh until a California radio DJ uh came across it and then he crowdfunded uh uh for us to pay for Josh in in 2009, like a full 30 years later. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah. Um second one, this is crazy. I don't know, I never heard about this. July 9th, 1982, Michael Fagan scaled Buckingham Palace's spiked wall, wandered the halls eating cheese and crackers, and ended up in Queen Elizabeth II's room, waking her up. Apparently, alarms like security alarms and stuff in the palace were going off, and security was just turning them off because they thought it was like faulty. They're just like, oh yeah, it's acted up. They did not actually think there was an issue.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:41

So this guy like literally actually like like chatted him up and was like talking to him very cordially.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:46

That's what we did a walking tour of Buckingham Palace when we went and they like told us that story. It was nuts.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:51

I was like, that's crazy. If you think a dude is off his rocker in your room, it's probably best to play it cool. Right. Just be just be nice to him.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:00

My favorite story in a similar-ish context. Have you guys heard of like Robert Pattinson and what he did with like one of his but like what he did with one of his like it was like someone who's like a stalker or like a very obsessed fan.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:16

He just took her out to dinner and then she never bothered him again. Wow. It wasn't like a treat, it was just him revealing who he really is. Wow. He was like, Yeah, I just let her get to know me, and I think it was so depressing that she was like, I'm good. That's awesome. That's great. Um, all right, cool. Last one, and again, this was kind of standing there in plain sight. I just didn't know this. July 6th, 1985. Phil Collins's Phil Collins's SuSudio hit number one or suit studio hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Uh, the title is a nonsense placeholder syllable he never got around to replacing, and then he just liked it, so he left it. I did not know that. I always wondered. I love that song. Yeah, so SuSudio is just him like being like, I want to say something like that, and then he just was like, actually, that sounds kind of good.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

It's coming up empty. I can't find the right the right syllables, so you should go.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:21

Anyways, that was it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:22

Nice. That's cool. Um, all right. I think my my trivia kind of continues on with uh some fun facts and history. This is just this is just general summer trivia about things that deal with summertime and heat and things like that. So um from what I have it now, it's it's been a few weeks since I've done it. I think it's 7-7 between you guys. I know I've been on I've been on a losing streak. Yeah, I think the Brandon's caught up some ground and we're now back to even. Um so I don't know who went first last time. I'm just gonna start with Siraf since he's on top of my screen here. Um so wait, there's uh there's 15 total questions. I'll just read out the question. Whoever wants to answer, just raise your hand or call it out. And then uh if it's correct, that'll be the answer. Uh, and then you'll get the point. If not, the other person has a chance to steal this well. So are you starting with Sirav or are you not starting with Siraf? Sorry. Yeah, yeah, sorry. That was a little bit confusing. You're right. I'm just gonna read the question whoever uh whoever wants to call it out. All right. So uh question number one, and it'll uh there's three rounds of it. So uh one one point, two point, three point, up to five points per round uh for the question. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:28

So are we calling out answers or are we calling out what we know?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:31

Either one. Either one. If you just want to call it the answer or just raise your hand or you know, whatever. Um question one, worth one point. The degrees on a standard compass are a circle of 360 degrees. Due to Earth's axial tilt, the sun passes directly over the chop tropic of cancer on the summer solstice at approximately what specific degree of latitude north? 45. Incorrect.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:53

Is it um a hundred and thirty-five?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:58

That is that's a that's a that's quite the lean. If we were doing 135. The correct answer is 23 and a half. That's a 45 plus the 90.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:07

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:08

Yeah, so 2020. Uh yep. So this precise tilt is what gives Earth its distinct seasons at different hemispheres lean toward or away from the sun throughout the year. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I see what maybe the question wasn't perfectly uh written, but uh all right, so next question worth worth two points. I wasn't gonna say it. Well so I think both parts of this are really interesting. Uh so I'm not gonna read the first part of it. Which European country became the first to officially implement daylight savings time nationwide during World War One? World War One.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:44

Uh Belgium. Incorrect. I guess for one, a European country did it. Was it Germany?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

Germany's correct. Yeah. So brand with two points. And now, both of this, I had no idea. I think both of it's super interesting. First of all, they implemented it in World War One to conserve coal. So because when it gets nighttime, you have to burn coal for artificial light, so it was using up their coal reserves faster. So even about the daylight savings time. It was popularized by Benjamin Franklin. Similarly, uh the concept was to conserve candles. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:17

So it became popular with Ben Franklin.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

Yeah, I just never really considered that. For some reason, I thought that it was about m agriculture and farming.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:25

I think that's why that's why we do it like currently.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:28

Yeah. Maybe so, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:29

The Genesis by it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:31

Uh yeah. Thought that was really interesting. All right. Uh question three, worth three points. The Scoville scale measures the spicy heat of chili peppers by recording the concentration of what specific chemical compound responsible for the burning sensation. It's a tough one.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:45

Man, I know this. I did at one point. Is it capsaicin?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:51

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if that's the right way to pronounce it, but uh yeah. C-A-P-S-A-I-C-I-N uh is the correct answer. There we go. Um capsation triggers the exact same heat receptors in your mouth that would register actual physical burning from a flame from a flame, uh entirely tricking your brain. Interesting. All right, so Sarab's at three, Brandon's at two, going into question number four of the first round. July and August are named after Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar. What was the original Latin name for the month of July back when the Roman calendar started in March, and it was simply the fifth month? Oh man. What was the original Latin name for the month of July back when the Roman calendar started in March, and it was simply the fifth month? My Latin's really letting me down. I went four years of this shit.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:43

Oh, really? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:45

That's in high school. Fortunately, July is not during the school year. Uh but no, I can't even remember the number. It's the fifth month. Yeah, I know. I know. The fifth month. Is it like Quintium? Quintius? Quintius. I'll give it to you. Close enough.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:02

Quintus. Quintilus. Quintilus. Yep. It was renamed Julius in 44 BCE to honor the dictator because it was the month of his birth. Julian Callum. Uh all right. So one, two, three, four. So Brandon, six to three, going into uh question five, worth five points. To combat the stifling summer heat, British colonial officials in India popularized what specific lightweight crinkled cotton fabric named from the Persian words for milk and sugar. Can you repeat that one more time? To combat the stifling summer heat, British colonial officials in India popularized what specific lightweight crinkled cotton fabric named from the Persian words for milk and sugar. Linen? Linen is incorrect. Seersucker? Seersucker. That is correct. The iconic pucker texture is deliberate. It holds the fabric away from the skin to allow for better air circulation and heat dissipation. All right, at the end of round one, Brandon is up 11 to 3 right now. So going into round two, uh, one-point question. In the classic 1993 summer movie The Sandlot, the boys face off against a giant legendary mastiff locked behind the outfield fence. What is the actual official name of the dog they simply call the beast? Man, I thought you would get this one right away. I know. I saw this really recently.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:19

I'm distracted. Um since it started recording a new video. Didn't close your other browser? No, it started recording a new audio track or something. I don't know, whatever. Maybe it's sounds like we're gonna. Are we good? Can you yeah, yeah, yeah. Looks like we're good.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

Can you repeat the question? All right. Question number one, worth one point in round two. In the classic 1993 summer movie The Sandlot, the boys face off against a giant legendary mastiff locked behind the outfield fence. What is the actual official name of the dog they simply call the beast? Gary. Great ant Great Yes. Way off. That is incorrect. His name was Hercules. Hercules. Despite terrifying the neighborhood kids all summer, Hercules turns out to be a friendly pup who just loves chasing baseballs. Question number two, where two points. Long before the movie, the term blockbuster entered the entertainment lexicon in the 1940s. What did the word originally refer to before it was adopted to describe a massive summer hit? Blockbuster.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:14

That's hard. How's that? I'd never thought about this.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:16

Yeah, I didn't either. And then why would it be? So it meant something before it meant a successful movie. Something related to movies.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:27

Was it like theater shows that would leave blocks just clear of people? Think of it literally.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:33

Sludgehamer?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:36

Is that too literal? I mean, you're on the right path. You're on the right path. But uh the correct answer is a high explosive bomb. Oh. The press started using the military term metaphorically to describe plays or movies that were so shockingly impactful they shattered the box office.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:53

Oh. So a block. That makes no sense here. When something fails, they call it a bomb.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

Right. Yeah, right. Yeah. Um, so no points currently in this round. Question number three were three points. Which American rock icon spent the summer of 1984 dominating the charts with his Smash album, Born in the USA, which tied a record by spawning seven singles. Bruce Spring Springsteen is correct. I'm sorry, Brandon. You probably knew that. I was just like, I'm not waiting. Yeah. That's it. Call it out. The legendary album spent a staggering 84 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Top 10, cementing his status as the boss. All right, question number four. This will be the last question of this round, just because question number five might be incorrect, so I don't even want to uh risk it. So, question number four, worth four points. The 1996 Summer Sci-Fi blockbuster Independence Day features a climactic world-saving counterattack launched from a top secret military installation in the Nevada Desert. What is the military's official name for this base?

SPEAKER_07 1:17:51

Area 51. Yep, we'll get Area 51 also known as also known as Groom Lake. Only reason I know that is because uh they threw it on at our July 4th party. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:02

All right, uh sweet. At the end of round two, Brandon has 11 and Srav has 10. So one point lead going into the final round. All right, question number one, worth one point. Known for its iconic granite cliffs and massive summer crowds, Yosemite National Park is located entirely within which major California mountain range? I don't know my California mountains. Are they the are they the Bear Mountains? Bear Mountain is in California, I believe, but that is uh incorrect. It's the mountain mountain range. Um the Alpines? Is that even right? I don't even know. Nope. The answer is Sierra Nevada. The range spans over 400 miles north to south and features Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. Um all right. Question number two was two points. The Mediterranean Sea is a premier summer cruise destination. Which narrow strategic waterway connects the western edge of the Mediterranean directly to the open Atlantic Ocean? Uh incorrect. Narrow waterway connects the western edge of the Mediterranean directly to the Atlantic Ocean. The Agean? It is the Strait of Gibraltar. At its nearest point, only 8.1 miles of ocean separate the European coast of Spain from the African coast of Morocco. Eight miles. It's pretty wild. Alright, question number three worth three points. If you are visiting the massive ancient Mayan ruins of Chichinitsa during a summer getaway, you are exploring which specific Mexican peninsula? Is it the Yucatan? Yucatan is correct. Yep. One, two, three. The region is famous not just for its ruins, but for thousands of sea notes, underground limestone sinkholes filled with crystal clear water. Alright, two more questions to go. This is question number four worth four points. Sorav has fourteen, and Sarav has ten. Sorave has fourteen and ten. That's a wild sp. Sorry. Brandon has fourteen, Sarave has ten. Thanks. Question number four. Renowned for its luxury summer resorts like Saint Tropez and Cannes. I hate that word. The glitzy Mediterranean coastline of southeastern France is known by what specific French regional name? The Riviera. Yeah, we'll accept the French Riviera, also known as the Côte d'Azur.

unknown 1:20:11

Côte d'Azur.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:12

Côte d'Azur? Côte d'Azur. Yeah, the French Riviera. Nice. So I think that pretty much puts it out of reach, with Brandon having 18 and Sorav having 10. But uh the final question worth five points. Hawaii is a premier summer escape, but it is also home to the world's largest active volcano by volume, which by by volume, which massive shield volcano makes up over half of the big island's landmass? Hawaii.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:41

Oh no, it's uh wait, is it is it mo Mona Monolao or Yeah, uh Monoloa.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:48

Monaloa, there we go. Yeah. When measured from its true base uh on the ocean floor to its peak, Monaloa is actually taller than Mount Everest.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:56

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:57

Yeah. All right. So with that uh Brandon coming all the way back is now takes an 8-7 lead in our uh trivia series here. Rough start that we got there. Yeah, yeah. All right, so uh I kind of teased the question of the week because it feels kind of vulnerable as I was thinking about it. But um what would you say is your strongest role in life? The way that I thought of it, it it's it is deeper, I think, for Brandon and I, possibly, because the way that I was thinking of it was four buckets essentially, as a spouse, as a father, as a friend, or as an employee, which one would you say is your strongest role in life? So Sarav, you know, as a, you know, just as a family person, as a friend, as a co-worker, whatever, whatever you feel is most uh applicable for you as well. Um the way that the reason why I said that it feels kind of vulnerable because as you try to think of these different ones, it's very easy to think of where you're lacking in each of them. You know what I mean? You're like, oh, I'm really good at this, but well, I could do better here and here. Like maybe I'm not that strong at that, maybe I'm good at this. And then you think of all the things that you know, like it's just very it's almost humbling to think of, okay, like if I had to pick one, which one am I best at? It's like, well, I could do better in probably all of them, you know? Uh so it kind of just makes you look at those a little bit better or interesting deeper than you normally would.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:28

Yeah, I feel like mine's actually mine actually feels kind of easy and also not necessarily like I don't feel guilt or vulnerability about it. It feels like a matter-of-fact thing, but employee for me, probably, right? Like it is where I spend most of my time Monday through Friday, you know. Like it's where I'm more it's where I'm the most obsessive. Um but the reason I don't feel bad is because work inherently is serving up problems that I need to solve. Like, I can't be that much better of a friend than maybe I am. I could I know I could, like, in terms of maybe like being more thoughtful, checking in on people. But that feels like uh you could go from a B plus to an A, but not like uh with work. It's like that is I'm like maxing out, but also I'm getting opportunities all the time to do so. Um because I'm you know, it's the point. There's challenges I need to need to solve. So yeah, I think for me it's employee. Well, do I do I am I happy about that? I don't know. Like I think I would love to have my answer be like probably spouse, you know, as the thing that I can like most uh relate to in terms of like near term. I think kids are like that's hard to fathom, you know, that's like a whole other step off, but um, yeah, it's probably employee for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:57

So you think that that would change, like if when you got married had kids, you think or hope that that would change?

SPEAKER_07 1:24:03

I know that would change because I think I think if I had kids, that would immediately become the thing. Like if I had kids, I think without a doubt, that becomes the thing because that is almost like taking exactly the criteria I'm using for why work is my thing now, and probably escalating it, right? Especially when they're younger and they need a lot of care and like a lot of stuff going on. So like I I do think it would define me uh for a while until they were like middle schoolers maybe, and start to be a little bit more rich in her life and not as much us kind of intertwined constantly. Um, but in the near term, like I think spouse is something that is like uh that would be uh I would love that. Uh I'm sure again it would normalize and work would slowly take over that, but you know, I don't know. I guess work technically could always take over because it's the only thing that's ever going away in life. Your kids grow up, your relationship becomes kind of I don't know, uh not something that requires your constant gardening, I guess. I don't know. Yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:07

Yeah, I think it's very interesting. I think um, I don't know if you've talked about it here uh on the podcast, but you know, Megan used to be a teacher, very prideful in that. And before we were together and had kids, I'm sure she would answer it the exact same way. She put everything into it, she was challenged a bunch in it. It gave her opportunities to excel and to go above and beyond, and she enjoyed all of that. She enjoyed putting everything that she had into it. She wants to get back into it now post-marriage and post-three kids. She wants to go back into it, but that's her biggest fear is that her level, her standard for herself is what she was beforehand. When she could stay later, she could show up early, and she could put set up the classroom this way, and she could write out lesson plans that were really in-depth, and she could pull from all these sources and um and have everything working and um and she's very aware that she might not be able to put the same amount of time and effort into it. And so will she get the same satisfaction? Will she be as proud of herself um for the work that she's putting into it? So very similar situation, it seems like, that it's like, well, you know, things are going to change, uh right, like after the fact.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:16

And and I I distinctly remember like the late nights of Megan like sitting at the like in our apartment in the dining room table, like doing all the crafts and the cutouts. If that's her standard, she's gonna be holding herself to a very high standard that that she's already set. So I I totally get the reservations around that. I I think that you know knowing about like you guys are obviously in the same part of of of life, and I know that that's like that level, it would be near impossible to you know replicate just because you only so many hours in a day. You just physically don't have that time.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:54

Yeah. I would say definitely yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:57

No, I was gonna say it's funny, I had this conversation um with another colleague, not like maybe like a year ago, a year and a half ago. But you know, I'm not good at accepting like not only compliments, but also like when people try to say like, thank you for doing this, thank you for doing that. I like I don't know why, I like immediately need to divert it or like redirect it into a compliment for them instead or whatever. And so I remember there was a client that was dealing with a crisis and they were like messaging us, blowing us up on the screw chat, and I was like, all right, I'm gonna handle this. It was like 8 30 in the evening. Talked to them, figured out what was going on, relayed it to the team, all was good. And then at like 10 30, you know, the other executive who was on the team, much older than me, has a young kid, whatever, clearly uh was probably, you know, dealing with bedtime, family stuff, who knows what, right? He messaged me and he's like, Hey man, I really appreciate you taking that call and like handling that. Like, thank you so much for doing that. I was like, dude, no worries. Man, like I'm a single bachelor, like I it's it's much easier for me to figure out dealing with stuff like this. I cannot imagine what it would be like for me to be in your position when like work is just one of the things and there's other important things in your schedule that you have to work around, and it just turned into an interesting conversation where he was like, actually, I would say, like, you're thinking about it wrong. Uh, I would actually say that after I had kids and I went back to work, it wasn't that I couldn't do what I was doing before, it actually turned me into a fucking superhuman. I realized that I could do like amazing shit in far less time than I was allowing myself before. I was like, why did I work so late? Actually, when you have like bedtime, when you have dinner, you have no idea how fast you can actually move and how much fat is maybe sitting around in your day that you don't realize. Or maybe it's not fat, maybe you're as efficient and productive as you can be. You have no idea how many things that are like, oh, I don't, this doesn't really matter. Like, I don't need to do this. I I can when I think about prioritizing what's actually gonna make a difference, it's this. So it was it was really like a I love I love that conversation and it stuck with me because it was like, no, if anything, like when you become a parent, you realize how much more you could be doing with a lot of less time, and also you see what matters with such clarity that you are better at your job than you'd ever be. Um, so maybe that's something I don't know. I know teaching and like it's interesting. It's a different thing, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:30

Yeah, but like the flip side of that is that it takes you having all these other responsibilities to realize how much time you're wasting. I don't know if that's the right way to say it, but it's like overthinking, whatever, but it's the reality.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:42

I think it's I think for a lot of people it ends up being like true. You're like, oh shit, yeah, I didn't realize that I could like do so much in a day until that's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:51

Yeah, so you don't have a choice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:53

Brandon, how about you, man? That's it's a it that's it's a really tough one to try to parse out because you're right. You think about like where you're strongest, and the only thing you can think of is like the shortcomings and like where where you can do better. And I think that for each of them, I think that being in in terms of like my ranking, I would put like being a strong employee as like last on that list. And the one that I I'm not as I I don't prioritize that as like like what I strive to do. Like, do I want to do well in my job and do I want to like provide for my family? Absolutely. I want to be on top of my game and be able to provide for my role the way the way that I I I need to.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:34

Um but is it what you're worst at? That's secondary. You might want to prioritize that, the button. I wouldn't say like in terms of what are you best at?

SPEAKER_05 1:30:41

So I wouldn't say I would say, and this is this is not the way that I thought it would go. I'd say that's probably the one that comes the most naturally to me. And I think that's probably why like I'm I'm in the role. And that's kind of like the the benefits of that. And I'm also like in a in a um position with a bunch of people above me, same level as me, that are in the same like like part of life and like get that there's family stuff that's gonna come first. And like that's like kind of kind of the the way it always is. So it's it's nice to have that kind of like support system around that that it doesn't always have to be the first thing and it's not the first thing for everybody. But I do think that it is something where um, you know, like I'm I shut down and and I'm like when I'm out of work, I'm out of work. Like it's it's one of those things where if there are things that are need me, if it's a true emergency and we need to like get on and figure something out, that's that's one thing. But they're and and one thing kind of to that point, Sarab, is in like the prioritization is that you you get you get more discerning in terms of like what can wait for tomorrow. And like you're okay with letting that go. Whereas you're like, you're no, we need to be on top of that. And like in reality, is that eight hours that's beyond working hours where you're relying on other people who may not even see it until until the next morning, does that actually matter? And I feel like like being able to separate that and and not not pour myself into that kind of stuff is the stuff that I've I I do think that I I do that piece of it really well to be able to do the other things and to be able to be stronger in the other things. But I think that like in as a as a professional being good at at at what I do is the thing that I I um in in the role that I am. I I just feel like it's it's it's natural to me. And that seems to be the one that I have to work the least at to be good at. Um I think being a good friend is probably the one that I unintentionally minimize the most um in, you know, just with uh again, the place in life, I I I think I could be a lot better at um more proactive outreach and catching up and manufacturing the opportunities to to do it. And um I'm definitely somebody who can easily like lose sight of that kind of stuff if it's not like right in front of me. Um and you know, can can say with all all good intention and actually mean it, like, yes, we should absolutely catch up. Um, but then uh I am not the person that will initiate the like plans to make that actually happen. Um which I like I it's just a a shortcoming that I I know that I have, so I I definitely don't think that that was the one that I would be the strongest in. Um I think that being the strong father is the one that I would want to be the strongest in, and it's the one that I struggle with the most because because it's the one that I want to be the strongest in, it's the one where the shortcomings stand out to me a lot more than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:36

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:36

And that's the one that it's like like failing at something in that will wreck my day. Like I will like if there if there is something that goes wrong in that and I feel like it's something that I could have handled better or something that I didn't do well, it it just it just ruins the way that I feel about the entire day in cast. Like I could have been having the the best day, the most excellent day, everything could have been going right. But then if there's something that goes wrong there and I feel like I I didn't handle the situation well, I didn't use it as a as a teaching moment the way I could have, or I lost my patience and in and uh you know, reacted in a way that I I wouldn't have wanted to react and have more control over it. That's the kind of stuff that stuff just destroys me. And that's the stuff that again that I'm I'm more sensitive to.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:19

So I do I think that, you know, in terms of Does the good stuff stand out equally as strong that like when you really feel like, man, I crushed that as a parent. Like I feel like there's a there there's a tough situation and I said the right things. You know, Megan and I worked together, we handled it, you know. Like, do those things stand out as strong that you have those same highs of like, yeah, I didn't handle this one well, but conversely, we crushed it. When this came up, this is a really difficult one, and we did really well as parents, and this and this was awesome.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:51

So no, I don't I don't think they do probably as much as they should.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:56

Yeah, interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:56

And and I think I I think a lot of it is just because it's uh again, it's like the shortcomings stand out more than the successes on that front. And I think some of it is because because and and again, like I I think I've talked about it before, like at as as an employee, even though it's the thing that comes the most like natural to me to be in that role, it's the one that I've never like my job and what I do is not something that I'm married to. I didn't have these career aspirations, it's not like sort of like dream position that I always wanted to be in. Um it's definitely something that I I do to provide for my family because like that's what I like the thing that I've always wanted to be is a boob was a dad. Uh and and that's that's the thing that I've tried to try to maximize my time. I think that like being available and being involved and like doing things with my with my kids and getting out and and you know, playing and and and going to their activities and taking them to that, I I think that's something that um you know I've in a position where a lot of dads can't do that and aren't available, and I I I am available and I I I think that I do a good job of like making the most of that. Um which again is because that like that's something that I've very intentionally like wanted to prioritize, but in terms of like being like strong as so there's the availability part of it, which I feel like I'm I'm I'm I'm doing like I'm strong in that area. It's yeah, the the the the other parts of it that I I I wish I were better at.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:22

And then all of that stuff I think takes away from some of the spouse. And I know there's there's areas there that I can I can definitely be sure um you know bet better at too. But yeah. My employee strongest I I'd say is is an employee, um, which sucks because that's like again, that's the one that I least care about in all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:46

It's interesting hearing you guys talk and thinking about my own like how how the priority and about how things shift just on the nature of our job. Like, so for me, job, my employee is towards the bottom, not because I'm bad at it or anything, but like the nature of it, uh I'm thinking like as a salaried employee, right? Like your mindset is how do I prove that I'm earning this money? Right, and like you guys have different metrics that can adjust that, whatever. But like I feel like in your head, it's like, hey, okay, hey, like I'm being paid X amount. How am I showing that I'm deserving of that? And above that, how can I get a promotion? How can I work on to the next one, right? Well, for me, like I don't have those metrics, right? Like as an hourly employee, it's just time. Time is what my value is, you know. So like if I do less, I get paid less. If I do more, I get paid more. But there's no, you know, the the goal is very simple. Get from point A to point B. You did that, good job. Like, there's no different levels of success. You know what I mean? Like, everyone's doing a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:52

It's almost a zero-sum game where you see you fail if you crash, which is yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:58

That yes, exactly. Like, if I just do my job normally, like no one cares. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing. It's like, hey, there's you know, you know, all this going on. But so the metrics of how I judge my of how my job is based on are so wildly different than most other people's that like because of that, um it's it's allowed to be. I mean, this sounds it sounds terrible to say this, but it's almost allowed to be deprioritized. You know what I mean? Because it's like the metrics are very simple and straightforward. So like do your job, know what you're doing, show up. But then, like, once you know, but the fact that the only metric is time, once you're not on the clock, you're free. You know what I mean? Like you're like, you don't have to worry about anything, you don't have to think about anything else, you don't have to follow up, you don't have to check these emails, you don't have to do all this. Like you, once you're done, once you're off the clock, you're off the clock. And that's the expectation. So because of that, the time is really the only thing that plays into that. So because of that, it drops down the list because there's not as much that it takes up. And it's very, you know, point A to point B. Did I do that? Good. You know, uh, there's different levels of that, and like you put in a bunch of effort and know, you know, there's levels of knowing your stuff. Like you have to show up prepared, you have to put in the time and effort when it gets time to do what you got to do. But outside of that, there's not. So it allows itself to be deprioritized. On the flip side of that, I would say that being a father, just like you, Brandon, that I want that to be at the top. But because of my job, that the metric is time, which unfortunately takes away from time at home, it makes it very tough, especially with young kids who their value is on you being there at this age, right? Like being on the phone or being on FaceTime, it doesn't, it doesn't connect as much. Um, so because of that, it's hard to say that that's my strongest, because right now, being there in person is the valuable stuff. Now, as they get older, and especially now that we have technology and I can text them or send them, send them articles, or I can talk to them on FaceTime or so, like I think that'll change and that has the ability to change. But right now, with kids being young, being there physically is the most important thing. And unfortunately, my job doesn't allow me to do that on a regular basis. It ebbs and flows, and it's hard to know whether they realize that or not. They handle it very well. I know some people whose kids don't. So I don't know if that's good or bad. That's like, ah, whatever, dad's here, dad's not here, doesn't matter. You know, I'm not gonna take that too personally. But um so I think that because of that, it you know, it's it can't be the one that I'm best at because it because I'm just not able to right now. Um, friend, just like what you said, I think that that ebbs and flow is like we all say, hey, we could always be better as as friends. I think I do a good job of like prioritizing the ones that mean the most, you know, um, and kind of put more effort into that. But um outside of that, I think we could always say that we're better. So by like process of elimination, and I'm like cringing, knowing that my spouse is also definitely going to be listening to this. So I'm hoping that there's some agreement, but I'm hoping that my strongest is being a spouse. That is not to say by any mean that is not to say by any means that there's any sort of perfection. It's really a process of elimination that gets me to that. Where if I had to rank them, I'm hoping that spouse is the best, just because, like I said, you know, uh against from the from the kid aspect of my job, I can still be connected to my spouse when I'm on the road. We can still have conversations. She can tell me about things that are going on with the kids. I hopefully provide good input. Sometimes I don't, I understand that. But um, and then it's just at the end of the day, I that's the thing that I look forward to the most. That's I've talked about it here that that's kind of like my centering is just when like we get to connect on stuff and hang out and talk about things that are going on. Um, and so I feel like getting on the same page with her, life always feels like it's going a lot better uh, you know, when that's happening, as anyone can, right? Like happy wife, happy life is very, you know, it's a common trope for a reason. Um, but again, it's more of a process of elimination that gets me there. But I think that's my strongest right now. We'll see next week when she talks to me about after she listened to this episode. I might have a correction to make afterwards. We'll see about that. Um, but I think it's going to be a good thing. We get a text again. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, yeah. So that's it. Yeah. And yeah, just a really interesting thing that I that I thought of that I was like, wow. I thought this was an interesting thought-provoking question, and it becomes very uh yeah, you're you're like exposing yourself.

SPEAKER_07 1:42:18

It does, but at the same time, I feel like my takeaway is more of like it's less about trying to identify where you're strongest. It's more just like, how are you grading yourself across these categories? Because like that is really what we talk about, right? Is it's what's the best doesn't matter. Because it seems like for all of us, the best thing was kind of a process of elimination. Like it wasn't a my God, I just know and this is it. Like it's a priority and my performance, like, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:46

So yeah, but that's kind of why I liked wording it of like which one are you best at? Because like grading it across, you'll be like, Oh, I'm like a B or C for all of them. Sure. Be like, but if you say I'm better at this one than everything than anything else, yeah, that feels somewhat uncomfortable because we all know that we're not perfect at everything. There's there's things that you could do better for all of them. Uh so to go out on a limb and say, I'm best at this is a very tough thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:43:09

Um I will say I'm gonna bookmark one thing, I'm not gonna say what it is, for us to talk about for next week's episode that has been on my mind that kind of came up as part of this as well. Uh that I do want to talk about. Um, because I'm just curious. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:24

Do you want to tell us now or offline?

SPEAKER_07 1:43:26

Oh no, like I want our listeners to be like, I guess I gotta tune in next week to know what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:32

Yeah, that's what's a finger.

SPEAKER_07 1:43:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:34

All right, perfect.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:36

All right. I think that uh eventually brings us this this is a long one, but that uh brings us to the end of this week's episode. Um do you guys have anything else to add?

SPEAKER_07 1:43:45

Um I had something early on and I forgot it. Uh maybe it was Brandon and I were talking about our trip. Our trip's coming up soon. Um Adrian, Kevin, I need a ride.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:00

Uh has no one reached out to you? Is that indicative that they didn't listen to last week's episode? Or that they're trying to skirt responsibility.

SPEAKER_07 1:44:09

We know Kevin listens on a delay, but also we also know Kevin's got a family that's way too big now. Uh so Adrian's my shot. I need Adrian to confirm whether or not I have to rent a car. Um I did have something else, and I'm blanking on what it was. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:27

Just to just as I with our trip coming up, I'll tease this as well that this is gonna play an important part of it at some point for the listening audience. I'm holding up a small burlap back bag with uh with some ties on it. So that'll that'll come into play during our trip. But what is something for you guys to look forward to?

SPEAKER_07 1:44:46

I remembered it. Thanks for watching. There it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:48

I just need a filibuster a bit.

SPEAKER_07 1:44:49

There you go, there you go. Uh got you. This is our last pre-odyssey podcast. Uh in the I will have watched it by the time we were.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:57

Are you guys both? Do you guys have tickets for it?

SPEAKER_07 1:45:00

I don't have tickets for it. I'm going to see it in like a regular not IMAX 70 millimeter because we're like, we need to just see this. So I will be seeing it on Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:10

Are we having an embargo until we've all seen it? Yeah, we should. How do we should? But like it's up to you. I'll make it a point to see it sooner rather than later.

SPEAKER_07 1:45:19

Because if you if we get on the call or if we get on the podcast next week and you're like, all right, look, what did you think? All right, like I'm gonna I'm gonna not let's just let's just spoil it. Let's make it a point now that we are not gonna talk about it until everyone's seen it.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:31

Okay. And also I'll make it a point to see it to get on seeing it. We'll carve out some time for it. Vibes good. I'm glad that you mentioned that vibes are good. Yeah, that's what it seems like. Yeah. All right. With that, we're now bringing it to an end. Uh, for those of you keeping track, this is episode 41. So uh and end of episode 41 for us. Um hope you're all enjoyed it and uh you know, thought a little bit deeper about uh parts of your life. I realized about the dangerous thing that's that summer makes you do. Thought about do you guys think that you could make a penalty kick against a World Cup keeper? Yes. Absolutely not. No sha. I think so. No chance. It's so interesting that both of you are so certain on either one because I saw a stat, the reason why I asked is because there's the bottom line that said like one in four Americans think that they can make uh a penalty kick against a world-class world keeper. And I'm with Sarav. I think I think I could.

SPEAKER_07 1:46:24

I think like if you were to ask me like what my chance, my percentage chance was, we could get more specific, right? I will grade myself on like actual ability. Do I I I don't play soccer? Can I kick hard enough? Can I place it where I need to? The but there is this insane confidence in the mental game of it of like, can I make him thinking I'm going this way and then I'll just go this way? And at that point, it's just it's I've done it in tennis. Like, so I feel like I could do it in this too. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:50

That's why I think that the baseline is can you kick a soccer ball with some athleticism? And I think that if you can, it's it's it's almost 50-50.

SPEAKER_05 1:46:59

If you can kick it hard enough, I don't think I can kick a soccer ball hard enough where he wouldn't be able to just wait, read it, and then because their reactions are so fast. I I do think that to be able to beat them, you would have to kick the ball really hard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:14

So I think that that is the well, I don't even know really hard. I think it would have to be really hard. That they would have to guess. If you can just get it hard enough and you can at least put it into one side or the other with relative accuracy. So I think that yeah, the baseline is that do you can you play soccer? Have you played soccer before? And I think if you've played soccer before and you're of 20, 20 years old and above, maybe even 15 and above, you have a reasonable shot to make it, I think. Because it's just a guess, right? If you can kick it somewhat hard enough.

SPEAKER_07 1:47:45

I will say, you know, we're talking about skills. A real thing is for me is gonna be like I probably kick it way into the stance. I probably don't get it into the goal. That's a different story.

SPEAKER_05 1:47:56

Yeah. A professional penalty kick typically travels between 70 and 85 miles per hour. I don't think there is a shot in hell that I am kicking a soccer ball 70 to 80 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:08

Yeah, but you've also seen the ones where they just like where it's like an ethos.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:13

So it just like rolls in the butt but but that's that's predicated upon the expectation.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:20

Like, so if I can if I could hide the fact, if he's thinking that I'm coming up here dropping 70 miles five miles an hour, like yeah, I can probably send him the wrong way and roll it into the back of the net. But I think if he knows, if he could just tell and see what I'm doing, he can just stand in the middle there, wait and see where it goes, and he's absolutely gonna be able to jump to the other side before my ball gets.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:39

I think that I think that the best thought experiment would be in the World Cup, France versus Spain, they just went into PKs at the end of the game. They go through their top five. And then after that, yep, here comes Brandon off of the bench, right? Can you make because at that point the keepers gonna be like, who the fuck is this guy? I don't know. I I mean he's gotta be good. He's a ringer. So like their expectation is that it's gonna be good. In that instance, if I do. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:49:04

I can I can I can put the I can put the ball on on frame with with with enough to get past him. So he won't it'd be really embarrassing if he dove the wrong way, got up, went the other way, and still save the kick.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:17

Now from section 405, row row R R 15. Here comes Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:26

It'll take him 25 minutes to get down from the upper level, but he's coming out to take this kick.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:32

See how this goes.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:34

Uh all right. Sweet. We're gonna end it, I promise. That's it. That's all we've got. I mean, I have a bunch of stuff on the sheet that we just didn't get to. We'll get to it uh next week. But for now, with Sravz. That'll bring us to an end. Yeah, with Sravz as well. So that'll bring us to an end for this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed it, and uh, hope you all have a good week. Good luck watching the rest of the finals in the All Star Game and uh enjoying summer. All right, until next time, we'll see ya. Bye. See ya. Bye.