Stephon Austin: Buc-ee's, Snack Wagers, and Letting the Weekend Come

What does it cost to slow down? Stephon Austin joins the show to talk about Buc-ee's pilgrimages, why his cousins are still his weekend plans at 37, and the dad wisdom he drops every Friday: just let the weekend come to you.

We get into Stephon being born and raised in Columbia (with a strict mom whose wrath put fear in the neighborhood kids), the cousin he ran wild with on bikes who's still close, and the four-year-old son who shows up as the through line of every story. Stephon also opens up about the rough patch in 2020 that shaped his approach to fatherhood, the trip to Gulf Shores he's nervous about packing for, and a friendly snack-off with Matt that touches Girl Scout cookies (overrated, allegedly), microwaved honey buns, and a Sam's Club box of 72 fruit roll-ups that lasted three days.

It's a conversation about the value of staying close to where you came from, what it looks like to be the fun parent in a structured house, and why some of the best advice for living comes wrapped in the smallest one-liners.

Plus: a hot debate over whether Buc-ee's or Redmond's has the better roadside bathroom, the time Matt asked the richest guy at a sushi dinner to teach him how to eat sushi, and the dinosaur question Stephon's son asks that nobody can answer.

Follow us today for some weekly joy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, welcome back to A Fiercer Delight. This is a Fiercer Delight. We talk about life and try and chase around happiness, joy, whatever you want to call it. Everyone's unhappy. We're not gonna stand for that. And so I bring guests on and we talk about stuff. I have a guest here with me. Who are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Stefan Austin.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Stefan Ost, you kind of said that cool.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Yeah, you know. Hey, it's comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

You practice in the cargo way over here.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Different, like look, I tuned into the podcast this morning. Oh yeah, yeah. I gotta lock in.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Did it move you? Did it change you?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah, it made me laugh a couple times. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Alright, we're winning then. Here's good. What else makes you laugh? You said it made you laugh. What what when you think of, all right, I need a laugh? What do you go to?

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Oh man, my childhood. You know, I was a wonderful kid as well.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Off the cup, that's a good answer.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

I got into not a lot of trouble, just some some malicious things, you know, every once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

What kind of trouble? You don't have to go, you can be as vulnerable as you want, but was it like were you mischievous? Were you sneaky? Were you like reckless? Like what are we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

A little bit of both. Okay. Kind of, you know. Fourth of July was my favorite year. Okay. Yeah, yeah. You know, just shooting the firewall, fireworks off when you weren't supposed to. Um in the house. Yeah. Yeah, dude. My mom was really strict, so anytime she told me not to do something, I felt like I was gonna do it. Okay. And I had that cousin that was always like, just do it, just do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

So you had a strict mama, uh, siblings?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Uh yeah, well, yeah, my older brother. Um, he was kind of in and out every once in a while, but I mainly stuck with my cousin DeVario quite a bit. Okay. Yeah, we just got into a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

And she let you have it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Did you know what was either the way where when someone's got a strict mom, it's like they're either terrified of the wrath of mom or it's like they've seen the wrath of mom so much it doesn't move them that much.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, like she would put fear in the neighborhood kids quite a bit. Oh, she was the one, yeah, yeah. Like my father didn't mess with her, yeah, yeah. It was like it was mom or nothing else. Okay. Seriously, like it was, yeah. But she she taught me so many values of life as well. Of course, yeah. I just, you know, from I'd say about eight to maybe fourteen, uh-huh. Just running wild around Columbia a little bit on bikes.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Okay, so you're Columbia dude.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Oh, yeah, born and raised.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Born and raised. So the uh you say when I need a laugh, I go back to childhood. You probably got some people who can share in that laugh then.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Oh, for sure. Yeah, man. I mean, just mainly like we were a tight-knit group when we were kids. Me and my cousins, um, my brother, like I said, he was there, but how many cousins are we talking? Five.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Okay, that's a good amount of cousins.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, yeah. We used to hoop together, go to mugs up.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Have you heard that episode? We talked about mugs up on here once.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

I don't know about now, but back in the day, mugs up was special, dude.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I still got diarrhea. Dude. It's been six years.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Those zip burgers, man. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah, I knew. All right, so you guys were just reckless on bikes, going crazy, running, running the show. And so now they're still some of them are around, you call them, yeah, you guys get together, you have laughs, all that.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

We all miss a beat. I got one that lives in St. Louis. Majority of them live here in Jeff City, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay. Yep. So the people you grew up with, you're still growing up with.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

How's that work? Because I moved to a different town and I I'm still in touch with people, I still love people. But I don't know, it's just like a distance thing. But you're still like family with who you're family with.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Oh, for sure. Yeah, we do pretty much every weekend. We try to.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Every weekend?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah, we try, man. We got kids. You know, we gotta keep the kids busy. Yeah. Get them away from the screens, get outside.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Okay. So you guys just get together, would you like to eat? Do you just hang out? Just watch games.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I mean the kitchen, ice skating, pickleball. Um, I mean, you name it. We try to fishing. Fishing has been a hot thing for me and the kiddo for the past three or four years now.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Have you always fished? Somewhat. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

When I Yeah. But now I got the kid, he's like locked in on it, and we take trips to the lake, so yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

We live near a little pond, and so every year I'm like, we gotta get everyone fishing poles and start fishing, bring fishing into our lives. And that's been going for six years now, something like that. We've been saying it, but we haven't started. You know And so do you have any input on a guy who's like with kids trying to get the kids engaged in fishing?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I would say patience, but I think you already got it. Don't break a pole. Don't break the kiddos' pole. I shut my kids' pole in the garage, and I just had to spend about 60 bucks on a pole last Sunday. Oh no. Yeah, so don't do that. That's good advice. Don't break the pole. Seriously. And just let them take the rein on it. Just let them cast it out, you know. The object is just getting the motion, not catching anything, and there you go.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

And it's a little boy?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Has he caught anything yet?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yes. Did he go crazy? A little crappie, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Was he pumped?

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Oh, dude. I was more pumped for him than he was for himself. Yeah. I'm like, dude, you just caught a fish, man. Like, bring that in. But other than that, man, it's fishing, it's just good to connect with the kid, and he loves the water. He's a water kid. He loves swimming, loves fishing. We're going to Gulf Shores at the end of the month, so hopefully he can see the ocean for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

What do you think he's gonna do with the ocean? Is he like covered in sand? He's gonna be scared of it, he's gonna get out in that water. What would you put him on?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I can't swim that well, so mommy will probably get out there with it.

unknown 4:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

You get to relax, man. Take a book. Yeah, I'm gonna sit on the beach.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, other than that, man, he's a great kid, dude. He's just he's just fun. Like, he is literally the best kid that I know.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah. And I'm not just saying it because he's mine. I'm not biased, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

He's the best.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, yeah, he's awesome. He's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So is that uh I think I can read you like being a dad. It's fun. Being a dad's important to me.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Were you always that way? Did you always think, man, I'm gonna be a dad, I'm gonna have this family? Or is that like snuck up on you?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

It snuck up on me. Okay. Um, the situation happened to where, you know, it was kind of like we went through a little rough patch with um some family issues around 2020. And in that moment when everything was happening, I seen my wife go through a lot. And so the only thing I thought for myself was to bring her life. You know, give her that gift of life. And um you know, as a man, you try to fix everything. Like that's that's just our role, and I couldn't fix it. And so, you know, in the same week we had that tragic, we found out we were having a kid, and then things just took off from me mentally because I'm I'm more of a mental guy when it comes to just life in general. And when I had my son, it was just it was everything. It was fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

And like uh what's wild is that was like four years ago. Yeah, he's four. Yeah, I had worn off. Yeah, no, isn't it cool when you find something like because I think that happens all the time? It's like I'll pick up a hobby, you mentioned pickleball or something, I'll go play pickleball. It'll be fun for like a year or two, and then I need to find my new pickleball.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

But some of those things just like it's that favorite song that keeps slapping.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, man. It's like, man, the tune is good.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

I just keep loving my kids. Yeah, and it's like that it doesn't actually fade.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Every day is different with him. I mean, just from the simple things of just telling me he loves me just out of random, I'm just like, dude, like why? Like, you know, like why? What is it? And then, you know, just seeing him a smile with a little gift or something that we get for him. Um, it's just a blessing. It really is.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

So are you uh, I don't think you are. This is like a leading question in some ways. I think I know the answer. You said mama was strict. She's uh are you do you have some of that in your parenting bag? Or are you kind of like the no? Yeah, that's kind of my guess. You don't feel like uh you lay down the law, I think you give that to your wife or something. Yeah, she's the boss, you're the soft one, you're the fun one.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah, she runs the house, man. She keeps every she keeps me in line. I mean, like I said earlier, my calendar is full of just scheduled stuff for my wife they put in there. Yeah, she runs the show, she's the teacher. So she kind of organized everything our life. Yeah. I'm just like, all right, where we gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

You just show them smile. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Bring the fun. That's it, man. I'm the fun dad.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I've had that a few times where I've been responsible for disciplining our children, and they're like, it'll be me and one of my kids in a room, and I'm like telling them, like, when we walk out of here, you need to be crying. Oh, yeah. Like, just just cry because otherwise mom will send us back.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

You know what I found out at a young age? They can't keep a secret. No, dude, you cannot tell mom this. He'll be like, hey, mom, I'm like, bro, you you missed the whole thing just now.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Well, that's my wife went out of town, and I had some of my kids, I don't remember how many at the time. And my my wife is kind of wired wired like yours, I think. She's pretty structured, which is good. So good for our family, good, so good for our kids, stability. She went out of town for like overnight for the first time, and it's just me with the kids, and the structure went out the window pretty fast. I just couldn't keep up with all that I didn't know. And they were like, We're supposed to be, hey, we're supposed to correct me. And I was like, Listen, we're gonna break some rules. Yeah. So she gets home a day or two later. She said, What'd you do with dad? And the first answer is like, we broke the rules. Yeah, and so now every time she leaves, like, are we gonna break the rules? So now they just know it's the language. I was like, guys, you weren't supposed to tell that we had ice cream for dinner. Like, I but they tell right away, dude.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

It it's hard not to want to break the rules while mom is gone. Like, why not? It's the fun time.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Like, come on, let's wreck something a little bit, you know? Yeah, but it doesn't work as well when you like self-report or when it's dad. Like, that's trouble.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

But other than that, like seriously, um having a kid, it it changed me as a human, you know, not just a dad only. Like, I appreciate the small things in life. I enjoy waking up and seeing him every morning. Just getting that honor to be a role model in a little human's life is perfect. You know, like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

And you said it changed it. Are there other ways to change it? And then they change you like a switch was just flipped, and then like, oh well, now I'm more responsible, or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, I mean, you know, just kind of looking at life from a different perspective. Yeah, you know, like financially, which I'm still struggling with that, kind of, the world's expensive. It's very expensive, but um, just paying attention to and slowing down, you know, not rushing through life, but constantly trying to meet the next thing all the time.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

You know, you gotta take patience with kids. Like you have to, you have to develop that. It's just not it just doesn't happen. And I think once he came into our lives, I really just started to pay attention to everything. Yeah, you know, even my wife's feelings when it comes to her and like the deep things that she wants to talk about. I took initiative to just be like, okay, let me listen instead of just always talking to you. Yeah, you know, and but yeah, she appreciated it, I think. I hope. I mean, we're still here. Still here, going to Gulf Shores. Yeah, man. Yeah, that's exciting. Yeah, eight days, yeah. Yeah, it's first time, so we'll see. I'm a bit nervous as far as like packing. It's like you want to bring the whole house, you know. Oh, yeah. But we'll see what I just do it, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Cargo, yeah, things on the back. Maybe rent a trailer. Yeah. Get weird with it.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I got a trailer. I just need to get trailer. Yeah, I just need to get the lights hooked up on it. Hey, don't, don't, don't tell anybody. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, this would be a good trip. Um, but yeah, you know, just enjoying it every day, every day constantly. It's it's it's peaceful. It is.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

So, okay, so I ask you, I think how we got on this. This is what I love about conversations, is I think I asked you what makes you laugh, and we ended up talking about like fishing and golf shores and ocean and daddying and all these things. So I love like it can just like go anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

What is something like so, in general, I get that parenting brings you a ton of joy because it's a thing you just led with with your heart without even really being asked. For sure. What's something dumb that makes you happy? Like parenting, I wouldn't call dumb. That's pretty cool, but like a thing where it's just like, man, I have this one hobby that's super dumb, and I'm kind of embarrassed about it, but here it is. Like, I don't know. Do you have anything like that where it's like, man, tough day? I I just I gotta eat ribs after a hard day or fast food or what you I snack.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Like no other. Yeah, and it's past like the time that you're supposed to stop snacking.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

So, okay, what are you what are you describing as a snack? Is it you're talking about nighttime?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Oh, it's junk food. Junk food. It's all sugar.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

But you're like, you can't see. I don't know if we have the camera on right now. You're like kind of fit.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Dude, it's my metabolism constantly. Like, I'm Girl Scout cookies, uh, fig bars, I mean everything. Chips.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Wait.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Okay, first of all, this is gonna be a hot take and not a popular one. Girl Scout cookies, solid, massively overrated. What? Yeah. Tell me why. They make you too thirsty.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I can see that. Listen, it depends on which one.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Well, I think you take any Girl Scout cookies. Again, I think I'm in the wrong on this, but I'm just gonna say, any Girl Scout cookie next to an Oreo, you're taking the Oreo.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Oh, hands down. I grew up with Oreos. Yeah. I was a late bloomer on Girl Scout cookies.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

But that's what everyone goes crazy about. Now, Girl Scouts support it. I would rather just give you five bucks when I walk in and then go buy a packet of Oreos and save the I I don't need to give you like the money for the you can keep the cookies, give them to the next sucker. I'm gonna go get the Oreos.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

I think what makes Girl Scout cookies so valuable, it's only what, twice a year? It's the McRib. The McRib effect.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, it's brilliant, right? The McRib's not any good, but they take it away and then distance makes a hard girl fun. Man, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

I love the hash browns, but the mcrib, mmm, I think.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

But you said Girl Scout cookies, which are meh.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

And then you said fig bars. That's not a snack, that's a fig. It's high in sugar, though. I run off sugar. To me, that's like a fig bar is like probably the healthiest thing I would eat in a week. I can see that.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I can see that's fair. That's fair. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Like you're making me feel back because you're like, I'm such a snacker, man. I'm always eating figs. Well, man, VU, all the snacks there. I can't help myself. Man, I I am willing to put this wager live on the air here. Oh boy. I out snack you. You think so? Honey buns? Honey buns, I haven't had a honey bun in a minute.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Microwave in the seven seconds, man. You microwave. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

That's a sign of a true snacker. When you microwave your little Debbie treat, you're a true snacker.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Spot on. And I got the kid hooked to it too.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Oh, that's good. That's my little baby, my my youngest, not really baby anymore. I guess he's like 18 months, but he was shoving those little powdered sugar donuts in his mouth today, like whole ones. And my wife just looks at me like, he got yours, your sweet jean. Dude, the coconut ones, man? All that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Seriously. You know what's funny? We have a you know, everybody has a pantry, I assume. Um my wife has a snack basket in the pantry. And it's like on the top shelf. She can't reach it. I don't know why, but she always wants it. And the kid's like, Dad, snack basket? I'm like, yes. What are we getting out here? He's like, I want something sour. I'm like, so you want a gummy worm? He's like, Yeah, but I want four of them. Good man. My man. Smart. My man, bring it in. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Mom's out of town, break the rules.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Dude.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Here's my wife went to Sam's Club, which first mistake. Second mistake for the kids, she bought 72 fruit roll-ups. Oh. They come in a box 72. I had them gone in three days. Kids didn't eat one.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, you might outsnack me on that.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

I mean, we were doing laundry, and it'd be like by the dryer sheet, the little like, you know, that plastic film that comes on the fruit roll-up, and she'd be like, this had to be you. It was like, there's probably one of the kids, but it's like, you ate the whole box.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Guilty.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, you just stuff them in there like tobacco, just wedge them in your cheeks.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Oh my gosh, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

So you're just going. You're snacking all day.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

All day. All day, constantly. You ever see me? I'm always eating, man.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

So this is the you said you're going on a big trip. You got an eight-day trip. You're gonna stop at gas stations every 30 minutes because you got a kid.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Bucky's. Uh Bucky's, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

You got the gas station. Yeah, I got the route down. You're going into Bucky's. What are you coming out with? What are the pockets loaded with?

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Oh, pulled pork sandwiches first, start off. Chicken fingers with the kit. I've already planned this out. These aren't snacks, these are meals, dude. I gotta itinerate, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

You gotta pull pork sandwiches.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Y'all listen, it's good. And then um their peanuts are amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Peanuts.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

And then I hit the sweet aisle. I usually start with a payday. My wife likes to take five. Me and the kids spit gummy worms all the time. Um their slushies are pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I like that you say life's expensive, and then you just drop $200 at Bucky's.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Long story short, we went last year at Table Rock. I spent it was about $176, but I didn't get gas. I was like, what is going on? What is life? And it was literally just bags of snacks. And I also got Christmas gifts.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, that's the man. You go into a store like Bucky's, it's the same with going grocery shopping. Oh, yeah. You gotta eat your meal first. You can't go in that place hungry. That is especially if you're going to Table Rock, you're going to the lake for the week, and you're thinking if you go in there hungry after driving a bit, it's like, yes, I'm gonna need 16 varieties of gummy worms, not just the one. Yeah. And so you gotta get you gotta get filled up first.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Got to you gotta load up, man. I I guess I need to start doing that because sometimes I walk out with things in sands. I'm like, why did I even get that? Can't help it. Like, oh, the um the popcorners? What is it? The popcorn chips?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

No, I'm not at them.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

They got them here at VU. Okay. Oh, the spicy queso? It's a clutch, man. See, this is what I'm saying. I love snacks. I will eat snacks over a full meal if I could.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Okay, here's a question. You're not supposed to ask a woman, I don't think. I think I can ask a man. How old are you?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

37.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

37?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Okay. First, you look younger. Thank you. Second, I was gonna tell you, hey man, your metabolism, that ain't gonna keep up. Uh, but you passed the age I was gonna because mine started changing at 28, 29, and now I gotta be pretty cognizant, but it's like, dude, you might be just be fine.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

I'm not gonna lie, I am worried. Because I think one I think one day as soon as I'm gonna wake up and my belly's gonna be like, you know, beer gut. I did.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

I did. It was this past year, no kidding. It's like, and I have metabolism, so I'm like a pretty you look at me, I'm pretty slender, but it was like I started not being able to see all of my feet. And then I always play soccer and I went and played soccer, and my lower back just hurt. And what I realized is it hurts because it's offset by carrying this little Santa pouch along. That's not so then like January. I just here's what I did. I cut out the snacks and I cut out the soda. Oh, okay. I ran one mile a day. Nice and I do like 100 push-ups a day. Seriously, 15-minute workout short. I lost 14 pounds. My man. But it was just because of the soda. That's what I was carrying. I was carrying just like this little Bucky's like pouch. I got rid of the Bucky's pouch just for one. Now I'm kind of back on the wagon. You know, I'm starting to slip into my old ways. You know, I started working. You might have that fast thing where it's like, since you are a snacker, it's like when I'd read all the articles, it'd be like, boy, I'm doing everything wrong. So it's actually pretty easy to fix.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

So if you just avoid Bucky's like one trip, you're probably gonna lose 17 pounds. I can't. It's a staple stop for me, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Like, I either got to get a hoodie, a t-shirt, uh, you know, like I have to. It's just it's a guaranteed stop. That's Bucky's is something that I wish we had here. Okay, so then again, I don't because it'll ruin it. And I obviously you wear the clothes, though. You get oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Do you wear them? You give them or wear them?

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Both. You got a hoodie? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

What does it say? Bucky.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

This got the beaver on it. Yeah, that's it, man. My son, he is so funny because I'm a hoodie guy in the winter, and um recently he's been wearing a lot of hoodies. My wife looks at me, she's like, It's your fault. I was like, I I'm just a hoodie person. Yeah. Hoodies and sweatpants. Anytime you see me in fall and winter, I'm casual. I'm with you. I'm with you there. It's comfortable, man. Yeah. Got to.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

My mom for Christmas, I don't know why. She gave me uh a pullover.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Really? And it was uh like quarter zip or full?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Dude, I don't know. Because I looked at this thing and I was like, this is not for me. This is for like a corporate executive who likes golf. Like everything about this pull, it was nice, don't get me wrong. Really sweet gift, but I was like, gosh, I don't know. I I don't where we work, you know, we wear sweatpants. I was like, I don't think I have, I don't have enough occasions to wear this thing. So I took it back to this store, took it to Dillard's. I was like, here you go. They ring it up and then they give me a gift card, $220. Wow. And so now I was like, man, I can get like six hoodies. So I went to the hoodie. I did. So far I bought one, but I got this green card from Dillard's. It's like every month or so, if I start feeling lonely or macabre, I just go buy a hoodie or something. I go to the $20 section. It's like, man, I got Christmas presents for days.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

So I love that we can wear whatever we want here. Yeah, it's like when they when I first found out that because I came from a country club at Old Hawthorne and I had to.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Oh, you could have used that. I could have given you the pullover at Old Hawthorne.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Wearing the button up with the polo and everything and the slacks, I was like, every day was uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

What'd you do at the country club?

SPEAKER_00 19:31

I was facilities manager.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

That's a I mean, it wasn't the big facility, though. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. That's a lot to manage.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Golfers, they love to golf, man. I changed golf spikes, uh, polished shoes. Yeah, you name it. I did it all. You did it all. Yeah. It was a good time. I mean, you know, I learned a lot. I never golfed. Never golfed. I never golfed.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

I worked at a golf course for four years. Nice. Uh coming up, maybe even longer than that. I was a cart boy.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

And I never graduated out of the cart boy because they offered me, like, you want to come work in the pro shop? I was like, no, man, I spray a hose down here. Why would I want to do anything else?

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Dude, you guys got a hard job, man.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

I didn't make it hard. I made it as easy as possible. I probably wasn't very good at it, but also like I made zero money doing it, so whatever. But free golf, uh, I got tipped like two or three times. It was always the people from out of town. We were in like Southeast Missouri at the golf course.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

And it's like, I hate the stereotype, but this is who I got the tips from. There'd be these groups of Asian men from St. Louis. Yeah. These city guys, and they didn't know, and they're from the city, and so they would tip me, and so I'd always like give them best service, and they'd like give me 20 bucks. I'm like, yes, that's pizza money. But free golf for like four or five years. And it's like, I just never got into it.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Me neither. Never did it for me. I like watching it, I just couldn't play it. I just I didn't trust myself to hit a ball straight. Yeah. Basically, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Big fancy houses everywhere. I was like, man, you don't want me with a projectile near your big fancy house. Oh no. Trying to chuck up heel?

SPEAKER_00 20:49

No. No, no, no. It'll be all bad for you.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

So how'd you how'd you end up with a golf course? Oh. Maybe it's the best place to work. It's like you couldn't work at Bucky's, you would just that would be terrible. You'd be like 500 pounds by the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Side note, Bucky's has the cleanest bathrooms in the world.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Uh uh. No, I'm gonna bet you on that too.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Man, I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Here's the deal. I'm a Redmond's man. Do you know Redmonds?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

No, but I've heard about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Redmond's is a little kid. You'll see him if you're ever on I-44. If you're ever listening to this and you end up on this interstate called I-44 through Missouri, there's a little boy, he looks like a 40-year-old man, but he's dressed like a little boy. He's showing his mid drift and he's saying, We know the guy? Like usually says right under him, fudge. Or pecans. I mean, there are, you won't miss it now. If you ever go to Table Rock again, there are one time I counted, and over a stretch of 25 miles, there's 17 billboards, and it's all him going, we and then fudge. Oh, it's a candy shop.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Oh, wait. Okay, so I I just recently went to Springfield for VU, and I think I stopped there to get gas, but I didn't know their bathrooms are it's on a scale of one to ten. I gave them about a seven.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, you went on the wrong day. I I have been in contact with them about popular. Possibly having my family holiday party at the Redmans bathrooms. Swanky, they're chandeliers.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

The only thing I argue with that with Bucky's, they have toilet seat sanitizer.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

They the other thing. The Bucky's does, which I actually don't like. They have the in-room attendance while you're using it.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

I mean, they're cleaning it while you're going. Yeah, that is a little uncomfortable sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah. And so I mean, it's great. It makes for a clean bathroom, but Redmond's doesn't need to mess with that. We just do it in between shifts.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

It is huge. Dude, I'm telling you, Bucky's is just, it's it, it's a staple for Missouri. It is, it's a staple. I know it's from I think Texas, but once we got it here, I was just like, dude, everywhere I go, I want to hit Bucky's.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

I can't believe you're so I didn't have this on my bingo card that we'd be talking about. This is Jason Joy, man. Find it where you get it. If you love Bucky's, I don't actually want to sell you that for you, just like I love Redmond's. It's a simple thing. Yeah, done great. Good, clean bathroom. Uh, what was it? A pulled pork sandwich in your pocket.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Oh, yeah, yeah. Chicken fingers, man. Like, I'm a chicken finger guy. The kid's a chicken finger kid. Like, yeah. We're easy. We are. But back to old Hawthorne. Um, I think I just applied, and then my boss, Scott, brought me in and I started from the ground up, and opportunity just kept happening over and over. Like, that's cool. My boss just kept coming to me, hey, you want to take advantage of this? I was like, sure, I'll learn. I don't know, but why not? And then yeah, things just took off from there. How do you say that?

SPEAKER_01 23:22

I don't know. That's a hard thing. And you said earlier, like, guys are fixtures or something. Yeah. Ego and stuff. Someone comes to you like, hey, you want to take this opportunity? And I'd be like, Yeah, I think I I could definitely do that. But then behind the scenes, I'd be like, oh my gosh, I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

No, man, I'm always honest about it. Like I love that. Yeah. You have to be have you always had that? Uh I would say so. Yeah. You know, because I'd rather you know that I don't know how to do something, and then I get in there and you're like, well, what are you doing? And I'm like, I you know, I I think I'm gonna mess this up. You know, I don't know. But yeah, once I got in, I got my foot in the door. Um, you know, of course, studying and just learning, just learning on the fly. And I didn't know anything about golf before that, not a single thing. I didn't know golf spikes, polishing shoes, um steel wool brushes, like I didn't know none of this. And then after a year or two, my boss Scotty taught me everything I needed to know. We stayed after studying things. I started watching golf.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Wow, yeah, yeah. It was cool, man. No, I think that's great. I in my older age, I started to realize that. So I went on I went to a fancy dinner with a few people, and I was the one who wasn't fancy. Yeah. Like one of these things is not like the other. Yeah. Like everyone else there is like talking stocks and bonds and stuff, and I don't know how to like spell stocks and bonds. I'm like, what are we even talking about? Uh not my area. So we're at this really fancy place, and it was actually sushi. I don't like sushi. I've never really eaten sushi, and it's like fancy sushi, and then there's like drinks, I don't even know what the drinks are, all this stuff, and I finally was just like, dude, I'm not gonna do this. Like, usually what I do is like just pretend like I know what I'm doing, and I'll do stuff wrong, or I'll turn red and like get embarrassed. I just found the richest dude in the area, and I said, Hey, will you sit by me? And he's like, Yeah, and I said, I have no idea what I'm doing. Will you tell me what it is I'm eating? Tell me how to eat it, tell me what not to eat. And he's like, Yeah, and he was so pumped to teach me. Yeah, and it was like a dawning moment where I was like, Oh, humility is also super helpful.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Just like people want to help you in the stuff they're good at instead of faking, like, no, I always do this sort of fancy thing. No, I don't. This this is not it.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Makes you feel humble at the end of the day, too, man. Yeah. You know, to find people that relay, like, yo, hey, if I don't know, teach me. Yeah, give me the knowledge. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

So you got to do that through your job, but I think as a young man, because you're younger when you're doing that, like I think as a young young guy, I just would have been like, fake it till you make it. Or actually, like put your hand up and say, I need help.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Yeah. Oh. Show me. I was that kid in school, yeah. In school, you were like, Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

It probably helped you with teacher, but teachers liked you more because you're willing to be like, hey, yeah, you're valuable to me. Show me some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Seriously, like if I didn't know, I was gonna ask or find out how to learn how to do it. And YouTube. I can't I can't knock YouTube, man. Like, that was that was basically a textbook for me.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

So now your kid, all kids are this way when they're four. I heard some like uh from the age of four to seven, a kid asks like 80,000 questions or something. But you got a questioner? You got a kid who's like that?

SPEAKER_00 26:14

100%. He wants to, and it's always random where it makes you think as a dad, you're like, dude, like what? What?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

And my wife, I'm not, and then I'm sitting at home in the bed, like, what does he mean by that?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Oh yeah. I've done that Google search before. It's like, oh, I'll tell you in a second, I have to use the bathroom real quick. And I'm in the bathroom, like, why does the sun look like that? And no clue, but yeah, they ask some questions for it. Like, you think you know? This is like anyone. If you get one why, you can usually get one why. You get about two whys and it starts to get hard. No one on anything can get five whys deep.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

No.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

You get to where it's like, I can't explain any of that. And trying to get it.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

I'm always like, go ask mommy, dude.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

They'll ask the fifth why. Yeah, like skip all the other ones and be like, why? And something about the galaxy. And I'm like, I don't think anyone on earth actually knows the answer to that.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

My question is every time the kid asks, he's like, Dad, how do they know what dinosaurs sound like? I have no answer. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I'm like, I don't know, buddy, but we can try to find out.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

You know, like let's go ask mom. Mom's a teacher, she studies, let's go find out.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

I I believe in heaven. I hope there is a heaven. I hope I get to heaven, and then I hope I find out we are massively wrong on so much stuff. Like dinosaurs actually had British accents and were like very regal and they weren't violent at all. They like classical music, and it's like, wait a second, we had that wrong the whole time. Jurassic Park was all lies, man. It was all lies, yeah. The humans were the bad guys. Yo, we were just trying to have a good time.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

They were, they were just trying to survive. Trying to live and survive.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Yeah. Okay, so now we got Jurassic Park on the bingo car, we got plenty of buckies. Yeah, we did. We got some fatherhood, we got a road trip, we got all kinds of things going on. We will end here, close to here. Anything else you want to say that we didn't get to that'd be fun to talk about, or just like, I don't know. You got wisdom, you're a wise cat.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Uh, you know what I always tell people on Fridays, man. Well, I'm like, let the weekend come to you. Oh, that's good. Yeah, man. Don't don't rush it. Just let it come to you, let it happen.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

The last couple shows, we've had these like little morals pop out of accidental, like, that's another one. Like, so say it again.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Just let the weekend come to you.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

See what happens.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

You know, we're always in such a hurry to do everything, make dinner on Friday nights, do this, do that. Just relax. You worked hard Monday through Friday, man. It's like a reward at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Well, here's here's what I'm gonna do. What'd you got? I'm just gonna tell you this. Uh, at some point this weekend, I'm gonna drop that line on my wife. Like some wise old sage, like it just came to me. That's cool. I'll give you credit later, but at first I'm just gonna see where it lands. Just run with it. I'm gonna see if she smacks me around or if she's like, oh my gosh, I love you. Thank you for saying that. And then I'll let you know I'm gonna report back to you and be like, hey, please do. Babe, you know, sometimes in life, we just gotta let the weekend come to us. Yeah, man. And I'm just gonna see. I'm just gonna see where it lands. I'm gonna report back to you. That actually is wisdom. That's good advice.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Oh man, I appreciate this.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

We'll leave you with that uh wherever you are in life, and it might be a Monday. It still plays. Let the weekend come to you. Yeah. All right, Stephon, thanks for talking. Thank you. Thank you all for listening. We'll be back. Uh, keep listening, share this with people, and keep chasing joy.