Ep.14 - A Hundred

Episode 14 of Captains Log is a mix of growth, real life, and perspective.

I start off by talking about a small but meaningful milestone — hitting 100 podcast downloads. It may not sound like much, but it’s proof that consistency matters and people are tuning in.

From there, I break down what I’ve been seeing in the NBA Playoffs, including early reactions, team performances, and why the current product of the league hasn’t been hitting the same lately.

I also get into something more personal — balancing work, family, and everything in between. From adjusting my work schedule to dealing with real-life responsibilities, it’s been a lot.

Then I tap into the creative side — talking about where I’m at with photography, wanting to add a new camera to the lineup, and figuring out what direction I want to take long-term in the media space.

To close it out, I share a proud parent moment — watching my son at Howard University practicing with a college band and realizing he’s found something he truly loves.

This episode is about growth, awareness, and staying consistent while building something real.

🎙️ Captains Log Podcast — Sports, Culture & Perspective

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

You are now tuned into the Captain's Law Podcast with your host, Rob Marbury.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Alright, folks. We back in the lab. We're back in the studio. This is the Capital Love Podcast. I'm your host, Rob. This is home for your sports covering NFL and NBA culture and perspective, which means I'm just gonna be talking about whatever I would like to. Um welcome back, man. We made it to episode 14, man. What am I joining at? Where's that? Let me see if I get let me see if I get my sound effects right the first time. All right, I'm looking for the clap. All right, good, good, good. Flap it up, flap it up, flap it up. 14 episodes, man. Life and life, man, but we are here. Um I also want to start by saying that I'm gonna get into this uh later, but the podcast just hit a hundred downloads, man. Give it, give it that. 100 downloads is huge, man. If you know anything about podcasts, you know anything about especially just that's just on the audio side. I'm not talking YouTube, I'm talking strictly people press and play on their phones or on their computers or on their TVs. It's a hundred downloads, you know what I'm saying? 100 downloads and 13 episodes. It's it's it's a big deal, you know what I'm saying. It may not sound crazy, but it's a hundred people pressing play, or multiple people press and play more than once. It equals a hundred. So, either way, that's good. I'll get into that later. Um, topics for the night, you know what I'm saying? I just mentioned it, podcast milestone. Uh, we're gonna do weekend recap, we're gonna do NBA playoffs, see what's going on around the league right now. Um, we're gonna talk a little bit of camera space, what I want to call that. And also I want to talk about a proud parent moment that I witnessed over the weekend, man. So before we start, as always, man, if you listen to the last episode or you're listening to this one at any point you feel like, you know what I'm saying, the things that I'm saying resonate with you, please like, share, subscribe, or send it to somebody who you think might like it, and have them do the same thing, man. It all helps with discoverability. Uh, but anyway, let's get straight into it, man. Re week and recap. All right, so if y'all wonder why I'm always looking at my phone, because I use Notion. All right, I'm not this ain't no paid sponsorship unless Notion, you wanna break me off a little or something, but I use Notion to uh copy down my notes for what I'm gonna talk. So back in the day, I used to do it old school. I used to have a notebook. I got a notebook, two or three of them around here somewhere, and I used to literally, I would literally sit on my computer or on my phone and write all these notes down, and then I would take it onto the notebook and I would literally be rewriting it twice. Now, initially it was like it's cool because you can go back and look and see all the wild shit you, you know, I mean, that I used to say, you know, 160 some episodes ago for my previous, you know, my first run at the podcast. And um then I was like, yeah, this is taking too long. And it it turned into some nights where like I would be down here record about to record and then I wouldn't because I spent an additional hour, hour and a half writing what was literally on my phone. So I was like, you know what? Let's just go ahead and try to find something. So I start fooling with Notion. Notion ain't no different from the notes app or whatever you got on your phone that comes stock, but I just like it, you know, the customization and all of that. You know what I'm saying? I got like little pictures, you know, bullet points. I'm just able to kind of customize it more, or maybe I could do it on my notes tab on my uh Samsung S23 Ultra, but I ain't think about it though. So I'm fooling with Notion, it's free, you know what I'm saying? And it does what I need to do. Anyway, back to the weekend recap. Another bell. So this past Friday was my last AWS day. So that's alternate work schedule for those who don't work in the federal government, which means that I was working nine-hour shifts. I was working all nine-hour days. One day was just eight hours, and I was getting every other Friday off. So I was just getting an extra day off per pay period. It sounded cool in the beginning, but when you're a responsible parent, you know what I'm saying, and husband like me, that extra hour means something. So I was getting to work at 7 and I was getting off at 4.30. So I'm taking the train, I'm coming from downtown DC. So I'm getting off at 4.30, I'm walking to the train station, I'm getting on the train, I'm standing, you know what I'm saying? And at 4:30 on the Wamada or Metro or the train, I call it here in you know in DC, um, you in it. You know what I'm saying? 4.30, just like it's it's that's like beginning or peak traffic for you know any other part of the country, that's peak, peak ridership, you know what I'm saying, here in the DMV. So I'm standing up, I'm watching the kids, I'm watching homeless people, I'm watching people who don't want to share seats, you know what I'm saying? Shit like that. You know what I mean? Then getting home, you know, got to get my daughter from daycare. I got to pick her up by, you know, before six. So getting off the train, I'm rushing to her. I'm getting to her, you know what I'm saying? She one of the last kids getting picked up. She ain't really feeling that. You know, my son got banned practice, you know, he's having to wait for me. He ain't really feeling that. And then honestly, I'm not really feeling it leave feeling it either, because then when I come home, like I don't really get a minute to sit. So when I come home, I'm I'm straight to it. So whatever, you know, errands I gotta do, whether it's homework, it's laundry, it's it's the workout, job, prep for the podcast, I would literally be like a hundred miles an hour from when I leave out of the house at 6 a.m. until when I get into bed at like 10 or 11. So um that extra hour, you know, means something. So now I'm back to my regular eight. So it's 7 to 3:30. So I mean, I started it uh for the first time yesterday, Monday, and man, bro, I got home so early that like I didn't know what to do with myself. And granted, I've only I was only doing the AWS. I think I only did it for like two months or something like that. Two, maybe three months. It was it was less than 90 days. I didn't even do it that long, but that's how like how much it it changes, you know what I'm saying, like how you operate, you know what I mean? So now get off at 3.30. And I'm talking about 3.30, I'm out the door, a book bag on the back, you know what I'm saying? I'm good. I'm on the train, I'm getting off the train, it's it's four, you know what I'm saying? It's like 4.05, 410. I'm getting home, you know what I'm saying? Now I got a choice. I can pick my child up, you know what I'm saying, go straight pick her up, you know what I'm saying? Or if I know my son got practice, band practice till 5, I can go home and just sit for that little half hour, then go back out, pick the kids up, and come home. Wasn't able to do that. And it's like, if you, you know, at my age at 40, pushing 41, that little 30 minutes is a lot. You could be chilling, you could decompress, you can take a little power knife, you can get ahead of whatever task you gotta do around the house. Anything is better than just getting off work and just going doot, doot, doot, doot, doot, never getting a break in between. You know what I'm saying? I I it was sometimes I find myself eating and then falling asleep right after because I just be so exhausted. So that's cool, man. I mean, and and if if AWS work for you, you know what I'm saying, it worked for you. But if that shit don't work for me. And and honestly, man, you know, after two o'clock at my job, it's a dead zone anyway. So I'm sitting around twiddling my fingers for two hours. And I guess some of y'all might love that, but I could be doing something more productive. I could be home, you know what I mean? So that was my last time doing that. Um, what else? Oh, the motorcycle. So if you follow me on social media, you know what I'm saying, uh, on my personal Instagram, Marbury underscore amazing, you know I I've been having this issues with this motorcycle I got. So I have a uh 2014 Victory cross country. It's a cruiser that's equivalent to like a Harley full-size joint with the bags and the radios for those who don't really know motorcycles like that. It's essentially the same as that. You know what I mean? Same bike, just you know, like 10, 10,000 to$15,000 cheap. So big history on Victory motorcycles, they stopped making them in 2017. Not a bad bike, but they don't make them no more and they don't really make parts now. Now people is kind of moving towards the Indian motorcycles, which is cool, but they cost just as much, if not more, than the Harley's. So I bought this bike probably, this will be my third year with the bike, and I've been having nothing but issues with this joint since I had it. When I first bought it, it had it was it's it's black, right? It got like stars. It's nice. It had this big old 26-inch front rim on the front, and it was nice, but it was just like, you know, for the way I ride coming off a sport bike, I hated it because it was hard to turn. You know, if I'm if I'm commuting downtown DC, I gotta wash the potholes. Like, you know what I mean. If I'm coming, you know, if I'm up the highway, I can't really scoot like I want to because if I turn, you know, I ain't got but this much tire on the ground, so easy to lose control of, etc. So took the wheel off, you know what I'm saying, and then I just put a regular 21-inch on there. Cool. Now all of a sudden, for the past year, I've been having these starting issues. And I figured it out, but it's it's kind of a pain in the ass if I've happened. So, in a sense of I would start the bike up in the morning, it would be on the battery tender all night, right? Battery tenders which you you plug into a plug, looks like a like a plug, big plug, and then you plug it into uh a tender that's attached to your battery and to keep your battery charged because motorcycle batteries seem to die like randomly. It's weird. Um, so keep it on the tender all night, make sure the battery is fresh. I fired up in the morning, I go ride to work or go wherever I'm going. But lately, what ended up happening was I would ride for like 30, maybe 45 minutes or so, and I would stop somewhere, and then I would try to start the bike up, it wouldn't start. So I'm just like, damn, what's going on? So I'm thinking, like, well, the starter must be going bad. So boom, I replaced the starter. That wasn't it. I was like, well, you know what? Maybe the relay is bad. So I replaced the relay. That ain't it. I was like, well, you know what? Maybe it's maybe it's the switch assembly because you got the little switch right here that you got to press to turn the bike. I was like, maybe it's that. So I replaced that. Man, I replaced probably a thousand dollars worth of shit, and that still wasn't it, couldn't figure it out. So I'm like, you know what? Fuck it, I'm gonna sell it. Put the bike up for sale, man. Everybody offered me, man,$2,$3. Ain't nobody really trying to pay me. I was trying to sell it for six grand. Nobody wanted to pay me. Bike only got 19,000 miles on it, you know what I mean? So I was like, all right, better keep it. So my man Gus at me, he was like, man, ride that shit over here. Let me just look over it. So boom, I said, all right, I'm gonna take the long way, I'm gonna ride to you. He live all the way out by like a run of meals. So I ride over, you know, I go all the way back to like by like FedEx Field, and then I turn around. Oh, I'm sorry, was it Northwest Stadium? So I go back by like Northwest Stadium, and then I get on the highway, get on 50, take the long way, all the way up Route 50, up 97, all that to get there. So enough that the bike is good and warm. So when I get to him, I pull up in his garage and I say, look, it's dead. Boom, it wouldn't start. So we're looking over the bike, we're trying to figure it out, man. So come to find out, let me get some water. Come to find out, there's this thing called a neutral safety switch, right? So every bike has it. Essentially, it acts as it's letting it's letting the computer on the bike know that the bike is in neutral. So you can on certain bikes, but some bikes, it won't allow you to start the bike unless it's in neutral. You know what I'm saying? Unless you hold the clutch in. So if you hold the clutch in, you can start it. But if you if you don't, it won't go. So what will happen is the neutral safety switch is located in between the motor and the the uh uh the assembly where the clutches and your and your belt is that that turns the back wheel. So when it when the bike gets up to temp, the connector goes bad. So when I pull up to a light and I put the bike in neutral, I would see a big N on there that would say neutral, right? Just like in your car. But what ended up happening is after 30 minutes, I will pull up to a stoplight or stop somewhere, and I'll put the bike in neutral, it'd just be a line. So that's how I know that it's going bad. So once that happens, if I'm not somewhere that I'm gonna be for 45 minutes to an hour, that's where I'm gonna be for 40 minutes, 45 minutes to an hour. So I've been stranded at multiple gas stations waiting for the bike to cool down so I can start it up to get home. So once we figured that out, I was like, cool, we can order the park, right? So but I was like, you know what? The connector was a little loose. So let me put a zip tie around, let me put, let me put some uh electrical tape on, let me see what's going on. I gotta go up Howard tomorrow to see my son. So his band gonna be up there with Howard, Howard University, uh college band here in high school. So I was like, I'm gonna ride up there and I'm gonna test it. So I rode it up there, did the same thing, shit cut off when I got there. So I was like, all right, well, I gotta replace the connector. Ordered the park, you know what I'm saying? Hang hung up there hung up there with my son for a little bit. I'll get into that and into the main topics later. And um, you know, I was there for probably like two, two and a half hours, then I left. Bike started up, right? So I'm like, you know, I'm in DC. I got the music blasting. I'm out here showing off a little bit. Man, my stupid ass stalled at the damn light. And I couldn't get the shit cut back on. I'm like, oh fuck. So I'm like in the middle of the street on like Florida Avenue, trying to like get the bike started and pull it to the side whole time. I just need to put it in gear. Boom. It cut back on because I was only like five minutes from when I left. Take the bike home, you know what I'm saying? As I'm as I'm riding the bike home, I noticed that when I'm hitting the gas, like it's it's taking a minute for the bike to get up. So if you ever hitting the gas, so this essentially what this means is my clutches are going bad now. So if you ever want you ever ride a bike or you ever wonder what what it is when your clutches are slipping, let's say you in you in second gear, you're taking off in the stoplight, you're in first gear, mmm, click, second gear, mmm, click, and let's say it's third gear, and you want to hurry up and get in front of somebody, and you go, mmm, and you hit the gas, and it's gonna go, mmm. That means your clutches are slipping, and it's gonna be a delay, and like you, and the bike, it's like the bike trying to catch up to what you for where your throttle is. That's how you know your clutches are slipper. So now my clutches are slipping, right? And then to make it even worse, you know what I'm saying? I find I I gotta replace the valve cover gasket. So it's been a little pain in the ass, man. But it's like at the end of the day, the bike is paid off, and I'm trying to buy a truck. So it's like I can't buy a new bike and a truck, that'd be very irresponsible. So that's that's part of the uh, yep, that's a part of my weekend recap, man. And it was eventful. And, you know, watch a little bit of basketball too. Let's get into the basketball, though. So far, NBA playoffs is underway. I think you got a couple of teams that's uh headed to game uh three. Majority of them is just doing game one and game two, but you got one or two teams, game three. So I'm just gonna go over briefly because I didn't watch every game, but for the ones I did watch, I'm just gonna say what I'm gonna say. So we'll start on East first. So you got number one Detroit Pistons versus number eight, Orlando Magic. Orlando Magic won the first game. Um And you know, you got some key stats. You know, Kay Cunahan dropping 25 points, nine assists per game. Paulo uh Banquero, 24.7 rebounds. On the injury side, it ain't really nobody hurt. Um, but just from what I watched in the first game, uh, man, that momentum shifted crazy, dog. Like, because Kay Cunningham, he had shit, he was getting buckets. I think he had 30 in that game, man. But I noticed that um their center, their center, I can't remember his name off the top of my head. But their center, who was a key playmaker for Detroit, he wasn't really doing shit. Like he it just seemed like he wasn't really in the game, and they needed him, dog, because when Paulo wasn't hitting, everybody else was hitting, dog. You had uh uh Wagner and man, you had them dudes, they was playing. And you know, I don't really get to see the Orlando Magic games like that. Because that just, you know, they don't really they just show the same fucking six teams all season. But yeah, for them to lose that game in the end, bro. I'm like, ugh, like y'all supposed to be the number one team. So I ain't I wasn't expecting y'all to sweep them, but I definitely wasn't expecting y'all to lose like the the the first game of the playoffs at home. I was not expecting y'all to lose that. So I mean I'm I'm still not worried. I I think Detroit is gonna win. Um, I think it's gonna be uh Pistons and six, but uh yeah, you you can't lose games like that, man. So we'll see. We'll see how game two. I think game two is tonight, so we'll see how that goes. Uh next series, you got Boston Celtics number two versus number seven uh 76ers. Man, I I really want to say that that the 76ers are gonna get swept, but we'll see. Um right now, Jason Tatum hitting, and Joel Embiid, he's hitting too. But um, I think just watching it, man. Boston, they just they're just a better team. Like elite offense, elite defense. They move the ball well, everybody gets involved. It's Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum or Derek White or what's my man, six man of the year? Like, bro, anybody can come in the game and and and literally drop 20 on you, man. And I think the problem with the 76ers is it's like, yeah, Tyrese Maxi gonna get his buckets, but it's like it's all about Embiid. It's like, is Embiid gonna go off or not? Because if Embiid go off and he can stay and he don't get hurt, he don't be having no knee soreness or whatever's going on, like they could legitimately win, but he can't have no off nights because I mean, you know, Boston and Detroit, these questions be the best teams, you know what I'm saying, in the East. So he can't he can't afford to have no off-nights. So that's gonna be the different maker. Um, I still I'm still got Celtics in five on that one. Uh, next game, Knicks versus Hawks. Um I seen this game last night. And I don't care what nobody said. I'm not sold on the Knicks, and I didn't think I couldn't believe that the Hawks won that game last night. Y'all gave that game up. All right. Y'all really, y'all had that game in the bag, and then y'all just let Atlanta come back. And shout out to CJ McCollum, too. He had 32 points. I only say shout out to CJ McCullum because when he was with the Wizards, he wasn't giving a shit. Or bare minimum. But I mean, you know, that's a that's a whole nother chat I want to get into. Um the Julie, you know, the Julius Rand, not Julius Rand, I don't play for them no more. But the um, I'm sorry. The Josh Hart and uh Brunson thing is cool. Cat was doing his thing, but I just don't like the way New York play, man. I just they just too dependent, too dependent on them fouls, dog. They just New York just won in them teams. That's really uh Brunson, like just so dependent on them fouls, bro. Like he he he gonna draw a damn foul on you, man. He's gonna get his buckets. Like, I ain't I'm not saying he's not good, but I don't like I don't like to watch no team where it's just like the whole fucking game is just fouls. Like you got the last two, three minutes of the game, and it's fouls every possession, and you go on the line, you're shooting 12 free throws. But they still lost though. So, and that's that's another one crazy. Home game lost. So that series is tie one. Um at the moment, I'm still saying Knicks in six, but who knows? We'll see how game three goes. It's it's the series of tie one-one right now. Then you got the uh Cavaliers versus Raptors. Uh Cavaliers, number four team.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

We'll be lucky if if if if uh the Raptors win one game. I'm I'm gonna say Cavs in five off bucks. Um Donovan Mitchell going off. I just unstoppable. James Harden. You got Donovan Mitchell giving you 30 something. You got James Harden giving you 20 something. You got you got the role play, you got all their big men. They got the big men handling business. Like you got Mobley out there, like they they I don't know. I'm not saying that the Cav is looking unstoppable, but they should really be stomping uh Toronto's ass. Toronto, they I don't see it. I don't see it yet. I mean, uh and this is another team for a lot of games they don't show, but it looked real lopsided, man, even though, you know, I think they only won by like six or seven points. Like, they were scoring at well, dog. So they just they just look like just a more elite team. So Cavs and five on that. And on the Western side, you got number one OKC versus uh number eight Phoenix. Uh, I mean, Shea, Shea looking like Shea. The free throw merchant is still at large, you know what I'm saying? 31 points a game. Um I just think the only way the Suns stay in this is they gotta, it's just them fast breaks. They gotta be fast break, fast break, fast break. They gotta keep Oakley C running the whole time. And Dylan Brooks, the villain, he's not gonna be enough. He he ain't gonna be able to get in there and stir shit up enough to stop them. I mean, Devin Booker gonna have to go off all fucking game. Uh uh, what's his what's my man's name? J Jalen Green, he's gonna have to go off. Everybody gonna have to go off, dog. So because they just OKC, they just look like the better team. And I I mean, I say OKC and five, but what depends? They might get fucking swept. Um, what else going on? No injuries on that one. Um, yeah, the Sunset, they just look inconsistent, bro. So We'll see. I just see a team full of fucking shooters and I don't see no defense. Uh outside of Dylan Brooks fouling everybody. Next, you got Spurs versus Trail Blazers. Shout out to Danny Avdia out here who left my Wizards, who was only averaging like probably 10-11 points and over here dropping 30-40. But I don't think that's going to be enough, man. I mean, Victor Wilmayana, I mean, come on, man. Like, the Blazers defense look crazy, bruh. Like, Victor Wilmayama not in the game. They got the backup center in there. He's catching oops left and right. You got Castle in there. Man, they, man, the Spurs look crazy, bruh. The Spurs look sweet, sweet. Like, and I seen a couple of games. I ain't just talking about Wimby. Like, Wimby, he's seven for four. He's gonna get his buckets. But I'm talking about as far as like the rest of the team, like, they're like a complete squad, bro. Like, the Trailblazers' whole game plan was like out of the window once Wimby was just literally just kind of staying around in the paint. Nobody really wanted to drive in because they knew that shit was getting swatted all day. So um, I don't know. Um I don't know. I I put Spurs in five, but I don't know. I'm thinking more like I I think they're gonna get swept. I think they're gonna get swept because Denny's gonna get his buckets, you know what I'm saying? He he's really getting his buckets, man. I'm really like happy that Denny is like really cooking, dog, because you know, life after the Wizards, the Wizards. I would never, I would never, unless you came to the team and you was just like some some some garbage, and then you went to another team. Denny was actually like trying. He was like legitimately trying to get buckets with the Wizards, but that shit just wasn't working, so I'm happy for him, man. But I'm gonna go Spurs. Spurs and four. All right. I think they're sweeping them. Uh next, Nuggets and Timberwolves, which I think is gonna be probably one of the most exciting series on the West, or shit, if not in the whole thing. Uh the series right now is tied 1-1. Um, Jokic, you know, triple doubles, you know what I'm saying? Wolves defense, they've been D'Unp, man. Anthony Edwards' been getting his buckets, man. Shout out to Nas Reed. That's my man. That's Big Jelly right there. Pause. Um, you know, you got Rudy Gobert, you know, they they kind of watching him, man, as far as, you know, load management arrest, because he did him with a little injury. But, you know, he defensive player of the year, a couple years in a row for reasons. So they're gonna need him in the game. They definitely gonna need him in the stretch because they might mess around and be playing Spurs, but um, this thing going seven. All right, it's already getting chippy. You got Jokic going again, going, going at it with Anthony Edwards. You got McDaniels talking shit to the team. This thing is gonna go seven. They're going seven games. And neither one of these teams going quietly, man. So I'm excited for that. It's gonna be some late nights that I'm just gonna have to be going to work tired because I cannot miss uh this game, man. So let's go. Um Lakers and Rockets. Um, Lakers is up 1-0 right now. LeBron went off the other night. We put 40 up on him, man. Now, now, as I said before, unless Luca or Austin Reeves coming back sometime soon, he's gonna have to put 40 up a game. And I don't think that's sustainable at his age, man. But we can always hope. And I mean, I don't know what KD's status is. KD didn't play the last game. And honestly, bruh, like, the offense look crazy without him, bro. Like, if he doesn't, if he don't play any of these games, like it'll be Lakers in six. You know what I'm saying? But um, God, come on, KD, man. KD, come on, come on. I don't know what they gotta do. Give him the shot, send him to send him to the UK, wherever Luca went. But you gotta get back on the floor, bruh, because they're not gonna win without you. But that's how it's looking right now. Um, we'll see. I think I think they play tonight, too. We'll be watching that. And uh that's all I got for basketball right now. Now, I'm gonna hold you before I change to my, you know, my change topics, man. Um, I wasn't watching no basketball initially. Like, the basketball really ain't been it ain't really it ain't been doing this. This is the worst product I've seen like in years. You know what I'm saying? You got like got teams tanking, you got eight teams. It's eight teams this year with more than 50 losses, not to mention my Wizards, who got the worst fucking record in the league. They only won 17 games out of 82. But a lot of tanking, man, a lot of flopping, a lot of fouling, a lot of a lot of low management. It's just a really, really bad product right now. And they really saying that, like, like, you know, uh NBA basketball shoes and shit like that is down, people not really buying them. Y'all, y'all giving us some bullshit, man. And it's like, yeah, I'm not saying that, you know, y'all need to give us playoff tier basketball all year, but you need to give us something. All this money y'all making, and y'all can't give us the hoop hoop. I can't forget that for the the guy that played, he the he the uh he the backup point guard for New York. He did a podcast. I think he did a podcast with uh Carmelo and them. And they asked him, like, what's the percentage that you think of uh of the NBA players that actually like love to play? He was like 30%. That's some sad shit, bruh. That's some sad shit for for the players, that's a sad shit for the organization, for the league itself, and for the fans, bruh. Like, y'all really giving us a sad ass fucking product, bruh. And it's really just effort. We just asking for effort. We asking for y'all to play every night as you contractually should be doing. We asking for the for the when the all-star shit comes. I'm not saying get out here and play hard as a bitch in the NBA All-Star game. But I'm saying, like, for the dunk contest, like for the skills challenge, like play for real, bruh. Like, play. If you selected, because I know they'd be like, well, you know, you only get a couple of days, like they get the whole week. It used to, bro, the the all-star used to be like three days, bruh. Nowadays the whole week, yeah. So we can't complain, y'all gotta get no rest. We can't, we, we can't use that. But bro, give us what we are asking for. Because if we don't watch it, how do y'all continue to get paid these high-ass salaries? If we go next year and half of the viewership for the NBA go down, they're gonna be chopping them checks. Especially for the ones who just who ain't guaranteed, they're gonna be chopping the shit out of the checks. So I would think, you know, it'll behoove y'all to really think about that when y'all decide to be on bullshit and or go out to go out to the strip club the night before and then be oh, I'm out for for sickness or personal reasons, whatever the fuck y'all be doing. So I'm just saying, just give us a better product, man. On to the next. All right, so I call this segment camera space. All right. This is around the time where I'm essentially just shit. Let me get my shit together. This is when I usually share my my thoughts, my camera thoughts, which are so I got a few people that I call in, I call it talk shop. All right. I got my man K Dot, you know what I'm saying? I got my and I got my man Glenn. Shout out, shout to them. Um, these are the main two people, and I, you know, a few others I may talk to here and there, but these are my main folks that I talk to when I just want to talk camera, when I got ideas, when I have a vision, when I have when something don't make sense, I need it when I need technical advice, and also when I want to buy shit. And I'm gonna buy shit. So right now, where I'm at as far as camera space, it's a few things. One, it's um overall production. So I think, you know, for right now, as far as where I've been and the things I've done for this year, things have been okay, you know what I'm saying? Not as many gigs as I would like, you know what I'm saying? But I also had to sit back and think. It's like, well, how many gigs you want? Because you already all caught always saying you're busy. You know what I'm saying? In my mind, I was like, well, shit, if I can get, you know, one or two gigs a month, uh you really want one or two, you really want two gigs a month, full-time job, full-time husband, full-time parent, you know what I'm saying? Full-time podcaster, full-time photographer, videographer, video editor, podcast editor, gamer, shit, content creator. It's a lot of full-time up in there. I don't I don't I don't know if if if if I really got the bandwidth to do with what my vision is telling me that I really want to be out here. Like, and I want first say shout out to the photographers that's in my area, like the local photographers, like um LaCelle photo, is it's uh Sliz behind the lens, uh Twin behind the lens. Uh it's it's it's a young boy that just started following Lou Ya shot it or something like that. He man, just man, it's this this guy, man. He's been shooting everything. He should shoot a lot of the events in the area, man. Like, but they do that shit full time, though, bruh. Like they be everywhere. Uh Cosby Digital, um, O lot, O lot parking lot, you know what I'm saying? I live art, born to win media. Um it's some it's some folks I'm missing, man. If I'm missing y'all, but I'm just I'm just shouting. I be watching, bro. Like I watch other photographers for inspiration, not to be copying their work to be jealous of what they're doing for inspiration. Just I love to see creativity. I feel like we we're in a stage where it's too many tutorials, too many gear reviews, and it's too many. Oh, if you want to make money, you should do this. Man, just show me your work, all right? Show me your shit, show me your stuff, all right. I don't want to see all that. I know enough. I just I want to see just how other people tick, man. But um, shout out to them though, man. And um, you know, I had a gig in March, man, and and and you know, I'm starting to I'm starting to see the photos that I took, you know, I mean, hit the net, and and you know, the folks tagging me, man. That's cool, bro. Like one of the young artists, man, he took my picture and he made his profile picture, man. Let me clap that up. Listen, let me tell you, as a photographer, bro, when you see somebody take a picture that you took and they make that shit your profile picture, man, that's a check in the box, bro. That means they fucking with you, bro. Like people, they tagging me want to do collabs, man. You know, DMs. Hey man, you got any more than pictures, man? Pictures was dope. Like, you know, we we we we like that. I like that recognition, man. That's you know, that's one of my love languages, is is is is words of affirmation. So um, I appreciate that, man. But now, you know, initially when I bought this camera, my Sony A74 that I'm shooting on, initially when I bought this camera, like I was taking that shit to work with me all the time. I'm telling I was taking it with me everywhere, man. I'm just like, this bitch heavy, man. This lens, this lens, I would take my 24 to 70 with me. I would take my 70 to 200. I'm walking around in my work clothes, big ass camera slung over my hip. So it's like now, man, I want a point and shoot, man. So you know what a point and shoot is? A point and shoot is so I'll give you the best example I can give you. You remember them old Polaroid joints, you could be like, click, and you you you whine and shit, mm-mm, cut the flash on it take the picture. That's pretty much what a pointy shoot is, but it's digital, though. So my thing is, yeah, my phone could do could do the work and shit like that, but you know, a camera is a camera, the phone is a phone. It's just there's always limitations. These phones, they kind of use AI to kind of artificially make shit look the way it looks. Camera is gonna be from scratch, and it's your job to make it look the way you want to look. So I've been looking at this point and shoot made by Sony. It's called the uh RX uh 100 uh Mark 7, and it's a pointing shoot, it's got like a 20 megapixel sensor, uh I think it's a one-inch sensor, and it's supposed to be supposed to be as big as my phone, it's supposed to be as big as this, and it's supposed to do the job. Now, I've been on the fence, I've been looking at it for a couple months, but I really do want a point and shoot it. I want something when I travel, like I'm going to Florida in July, like I don't want to take this whole camera, I just want to take some small shit and do what I want to do. I was also looking at a Fuji film as well, but it's like if I bought a Fuji film, I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice, but it's not like compact, compact. And do I really want to learn a whole new ecosystem right now? New camera ecosystem. I don't know, I don't think so. So what I'm gonna do is if y'all ever heard of this place called Aperture Rent, it's a joint in DC. They got them in a couple of states, and I'm pretty sure they got other type of camera rental spots similar to this wherever you live, wherever you're tuning in. Um, where I'm I'm renting a camera on Friday, I'm renting it for the for the weekend over three days, and I'm gonna test it out. I'm gonna test the shit out of it. I'm taking pictures of everything. I already know the limitations. I know that it don't take good pictures at night, you know what I'm saying? I know the video ain't really hit like that. It's really just for photos at, you know what I'm saying, during the day. And if it's cool, I might come, I might buy it. It's like$1,500 though. So you know I'm gonna pay power credit, that shit. But that's that's more that's another thing that I'm thinking about doing, you know what I'm saying? Because, you know, I like to buy stuff, man. It's it's that's just that's just one of many. I think I'm gonna be that guy. Am I getting sick? Let me get some more water, y'all. While I'm getting some water, man, again, if you're feeling this, man, share, subscribe. Share, subscribe. All right now. They're piling up, man. They're piling up to no good, too, man. So make sure y'all keep that Zertek or that clarity on deck. Anyway, that's just one of the many things that I would like in the camera space. So I would like a point and shoot. Um I would like I would like an upgrade to the camera that I have. Currently using the A7 IV. It's a phenomenal camera, but like in a perfect world, well, I don't know, I don't know how how true I really want to do this. Because in my mind, it's like I would love to have a camera that's really photo first and a joint that's video first. That way I could be like, nah, I only take pictures, I don't do videos. Because I mean, you know, I'm I'm kind of reaching a crossroad where I think in the next year or so I would like to make a choice, but I'm like good at both, though. You know what I'm saying? But so and the reason why I would say that it is because um editing photos is easy to me. Editing photos is easy, it's just all about the composition. If the composition is there, if the lighting is there, if the mood and the emotion and all that is there, editing it is easy. But that video, bro, like you gotta really, really like be locked in. I ain't even talking about like the effects and all that other shit. I'm just talking about just taking good video. Like, are your set are your settings right? You know what I'm saying? Are you shooting in log? Are you shooting in 20? Are you shooting in 24 frames per second, 30 or 60? Are you it's your is your shutter speed, you know what I'm saying, matching that, you know what I'm saying? So you can get that cinematic that it worked. I wish we could, I'm ready to put the cinematic word to bed because cinematic is just a word. Anything, anything you do, you can call it that. But like this whole everything gotta be dreamy looking. That's it don't have to be like that. Sometimes you gotta you you can shoot in fucking 30. I'm shooting in 30 frames right now. Um, which we usually will be 24, but I'm shooting at 30. I can shoot in 60. Sky's the limit. Um, but I just lost my train of thought. Yeah, video editing, man, it's a lot, dog. And then it's like, you know, I think another problem for me is I've been using Final Cut Pro. I've been using it since I'm I'm I'm the original, like, I paid$2.99 like eight years ago, and you can't tell me shit. And I refuse to go and pay a monthly subscription for another video service. I tried Premiere Pro. I just feel like the the the ecosystem is not really like user-friendly, and you just kind of all gotta already know what shit is. I feel like the workspace is real tight, and I know you can collapse and all this. I don't want collapse shit. I just want everything on there, and I could just kind of move it here and there. So I might have to might have to uh graduate to DaVinci Resolve only because they say the color grading on that joint is amazing, they say there's endless tutorial videos. I mean, there's there's still a lot of Final Cut Pro tutorials and shit like that, but like DaVinci is just new, and it's new, it's better, and they just keep coming out with shit, and they keep coming out with shit. Even though uh Apple did come out with that Creator Studio, which is kind of like the rival to Premiere Pro. And uh shit, DaVinci, they got photo editing now, and it's free. So it seemed like you're really trying to push Premiere Pro out of the picture, but I'm still gonna pay for my Lightroom and Photoshop, though. So I think that's just what I'm missing. And yeah, video editing, man, it's a time thing, man. Like you can't you can't rush that. Like when I make my little videos for myself, it's different because I'm making it on like a smaller scale. You know what I'm saying? I'm just putting the camera here, recording it, putting it there, recording. If I'm recording my kids, I'm just following them around. But when you're doing like like professional videography work, like you gotta know what you're doing, bro. Especially if somebody out here paying you a thousand dollars and shit, because we ain't doing no$500 shit. You you want some video video, that shit gonna be a stock off bucks. What were they saying? Uh and Kali? Dead homies. Yeah. But you gotta know what you're doing, man. So I think with respect to my time, man, like I'll I'll probably always do video, but I don't think I would like really, really promote myself to do that shit for hire. Now, if we're talking about producing a podcast or something like that, that shit easy. I can do that, but like high-end, like gimbal type shit, I ain't investing in all that, man. So but on to my last segment, man, and it is caveated into cameras, that's why I did that. So they call this my proud parent moment. All right. So as I mentioned earlier, I rode the bike up to Howard University. And I went up there to see my son because I shoot the media for my son's high school band. I shoot media for them. I've been doing it for a year. It's been it's been demanding, but it has it has been it has been fun, though. I I have no complaints. Um, but so on Friday, he did a workshop with North Carolina AT's band. He tells me that they're the best band in the country and they they do sound pretty good. So he did that. He came home, was like, man, might have been the best day of my life. All right. So then the next day, he went to Howard. They took the bus up there, they spent a whole day with him. They had breakfast with him, they worked out with him, they had classes. They was really like teaching them like what it's gonna be like when they get to college type shit. And I got there, you know, probably mid-afternoon, and you know, I just pulled up and just watched, you know, Howard band, you know, do their little performance and just watching my son, and he is just really like, he is really, really into this band stuff, man. Like, it's just really, really happy. Shout out to my son, shit. Shout out to my son, man. Shout out to Aiden, I love you, man. My son be 16 this year, man. And I always say this, I know him, he he be like, eh, whatever, but man, my son played basketball from age six to about 13 or something like that. And he been in the band since he got to high school. So he wouldn't have been in the band two years. And man, like the look in his eyes, like watching him in his environment, you know, just his freedom of expression, just how he just is, is just warms my heart, man, because I can see he's really found like his spot. He really found his niche to what he loves to do. Like, not only do he be busting his ass, you know what I'm saying, in the band, like he comes home, he got his little pad, he be beating on the fucking pad all day, all night. He be watching YouTube videos, beating on the pad all day, all night. He be FaceTime and his buddies, they be having beat on the pad offs and shit, whatever you want to call it. Man, he be locked the fuck in, dog. And, you know, I just never, I never saw this coming. I never saw like the band. And I'm just I'm just so happy, man. I really am. Like, just know, like, you know what I'm saying? You know, when you when you when you're hard work, man, when you go out here, you provide a good life for your family, you know, you expose your kids to everything, as much stuff as possible. Let them try this, let them try there. A lot of trial and error. And when they find what they what it is that they really want to do, man, you really appreciate that because he is just he in good hands, man. I I know that, you know what I'm saying? There's always something positive for him to do. They got practice all the time. There's really not a lot of time to be like out here on bullshit because you know that's what happens when kids don't have nothing to do. They be on bullshit. They be down, they be down for in Nats Park, terrorizing shit. So um, I'm just proud of him, man. You know, I I want to go go too in detail with it, man, but um just want to let my son know I'm I'm proud of you every day. So, but that's all I got for tonight, man. Again, I appreciate y'all standing by and the 100 downloads, man. Bring it back real quick. Have a seat, have a seat. Just want to let y'all know, man. Like Audio podcasting, you know what I'm saying? It it it's it's the original and it's the purest form to consume a podcast, but again, like a hundred clicks, I don't care if it's it's 13 or 14 episodes, and that meant that was between eight to ten people per per episode. That's still a hundred. That's 100. If 100 people walked up to you on the street, it was like, hey, I listen to your podcast, you'd be like, What the fuck? You'd be thinking that it's a goddamn angry mob or something. So if you out here and you podcasting, you know what I'm saying, or you know, you know, you just in the space, bro. Just know that them downloads count. They mean something like that. It helps, it helps with discoverability because if you you a loyal listener or viewer, you watching on YouTube, you locked in. The more you lock in, the more you tell other people to lock in, the algorithm will push that, you know what I'm saying? And then more people can get the good, can get the good word, they can get the good gospel. I'm in here talking, man. And then, you know, who knows, man? That shit could turn into something. Maybe I can quit my job and and get a real studio. We can be doing, I don't know, who knows? I'm just speaking out loud. But I just want to let you know I appreciate y'all. All right, and I'm gonna keep doing it. I know we'll be tired. I know I missed last week. Just bear with me, man. We just need to make it to NBA Finals, and then we're done, and then we'll be done until September. You know, I'll be I said that too. I said I said that, you know, once NBA Finals was done, we was gonna stop. I was gonna stop and just have my summer. I don't know. We'll see. Because as much as I like to talk sports, I like to talk other shit too, and that's why I'm glad I called it sports and then call it perspective. Because you just never know. You you might next week you might not get no sports. I might be so hellbent on another topic that the basketball is gonna have to get put on the shelf. But I think that's the beauty when you got your own shit to talk about whatever you want. So, but I appreciate y'all, man. This is episode 14. I am a holler, y'all. Captain Out