Edgar Ortiz

The guys sit down with Antelope Valley's Edgar Ortiz to discuss his life as a top tier insurance agent as well as his dedication to giving back to his community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Welcome to the deep diving in the speakeasy podcast with your hosts, Justin Reno and Bart Avery.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

And we are back again here in the uh proverbial speakeasy. It's a beautiful uh it's always a beautiful atmosphere and day and or night.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

It feels very nice in here.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, it's it the weather's perfect, the temperature's perfect, the uh um yeah, it's like we're just away from all the hustle and bustle in the world and it's not a hundred degrees inside here, so it's not a hundred degrees inside. And man, I'm super excited about our guest um that we've got with us today who's just lighting up his cigars, right, Edgar? What up, yep, just lighting up. What up, man? Actually, mine went out. I gotta redo it here. So um we usually ask that question before we start, but uh Edgar couldn't wait. So we always say cigar, no cigar. Edgar, as soon as he got here, he goes, Can you can I have a cigar right now, please? So that's why we did that. And then um we are gonna uh offer you an adult beverage. Uh what uh you met Buzz when you came in. Buzz our two double left-handed uh bartender. Hey Buzz. Buzz, what's going on? He's trying to wave at us with both left hands. All right, we're gonna be funny, man. So uh what what can we what can Buzz get you? Uh he got me a glass of uh what am I drinking? Pinot. I'll take uh whiskey whiskey on the rocks or on the rocks, please. Yeah, and uh Justin, what can you get you, man?

SPEAKER_02 2:01

You know I always keep to the standard of bravery for you. Fat boy the fat boys, yeah. And they are one of our standards. They are one of our sponsors. That's why I gotta keep drinking them while they are a sponsor. I don't want to piss them off. You don't piss them off.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yeah. Okay. So um today we have with us Mr. Edgar Ortiz. And Edgar and I have, I think, been friends now for about eight, nine, seven, eight, nine years. Something like that, yeah. Something like that, yeah. Yeah. And we're not gonna talk about it, but didn't we just go to Hawaii?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Oh, yes we did. Yes, we did. How was that? Oh, it's horrible. It's an ugly place.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

What was that guy always telling us about uh that Emilio guy? He was saying it was Oh, it's junk. It's junk, yeah. Every day you wake up and yeah, so yeah, don't go visit.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

If you if you got anywhere to go, go to somewhere else. I'll scratch it off my list. Yeah, Death Valley.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Never been, but I'll scratch it off my list. Um I was saying a lot of times when we were there, I'd wake up in the morning and look out and say, Man, if I could if I was in Lake LA right now, I'd be super happy. But you know, if if this is you know, the plane ride home is is you know, to change your plights is a little tricky, so I had to just stick it out for a few days. Dirtier the water the better. But we had a good time, and I think that was your very first time in Maui, and I can't remember Hawaii too.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah, first time in Hawaii, first time on Maui, of course. So it was it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah, it was beautiful. So we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna uh give you a few minutes here to just talk a little bit about kind of uh just a brief synopsis on you know what you started with in your life and where you are today, and then we're gonna drill down after that.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

So uh yeah, like you don't have to start when like you were a baby. Like you don't have to go that far.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Back when I had a pacifier in my mouth. Before my first steps.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Were you wearing Pampers or what what's the other brand? Loves. I was a Huggies.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

There's loves. There is loves. L-U-V-S. I know my diapers.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Let's let's take it way back. Well, that I mean, this is uh an amazing speakeasy. Thank you, Buzz, for the drink.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

This is cheers, cheers to you, Buzz. Cheers, Buzz. Yeah, we love you, buddy. Let's kick it off with a quick swig here. Yeah, I don't know. Okay, let's have a swig. I love it. I'm glad you're relaxed and everything.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Oh, anyway. Yeah. So I mean, my story is pretty straightforward. I mean, I came from the Antelope Valley. Well, I my parents actually moved to the Antelope Valley when I was two years old. So my my memory of Burbank was very, very minimal. Um Antelope Valley's been my home for some amount of time now. Uh went to one of the most prestigious high schools in the Antelope Valley, Antelope Valley High School.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Good spot to go to school. I think it was uh you know, I got I got uh pretty tough there, I'd say. So um we learned how to fight.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Learned how to take a punch for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

How many fights were you in?

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Probably about three or four during that time. So I I think I I did pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Alright, right, yeah. I mean, you're still here, so that's still.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

But uh it was it was uh it was a fun school to go to, you know. There was there was uh you couldn't wear colored shoelaces, you couldn't do wear certain clothes at the time, so it was kind of changing, you know. You get a lot of that LA um uh gangbanging violence coming down this way. We call them the the rejects from LA. So where the gangs would send all their people that couldn't cut it in LA, they'd end up out here. Uh but uh I did not know that was a thing. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Oh yeah. What year did you go to AB?

SPEAKER_03 5:51

Uh I graduated in 05. So it was like oh yeah, 2000 2001 to 2005. Okay. So that you know it was uh good school. Good school. But yeah. After high school, I d I packed my bags, I worked for a little bit, and then I moved to Sacramento. Sacramento as a 17, 18-year-old kid. I just jumped in my car and took off. So all my family was still here, and uh, I had a friend that lived out there in Sacktown, and I just went over there and hopped couches with him, and we shit. I stayed out there for about eight years, it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

By the way, cussing is allowed here, just FYI.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Stick to four-letter words, four-letter swear words.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Whatever whatever fits the uh you know, the feeling that you have, like, you know. I've tried to make it through here without the F bomb F bomb, but it always comes out somehow.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Sneaks its way into the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I really do try though.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Yeah. I'm trying to be conscious of how many times I swear. I'm I'm I'm usually pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

We could do like a counter, like that'd be cool. Yeah, and just see how many fucks you find out that you dropped in one episode.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

That'd be kind of cool. Do you try to not cuss in front of your kids, especially some of the younger ones?

SPEAKER_03 7:05

I try really hard, but the baby is now three years old and she's saying, Oh shit. No. She drops her little uh Barbie doll and still goes, Oh shit. I'm like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

That's great. That's uh my brother in law, my my niece. Uh uh she would grow up listening to him playing Call of Duty, and for some weird reason, his favorite thing to say when he would get like killed or whatever is Mother Bitch. He would just shout that. She started saying that while she was watching him play, and I'm like, oh see, that was all you, dude. Wow, you're the one that did that.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

That's great. Wait till she says, Mother Bitch, I need a sandwich.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah. Yeah, that's so moving along here. So Sacramento, and then Yep.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

So Sacramento, I lived there for a bit, worked at some different jobs out there, lived in downtown Sacramento, and had the most amazing time. Sacramento's got an incredible culture. They have I discovered this when I had a neighbor who was lesbian, and we became good friends. We eventually adopted each other. She became my sister, I was I was her brother. And she would take me to all these gay bars, me being a straight guy. I was like, whatever, you know, I can I'm comfortable in my sexuality. And the the the gay parties are awesome. Yeah we always had a good time. We went to this uh bar they had what they called welfare Wednesday, where it was like a dollar shots, and you could just get liquored up for ten bucks. Yeah. It was insane. So uh the the street was all covered in rainbow flags, and I'll say some of the some of the best times I ever had as a young adult were over there at the good old gay bars. So it was it was good. It was good.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Yeah, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

But um then Sacramento, we um where I uh was working. Eventually I just kind of got tired of it and I wanted to get come back to Lancaster. I ended up using all my vacation time to come visit the Antelope Valley, and I thought, yeah, I'm tired of vacationing to the Antelope Valley, so let me just move back there and I can vacation elsewhere because I still had family out here. So one year I just got this crazy idea to do a cross country bike trip, and that's pretty much how I left Sacramento was with this big awesome trip.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah, we're gonna get into that uh at the end because uh part of our show is tell us five very either deep, dark secrets or just interesting facts about yourself that maybe your wife doesn't even know. And uh that was one of them. And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Which hey, if that got you out of the city, I mean it worked, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah. Crazy, man.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

But Sacramento was good growing, um, you know, p hanging out by the rivers, uh, you know, it was it was like a constant party over there. And I was, you know, 19, 20, 21. Um, I was actually growing hops out there too in Sacramento.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So it was you know the hop, you know, you know that I found this out is the uh the hop plant is um uh in the member the family member cannabis. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I don't know, you know, who who got crazier the first. You know, was it the hop plant that makes the beer or is it the marijuana that gets uh you know I think they was getting the Indian stone back. Yeah, I think they were the first ones that start smoking the peace pipe or whatever the hell that was. The devil's lettuce, yep. But you were you were in the hop business for a while. That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

I was, I was.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

What would you do with the hops?

SPEAKER_03 10:53

So funny, we're talking about cannabis and hops. I was actually trying to figure out how to graft a cannabis plant onto a hops plant. Hops plant, and is this safe space to talk about a little bit of uh cultivation?

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, sure. Yeah, of course. Well the the other the other thing, uh Edgar, is that's another part of one of your five things that you're kind of getting into, and now it makes sense to me that you're that's your way your mind's working. Yeah, yeah. Okay, go ahead, sorry.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Yeah, so so the hops plant is a perennial. Are you familiar with this?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I should be, but okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Yep, so hops plant is a perennial, which means that the root system stays in the ground year after year. Marijuana is an annual. So that means every year the marijuana seeds uh you know go to go to sprout, turn to flower, and then eventually die off. So the goal between grafting a marijuana plant onto a hops vine is imagine you have a 10-year-old hops root system, which is massive. It's gonna be about the size of you know ten square feet roughly, 10, 20 square feet. And you can put a hops plant onto that graft. How big do you think that hops that I'm sorry, you can put a marijuana plant onto that graft, how big do you think that marijuana plant is gonna be in one season? Pretty freaking huge.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

I mean, yeah, but I would assume that it would be because of the root system tapping into or what?

SPEAKER_03 12:18

Because of the root system that it's tapping into. So I was never able to fully perfect it, but it was on my bucket list of one of the things I wanted to accomplish.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I should we cut this out of the thing? Because to me, people are gonna run out and start doing this.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

They should. They should. Okay. Yeah, I want I want somebody to do it because I'm not gonna do it anymore. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Maybe maybe they'll name, maybe if it becomes super famous, they'll name it after you, you know. If you were kind of the inventor of it. That'd be nice. That'd be nice.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

That'd be cool. It'd be like the guy that, you know, when you name a star that you first see, that'd be nice. The Ortiz hybridization. That'd be cool. It's got a nice risk.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

I thought there was a twinkle in your eye there. I really hit with you. Right? You know that song Everybody Must Get Stung. Everybody must get Ortized. Or teased. I like it. Right? The teased art. Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

I'm a fan of this. Yeah, we're just we're just creating stuff on them. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

But it was cool. It was a cool experiment. Um there was people that tried to do it in the past, they wanted to get they did the opposite. They tried to get marijuana roots to sprout hops and then make the hops have THC, but plants don't really work that way. So cool shit. Okay, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Now jump jump ahead another three or four years, and now you're what in your mid-twenties or something.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Yep. Fast forward mid-20s, um working at a car dealership here. I was actually managing a used car lot, which was a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Wow, you did that too? Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

That was good.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Because that's that's really kind of out there a little bit being doing the carb thing.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

It was it was salesy for sure. It was very salesy. It was like uh, you know, the Camacho sales. So it was uh, you know, buy here, pay here type deals, uh 26% interest rates. Uh we were selling them all day. Uh some crazy stuff. We'd get cars that had like bullet holes and old brownish stains in there. So it's uh little edgy.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Gus is a friend of mine, by the way, so I don't I don't want him to sue us over something here. So you're just making all this stuff up, right? This didn't happen at Camacho Auto Score. This was a totally different location. This is one of his competitors that was doing the bullet hole thing. Well, yes. Okay, thanks. Do you hear that, Gus? We're trying to get Gus as a sponsor of this podcast, so I just want to Oh, good.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Starting that relationship off well.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Okay, so bullet holes and uh 26% interest rate. And brown stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah. It was fun times.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

All right, now we're no mage 30 ish. Yeah. What are you you're 60, 65 now, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:58

About 62. 62.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Oh, you can get social security now, I think.

SPEAKER_03 15:01

Almost. Almost. Yeah. Well, like 80%.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, okay. That's good.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Good enough to live in New Hampshire, probably. Uh fast forward to 30-ish. Uh I opened an insurance office. Got tired of bullet holes in cars and thought, you know, why not insure them instead? So got into the insurance business and here we are today hanging out with you fine folks in the the most beautiful, speakeasy world in the world.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Wherever we are, yeah. Somewhere here. Yeah. Somewhere. We do we do disclose it is in Southern California, but we're not sure where it is exactly. We had we did we blindfold you?

SPEAKER_03 15:44

I I was blindfolded.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yeah, that's what I thought. It was a dark SVV that picked him up? Yeah. A lot of guys with with suits and sunglasses on and stuff, you know. One leather glove and dark ray bands.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And Buzz, how does Buzz get here? Does he know where he is? Buzz.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

You you have a room set up for him. He lives here. He's never allowed to leave. I didn't know that. Yeah. You didn't know that you keep him here.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

I have a big house. I don't know, man. Buzz does it.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

I don't know so many people that live here, man.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Buzz doesn't even know what time of the day it is right now. Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

No, he doesn't know. Slightly close to kidnapping, but alright.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So, okay, the name of your uh insurance company business is Edgar O'T's agency.

SPEAKER_03 16:26

It's a farmer's insurance for the right.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Now, how did you come up with that name? Well, way back when I was about to You could have called it Bullet Hole Agency. That would have been kind of cool. Like, you know, you get bullet holes in your car, I can I can cover that. I can fix that for free.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Bullets and Brown insurance agency.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Yeah. No, it was um it took a lot of work. It took a lot of time to figure out that name. Uh when you open a farmer's insurance branch, they just kind of slap your name onto it. So I just kind of followed that model. So it was good. It worked. It worked. Makes it easy to remember for me.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

And in all honesty, uh, and we'll get into this a little bit more um as we go on here, but um, yeah, ever s I think ever since I've pretty much known you, you've been uh you've been in that business, and uh you're highly respected in this community. And we'll get into that too, because one of the reasons I wanted to have you on this podcast is because um you know my family and I have been out here for quite some time and we we know who the people are in this community that really give back to the community. And I've seen so many examples where and that's you, buddy. That is a hundred percent you. Oh, thank you. And and you're just you know, people know who you are. I don't you know, everybody has enemies, you know. Sometimes people are just jealous, but I I don't know anybody that that that has a bad word to say about you. I just think everybody loves you and they see what you do, and it's a big damn deal. And uh that's that's the number one reason I wanted to have you on this podcast and what you do. And we'll get into that some of that stuff too. And it's like some of the especially the the five facts, the some of the stuff you you put in there. I I couldn't believe what you were doing. Um, you know, you've helped us out quite a few times, you know. I mean, you've donated uh like water bottles, you know, they have your uh logo and and stuff on it, and uh you're the first guy just to step up and say, I want to help.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

I appreciate it. Appreciate it. I like that's one of the good parts of the business is getting being able to give back. So hopefully people still want to do business with me after they hear some uh some of these interesting facts or crazy stories, but we'll we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

I think you're gonna get more customers out of this, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

We can relate with that guy getting liquored up on a welfare Wednesday there. Welfare Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Oh, is today Wednesday? I didn't know that. Is today Wednesday? No, I don't know what day it is. It could be Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's not Wednesday, actually. No. It's Christmas Eve, right? What is that?

SPEAKER_03 18:52

Yeah, I'm supposed to be wrapping presents right now, actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Presents, yeah. For oh, that's another thing we're gonna talk about is yeah, he's got a lot of kids. Uh oh. Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

That he knows about. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

Yeah. Yeah, there could be You never know. Probably zero out there that I don't know about. Jeez. Well no, I I I think it's good to give back to the community. I I I did I do find that when you give, you tend to receive a lot more. I mean it's it's I don't know if it's like uh without getting too religious, I don't know if it's just the way the universe works, but it's it creates kind of this magnetism that stuff ends up coming back to you the more you can put out. And so I I truly believe that, and that's one of the things that we you know, I I constantly try to do. I encourage my team to do is find opportunities, get back um and also teach others so that way you learn more when you're out there teaching people. I think that's just solid rules to live by.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Oh yeah. My wife Sandra, who's um very religious, and you know, I am too. Um she always likes to say God's watching and God's watching, you know. I mean, you do stuff and it's like, wow, amazing.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

So the community's watching too.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

So the community watches, and they and honestly, the community needs it.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Uh the community always needs yeah, the community always needs uh people like you. So appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Um what are we gonna come back with? Uh we're gonna be diving into a lot of the stuff that he does do for the community. We're gonna be uh we're gonna be picking at that. Um and we're gonna get a little bit more of a background with you. We're not we're not just gonna just leave it at like, oh, you just got you were doing insurance and then that was it. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna dive a little bit deeper. Uh we're gonna be right back after this quick message.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

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SPEAKER_02 22:00

Ortiz. We were talking uh briefly about his uh his comeuppins here and uh what he was doing um when he got to uh the Antelope Valley. Now we want to touch on uh we kind of led into it before uh we went into the break uh about uh community and the stuff that you do for the uh Antelope Valley. Um why don't you go ahead and kick us off with some of the stuff uh that you are involved in out here? Uh you have a plethora of nonprofits that you are a part of um that's helping a lot of people out here. Why don't you go ahead and jump into some of these?

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Yeah, awesome. Um the Kawanas Club is one of the major clubs that we're that I'm a part of. Uh Koanas uh is a group that donates money back to different kids' organizations. Or every every city has their own specific thing that they that they do. Our Kwanas Club, Kwanas of Lancasters specifically, is more of a fundraising club. So what they do is they get a bunch of business people together, we find cool ideas to raise money, and then we turn around and donate that money to kids, uh nonprofits or organizations that we think should get that money. Uh it's very easy. The the group of uh business owners that are there do not have like a huge set of requirements to qualify for getting grants from them. As long as what you're doing makes sense and benefits the kids in some type of way, they're usually pretty eager eager to give out. They don't want to hold on to that money for the project. Right, yeah. So that one's uh we we've been able to give back to um different organizations that help with like uh foster care, that are providing laptops for um you know uh women that are trying to transition out of uh potentially bad situations. Uh they've helped raise money for even uh kids feeding kids and donating to the livestock auctions and very various other uh organizations throughout the AV that they donate money to. So that that one's a big one. Near and dear to my heart. Kids I think could use all the support they can get. I truly believe it takes a village uh to raise kids, and so being able to give back to the community is awesome that way. Um I'm also part of the we've done I've donated to URNF Foundation. That's another foundation that's near and dear to my heart. Um you know they I have had a few friends that have committed suicide over the years, and um it's it's it's terrible, you know, to see to be to be the ones, you know, seeing that where it was something that could have either they could have been approached or they could have been talked to, you know, if if only you could see a crystal ball of what you know what a buddy of yours is gonna do in the next you know year or so, I think all all of us would reach out and try to stop it. So URNF foundation does amazing things to open the door, give you safe space to kind of vent some of those um you know troubles that people are carrying around and living with on a day-to-day basis. So I think you know the work that they're doing is outstanding very much so.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

And it's and it's primarily Jackie. Yeah, Jackie is I mean she's she's pretty much a hundred percent of it. Yeah, absolutely. And she's just nonstop, you know. It was her son that committed suicide and uh kind of started that whole ball rolling with what she does. But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

Yeah, Jackie Jackie's got such a big heart and you know, all the all the love that she wishes she could pour into her son, but she's pouring it out into the community to try and help other people.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I think that's yeah, she's got goosebumps as you said that. It's just like yeah. She's her the passion in her life now is is to remember her son and to and to try to take a negative and turn it into a positive as best she can. And that's the way I look at it.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

So absolutely, and prevent and prevent other situations like that if she can. I mean, even if she can help one life, that's yeah, one life.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

That's one life.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

No, I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Um and then you know, I'm also part of God, there's so many organizations we give money to.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

So I don't know how you you have time to sell insurance, dude.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah, dude. I'm telling you, it's a huge list that you are a part of of just all of these organizations that you are that you have your hand in. It's it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Let me let me say this too, is there's a lot of insurance companies out here. A lot of people know you know who the brokers are or whatnot. Sure. You can call yourself a broker, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:42

Or yeah, yeah, insurance.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Well, I'm a farmer's agent, but you're an agent broker. Yeah. And you know, I mean it it it it does make sense from a marketing standpoint, you know, to do what you do to promote your business, but I get the sense that you don't do it for that reason necessarily. And you know, I mean, if that was the thing, if that's the way you get customers to sign up with you with your insurance, everybody'd be doing it. And I don't I there's there's a few other people out there, but nobody on a level that you do it.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

And I I just think that am I am I right? I mean, it's just like I I just don't see too many people that are that involved with helping the community like you are. And it just pays off, I'm sure, in spades, as far as people say, like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Well, I I think it comes down to you wouldn't the one of the first like handfuls of people that you would think of not partaking in you know organizations like this. The first thing you're gonna think of is oh, an insurance agent is gonna, you know, go out there and try to help the community. Oh, that you go and you try to get insurance and it's this whole like you know, spiel, and everybody doesn't think that it's all like, you know, whatever, they're just trying to get my money or whatever. But no, like there is a rarity of people that actually care and give a damn about other people, and it's nice to see someone like you uh who is in that position and is actually putting boots to the ground and doing you know, giving back to the community like this. It's incredible to see. Thank you. Absolutely incredible to see. Yeah, there's just not a lot. There's not a lot, yeah. Yeah, very small percentage.

SPEAKER_03 28:25

Well, uh, I I give to anywhere I can because those those things are near and dear to my heart. So uh I like being able to take people's you know hard-earned money that they pay their insurance premiums with that that they hate paying insurance premiums with. Sure, who loves doing that? Nobody likes paying for insurance. No, nobody likes paying for insurance. It's not fun. No, but honestly, being able to get in some of that revenue and then turn around and give it back to the community is a really, really good feeling. Yeah. And you know, I I believe in the organizations that we give money to. One of one of the other major ones that we contribute to is the A V sheriff or I'm sorry, A V boosters. And, you know, just seeing the appreciation that's on the law enforcement's uh officers' faces when we do give them stuff, you know, things as simple as uh spit masks that I feel like they should have in their cars. The boosters have been able to fund it, and these officers are just so grateful for it. Yeah, you know, they we've we've helped them with tasers and helped them with all kinds of different things for training and keeping them safe. Things that you know I wish the government organizations would be able to sponsor, you know, provide, but it's nice to be able to help fill that gap. Fill that gap.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Are there any organizations that you're not a part of that you're looking into possibly becoming a part of?

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, so uh Children's Center is one that I want to contribute more towards. My wife, who's also uh with me at the agency, is now helping with their Heart Sounds gala. So she's trying to raise funds for them. Again, another incredible organization. Children's Center does amazing things for the kids in the community, and I think that's you know an organization we should all support. Um other ones that I think I'd like to give back to is um right now, like this is it okay to date it like with the B-52 uh incident. You know, I think that's another you know tragedy.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, yeah, we we just real quick, uh yeah, that that that touched so many people in this valley when those eight eight brave men lost their lives on that B-52 and just crashed at Edwards.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

And yeah, so if we can find a way to give back to them, that'll be that'll be awesome. Yeah, the families.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Yeah, and I guarantee you we've already seen this on on news reports that uh not to get into into the weeds on this, but uh you know, some of these family members, I mean, they're you know, it was all guy, it was eight men that died. So I think a lot of them had wives and kids. And now these wives are like, um I'm a housewife, I'm raising the kids, I don't I don't have a job. Yeah. That's that's my that's that was my whole life. That's my income. That's what pays the mortgage and stuff, you know. What are they gonna do?

SPEAKER_03 31:21

That's scary. That's a scary.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

And I hope, I hope, I hope there's somebody out there that's gonna step up and you know, I know they're the GoFundMe thing and stuff. But that's that just blows my mind that you your mind goes straight towards that, which is a huge thing in our com it's one of the biggest tragedies in our community ever. Yeah. And uh yeah, good for you, man.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

How many times have you said thank you tonight? I think it's or this afternoon, or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

20, 25 is what I counted.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

We do this at two o'clock in the morning, actually, FYI. Uh we're gonna go hit Denny's after this. Yeah. I'm hungry. It's for an early breakfast. Grand Slam, baby, let's go. Double Grand Slam, baby.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Double grand slam.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Oh, you know what? Okay, see, no, we're not deep diving enough into it. What's your favorite breakfast? What's your favorite breakfast? You like breakfast? Are you a breakfast guy? I do like breakfast. So when you were Maui, were you eating breakfast every morning?

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Oh, hell yeah. Who were you? Yeah. Uh papaya with uh yogurt, blueberries, granola. If I could have that every day for the rest of my life, I'd probably with some bacon and avocado on the side.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

But where you were eating it and looking out, it was junk. The view was junk.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

Oh, the few the view is horrid. Yeah. Don't go there. Don't go there.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Are you uh are you just a strictly breakfast in the morning guy, or do you like it at night? Like I do. So I'm a huge fan of breakfast at night. I gotta come over to your house. I love breakfast too. You gotta try it at night. I will fucking make pancakes and the F-bomb comes out.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

The F-bomb comes out when you're talking about breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

I I'm sorry. I'm very passionate about breakfast at night.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

What what is your breakfast go to at night? Does it change from the morning?

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Sometimes. So I do I have made uh like pancakes and stuff at night.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Um I like the fact that Edgar's interviewing you now.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

I know, right? Um But I am I am a sucker for making a full-on breakfast sandwich. That's one of my favorite things to do. Nice. Because I'm getting I'm getting all of that in one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Are either of you guys a grits person? Because I before I got into my weird keto diet thing, which I don't I can't do grits, but I used to I used to love to make grits, man, with lots and lots of butter, man. I don't think I've ever made grits. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think I've had proper grits. Oh, you gotta have proper grits, man. I mean, it's I'm telling you, it's a life-changing experience.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Malto meal is one that I haven't. You're a Malto meal guy?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

I would I would question what the hell is in Malto Meal. I if it's got more than two ingredients, I wouldn't eat it. It's probably got like 500 ingredients. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Well, go back that goes back to like the matrix when they were eating tasty wheat. What is tasty wheat? It's probably maltomil.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

It's probably yeah. Oh man. How do we get up on this tangent? I don't even know, man.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

Maltomeal will come back up later in this conversation. Will it?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Maltomeal?

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Okay. We'll we'll put up a poll for people if they uh if they like maltomeal or tasty wheat.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

There you go. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. You're gonna you're just gonna see one vote for tasty wheat. It's gonna be Neo.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Yeah, right. That's awesome. That's awesome. Um so I I I was born in Sacramento. Um, and I just recently went back uh there because I didn't know about the city really at all. Uh I mean, I was a little tiny infant baby child when I was there, so I don't remember anything. And going back, like I'm getting like the history of the city when you lived there. Have you gone back recently?

SPEAKER_03 34:50

No, I haven't gone back recently. They say it's a little rougher. You can get your window smashed quite a few times. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

For sure, for sure. How how was like living in Sacramento? Like I know you were there for like, you know, eight years roughly. Yeah, something like um how was it living there?

SPEAKER_03 35:06

Like it was amazing. Yeah, it was it was so it was such a cool town because there'd be farmers markets, there'd be like antique fairs, there'd be car shows, there'd be, you know, um basketball games. It was just a such a crazy eclectic mix of people there. And it was a a great place to be. There was incredible Mexican food, incredible seafood, incredible everything. And and the trees, they call it the city of trees because they have more trees per capita than any other city besides, I believe, Paris, right now. So it is super green. When you take a plane there and you land, look down, and it's just trees everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

And and a lot of politicians. And a lot of politicians. Yeah, peeing it peeing on the trees, probably.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

You don't see them through the trees. I don't see them.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

So so you said farm, you went a farmer's market. It wasn't a state farm market, was it?

SPEAKER_03 36:01

I've been to the state fair, which was farmers. Oh, no. He did a stupid insurance joke to you and it went over my head because I'm a farmer's insurance agent, not a state farm agent.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

He was so you could tell he was so. I thought maybe that's you know, you go to the farmers market, you go on the farmer's market, you're like, Yeah, do I want to be a geico guy? Do I want to be farmers?

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Yes. Surprised he didn't even do the jingle. They don't sell hummus at that farmers market. So you won't find me there.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Jeez.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Would you would you go back?

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Would I go back now? To Sacramento? Yeah. Well, yeah, because I went I went uh a few weeks ago, and um, yeah, from what I heard, the city has very much changed from what it was back in like 80s, 90s, and then to to now. Um but yeah, I would go back.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

It's pretty cool, huh?

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Yeah, like there's a lot of great stuff out there. Uh we stayed in like old Sacramento, and it was it was incredible. Um it was weird because it was a bunch of Red on the River, right? Red on the River. It's beautiful there, yeah. Beautiful. Um Cobblestone Road. Yeah, and then there was uh there's a bunch of people that apparently at like 5 30, 6 o'clock, all the young kids come out um and they have like a car parade around that little space.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

And I guess like a lot of the businesses like despise this and hate it, but it's like I don't know, it's kind of bringing people like it's kind of bringing people to like the bars that are out there. The bars are pretty cool out there, I gotta say.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Did you see the paddle boat there right off right off the river in Old Town uh Sacramento? So they have a paddle boat. Big big massive thing though. The haunted one? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

That's where we stayed. Oh, heck yeah. Yeah. Uh it stays yeah, stayed there. And it you slant to the left. Nice. It's it's it's leaning to the left. Is it for sure. Oh it's wild. It's wild.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

So I would I would jump off of the the edge there into the river, and then I'd have to scramble my way back up. It was one of my fun things to do just to kind of freak people out that were just visiting the state capitol. I would just run by kind of screaming something, and then I just jump in the river, and they'd be like, What where did I go? That's great. It's cool.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

So my other question for you is uh is where did your kind of desire to give back to your to your communities, like where did that really start? Like, did did that start when it was out here, or did it start when like maybe you saw something in Sacramento when you were there before you came back to the AV?

SPEAKER_03 38:37

So that one actu that one actually started when I was really young. It was it was um ingrained in me as a kid. My dad used to my dad and my mom would donate a lot to St. Vincent de Paul, which is a uh nonprofit that provides food for the homeless and helps with homeless services out here in the Antelope Valley. They've been here, I'm sorry, they've out there in the Anlow Valley, they've been out there for a long time. So um we would go to Sacred Heart Church and we would collect baskets for feeding the homeless and or the needy, and then every Thanksgiving we'd put together these baskets and go out and distribute them to the community. So seeing my dad, he would take us all, we'd all give back, and that kind of taught us that you know the the charity and the benefit of helping people around you. And how old were you? I was shh I must have been seven years old when we started doing that.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

So and that was up to the So you're seeing that at seven and going, wow, it's kind of nice.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

I think it just stuck. Yeah, it just kind of stuck. And so, yeah, seeing people's reaction when they're getting a bag of food that they don't know where their next meal is coming from, and now you're dropping off turkey, canned ham, sure, uh, you know, a bunch of vegetables, and just seeing that glow on their face kind of got ingrained deep in my my psyche somewhere. Yeah, that's good. I like that. Yeah, that's that's where it was born from. Shout out to Pops, Papa Ortiz, mama or teas.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Papa Ortiz. I love it. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Uh man, I'm just like I'm enjoying it. You're like in awe right now. Well, I uh I'm I'm waiting for Edgar to ask me some questions, you know, because he's he's hitting you up, man. It's like we've this is our first time. He only asked me a breakfast question, Bart. Don't get it. Don't get jealous.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

It was one breakfast question.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

Ask him a question, even it out, even it out. Bart is the most interesting guy in the world. I will I will say that. I mean, I I tell stories about Bart, and I pretend like that was Edgar that did it.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

You tell you tell your kids horror stories when you're trying to put them asleep about Bart, or is that what it is?

SPEAKER_03 40:43

That's right. That's right. My my baby will say, Give me a story, Dad, so I can fall asleep. And I'll say, Once upon a time, I was a pilot. Oh my god. Don't do it, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Well, suppose supposedly Justin, my friend Justin here wants to put me on as a guest one day. What's gonna happen? I got a couple stories I could tell.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

You got some incredible stories, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

I'm looking around here. Anyway, yeah. But it's all about you tonight. So did you today? Whatever it is.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

Let's just get this one out here out in the open. What did you smuggle to Maui recently?

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Uh oh my god, that's a good one, actually. Okay, I know we're we're gonna wrap the segment up. You're good. I'll tell you what, let's uh that's a good one. We're gonna wrap this up, and when we come back, I'm gonna answer that question. And that will be the last time that you ask one of us a question, because we're supposed to be deep diving on your ass, not vice versa. Oh, we got a bunch of questions coming up for you. We got some questions up. So stay tuned to find out what Bart took to Maui.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

Hey, deep divers. For 14 years, Bravery Brewing Company has been a cornerstone of the Antelope Valley. Serving up award-winning beer alongside some seriously craveworthy eating. From handcrafted pizzas to chicken wings and giant soft pretzels paired with irresistible dipping sauces. There's something for everyone. Whether you're hosting a company party, celebrating a birthday, or gathering with fellow baseball fans to catch a Dodgers game on the brand new big screen TVs out on the back patio. Bravery Brewing Company isn't just a brewery, it's the place to be. For more information, visit Braverybrewing.com.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

And we are we're back. We're back here. We are back. Um so uh Edgar asked me a question um just before we went out on the last segment there about what we what I brought to Maui. So it turns out Edgar and I are big fans of Tommy's, original Tommy's chili cheeseburgers, started by Tommy, and uh his name is Kolak's. I always pronounce Kolex, but I'm getting that wrong because I heard it pronounced the right way. Tommy Colex or something like that. And uh anyway, so yeah, Beverly and Rampart. That was the very original Tommy's, and I love Tommy's, and now I found out they should be our sponsor, man. Let's get them because I'm yeah, right, because I'm telling you, man, they they have this special that's always out there, and and so occasionally they'll do their 32 ounce chili thing, and I'll go buy this. Sounds crazy, but I'll go buy ten of them. And they sell them for like four ninety nine a piece when they're on special, and I'll freeze them and they're great. So uh Edgar's like, wouldn't it be cool if we had some Tommy's chili out in Maui? And I guarantee you, we're the only people in the whole state of Hawaii. Guaranteed eating Tommy's chili for breakfast on our eggs. So uh yeah, I froze it. I brought it over frozen when it got to, you know, when I took it out of my suitcase, it was still nice and cold, so it wasn't, you know, damaged or you know You didn't have a chili suitcase. No. Yeah, when I went through custom or not customs, when I went through the TSA thing, they go, You got any Tommy's chili in there? No, he didn't ask me that question. Had he asked me that question, I would have had to, I guess, slide slide him a pint. Yeah, something like that. So no, we were eating Tommy's chili. Slide him a pint with our chili. Like, all right, fucker here. Here.

SPEAKER_03 44:35

All right, can I go through? Got a pay-to-play.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Yeah, I mean you take you take my lighter, you take my my wife brings her knife accidentally, and you take the knife, and now you want my chili? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

That's that's where I draw the line.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Is that the chili thing now? It's like, uh, what's uh anyway. So we're we're this is a this is the last segment is I think a very fun part because that's our favorite segment of the show. Is it our favorite? I think it's our favorite segment of the show. Because we're almost done and we can go home and it's not like that.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

It's it's this is this is still this is still deep diving.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

This is still doing it. By the way, Buzz, I need a can you give me a I'm switching a gin. Are you guys good? I'm good, thank you. You good, okay. I'm golden. Golden. So we're gonna so we ask Edgar for five interesting things about his life that nobody would know about, probably. I get I get to read the first one, and this blew my mind when I when I found out when I did the mileage check on this. So Edgar says that, you know, um his family would go on these road trips and they would drive all the way through Mexico, all the way down to Central America to visit family members in down in Guatemala, and he said he did that three times in his lifetime, and take a guess how far that is driving wise from the Antelope Valley.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

I think I think it's about thirty six hundred miles each of them.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Okay, I came up with a little over three. Yeah. Okay, let's just call it thirty, six hundred miles. Yeah, so that's about ten thousand miles to that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

No, no, that's one way. No, I'm saying one way. No, it's uh it well. No, you're right. You're right, you're right. No, that's one way. So you you know you drive down. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

I guess my question is what in what vehicle did you do this in?

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Because that had to have been good old Chevy Astro van purchased at Rally Chevrolet.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Now we're plugging Rally Chevrolet. They're no longer here. Did they have bullet holes in some of their cars?

SPEAKER_03 46:33

I don't think so. I don't think so. Okay. Now you know, rest in peace to the Chevy Astros. Those were a pretty cool second.

SPEAKER_01 46:41

I had one.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

They were sick, weren't they?

SPEAKER_02 46:43

Oh, they were sick.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

Yeah, yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Yeah, they were sick, bro.

SPEAKER_03 46:47

I would sleep in the back seat. I would sleep on the on the bottom uh in the third row. I would just sleep in the cut there.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Your dad would drive, your dad would just drive the whole. He was a trooper. I don't know what he I mean like 500 miles a day or something or something crazy.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

I think one day he pulled all the way a trip clear through Tech or clear into Texas over like twenty something hours of just nonstop driving. It was it was nuts.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Well, stop for gas, but I mean Oh, it wasn't it was not an electric uh Astro Van.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

No. Oh, he couldn't have he didn't but want to buy that model at the time. Okay. Mileage was only 20 miles per charge, so yeah, exactly. But no, those were gnarly trips, and and then we would stop at like all these little uh interesting towns in Mexico. We pulled up to this hotel one time and the whole sky was just gray with locusts just all over the hotel. It was a crazy scene. And we just ran into the hotel room, and then I I don't know what my dad was going through at the time, but it was it was kind of crazy to just pack up your family and take them through.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

Did something dark and ominous happen on that day that there was a sky filled with locusts?

SPEAKER_03 47:59

Not not there, probably somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

It's insane.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

Yeah, it's it was kind of creepy.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

Um so we have another we have another interesting fact that you have here. Um that you originally were studying to be a botanist. So you were gonna be Matt Damon from The Martian, and your dream was to build hydroponic systems to put in space.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

That that was one of my childhood dreams.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

So I started building hydroponic systems dream, he said, of building hydroponic systems to put in outer space.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

It was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

I started doing Buzz, did you ever have things like he's shaking his head, no? He didn't do that when he was a kid. He doesn't have dreams. I don't know who does that. Buzz, what's your last name, actually? He doesn't have a last name. We're not he's not allowed to have.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

He's like seal.

SPEAKER_03 48:55

Aldrin the third. But no, that that was uh an interesting hobby. My mom thought I was growing pot in her garage, but I was actually just cloning and perfecting the art of hydroponics.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

But you were you were considering growing pot at some point, but maybe not back then when you were a little kid.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

But that's yeah, that may have been the inspiration. Yeah. Um I'll plead the fifth on that.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

So this that's fine. This is this is something that I'm really proud of you too that you you've done in your life. So you said as when you were a teenager, for whatever reason you made a decision that you were not gonna have offspring. There would be no further Edgar's in this world. But uh you did want to be a father. I did. And you found and you found this beautiful woman who I gotta spend some time with out there in paradise. Well, no, it wasn't paradise, it was junk. I keep forgetting that. And her name is Veronica.

SPEAKER_04 49:52

No way.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Yeah. And she had she had his name. I know. You know her. I know. I know Veronica. Veronica seems to be a very popular name. Very popular name now, yeah. And so anyway, so uh she had two children. Yeah, and you married her, and and those became your adopted children. But then down the road you adopted three more children. Yeah, yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. That's I mean, not a lot of that's a get getting back to the whole giving back in life and charitable stuff. I mean, to adopt that many children is cr is it's not crazy, but it's it's a beautiful thing, man. It's beautiful. It's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

It's kind of crazy. It's a lot it's a lot of work, but I don't know what inspired me when I was uh a teenager, but something just kind of stuck in my head that I would try to give a child a good life that's out there that needs it. There's plenty of kids that don't have fathers growing up, and I was lucky enough to have mine around, and I thought how cool would it be to be able to offer this to somebody else? And so um may have been the punk rock music I was listening to growing up in high school that kind of inspired me to pursue that direction, but I stuck to it, and you know, I met my wife, my two boys knew me as dad up until about two years ago when I finally disclosed to them that as as they were getting taller, they slowly crept up past my height, and so I figured at one point they would wonder why they're so tall and dad's so short.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

So And you're six seven.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

Yeah, yeah. So they're they're giants. Really?

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Six seven, six eight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

So we broke the news to them, and they're they took it really well. Bottom sushi, took them on a little picnic, and uh they've been outstanding. They they asked one of their questions they asked me was, so that means we're not gonna lose our hair? And I said, No, your biological dad also is bald.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

So generation.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

You didn't strike out there, but and then the girls have been an incredible blessing in our lives. Um You know, I wish obviously they wish and I wish that their parents um would have been able to to kind of overcome some of the vices they're facing, but they've now been fully engulfed into our lifestyle, and I think it's it's been it's been amazing. I mean these these three girls are just such incredible people. My daughter, we we've we fully adopted uh the youngest one. The other two we were gonna hold off to because they were old enough to know their parents. And we wanted to give them the decision to eventually decide whether they wanted to go back or not. And soon after we completed the adoption on the baby, the oldest child says, Well, you adopted my little sister, now you have to adopt us because you're not separate separating the three of us. And when she said that to my wife, I would just I was uh moved by it. You know, for a seven-year-old to think like that is is is um I don't even have a good word for it. It's inspiring. Yeah, she's she's mature for age. Unfortunately, she's seeing a lot of things that she shouldn't have, and you know, all we're doing is just trying to help help coach her through some of those things. Yeah, that's all you can do.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

Like, you know, show the right path.

SPEAKER_03 53:18

Show the right path. Yeah. We're applying role play technology or role play strategies with them. It's it's been I don't I don't want to parenting, I think, is at the end of the day, it's an experiment. I mean, there's there's a playbook out there, but nobody reads it. Yep. But it's it's an experiment, and we're all just doing the best we can. And yeah, I I try to do the best for them.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

So that's oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

Yeah. Love that. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Um so the next fact that you sent was uh something that you started to get into earlier uh about your your huge bicycle trip that you took. Uh so this was back in 2012? Correct?

SPEAKER_03 54:03

Yep, 2012.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Uh you did a you did a solo cross-country bicycle ride from Sacramento to Seattle. And further.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

So let me clarify there. The trip from Sacramento to Seattle, I took a train, so maybe I mistyped that. But um from there I may have misread that.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

Blame me, blame me.

SPEAKER_03 54:31

I took a train from Sacramento to Seattle, Washington, and then that kicked off the bicycle.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

That's what kicked it off. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 54:38

I had a coworker that was super into bikes, and I was riding a lot at the time. Uh, you know, Sacramento is a big bicycle town, and it's very easy to get around anywhere on a bike. It beats driving. And that trip, I initially planned to go all the way to New York, and that seemed a little too ambitious for my wallet at the time. And I was like, I don't know how the hell I'm gonna fund this.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

By the way, how old were you when you were doing this?

SPEAKER_03 55:08

So that was 2012.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

I was Oh, now you're gonna now now everybody's gonna know how old you are. They can do math.

SPEAKER_03 55:18

Maybe. We'll see. I was uh shit. How old was I? 10? That was 10, 43.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

23, okay.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

Yep. 24. Somewhere around there. Twenty four, twenty-three years old. Twenty-three, twenty-four, change. We'll accept that. Same shit. Same shit. But that trip was incredible. It was it was the most amazing trip I've ever been on. I think the western coast of the United States is some of the most beautiful country I've ever I've ever seen. I mean, some of the most beautiful views are right here on the west coast.

SPEAKER_01 55:51

How long did did this trip take when you well, I don't know if you said this, but you went all the way from basically the most northwestern part of uh the continental United States all the way down to Tijuana, Mexico. Did you actually cross the border?

SPEAKER_03 56:07

I did. I did. My my tire went flat as soon as I crossed the border. Of course it did. There's nails and stuff down there. Oh, it just said fuck it, I'm done. And and just popped.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

Are we gonna go further down if it hadn't popped?

SPEAKER_03 56:18

Maybe. Oh my god. I was thinking about Rosarito, but as soon as I went through, it was it was over. 36 days.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Okay, 36 days, and then like where would you sleep at night?

SPEAKER_03 56:29

Sometimes on the side of the road.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Uh like a s you had a sleeping bag or something.

SPEAKER_03 56:33

Yeah, so I had this $100 bike I bought at a swap meet, and then I even even back in 2012, a hundred dollar bike's not much of a bike.

SPEAKER_01 56:41

I don't think.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

No, it's not much of a bike. That that poor thing. I put a rack on it. I had a sleeping bag, I had a tent. You had a tent? Yeah. I had a little one-person tent that I got from uh uh REI.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

And $50 cash?

SPEAKER_03 56:56

Probably a hundred bucks, but and a box of maltomeal in there, too.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Maltomeal, oh my god, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

Maltomeal and peanut butter.

SPEAKER_01 57:04

You must have a lot of lost a lot of weight on that trip, dude.

SPEAKER_03 57:07

I was thin as hell. So I started off with a little extra weight and I ended with probably 0% body fat after I was done. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

Was Forrest Gump a very big inspiration to you because of that little run thing you do? Instead of running, I'm gonna do it on a bike. Maybe. Maybe maybe. Who knows? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:26

Maybe you watch it one day and went, maybe I should just ride a bike. Maybe that just stuck in there.

SPEAKER_04 57:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:32

Running's kind of a chore. I I think ever since yeah, ever since that bike trip, I was like, I'm not I'm not running anywhere, I'll I'll bike somewhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:41

Uh this is so this is so that's a crazy trek. This is so uh incredible. Nobody does stuff like this, right? And you you had no relationship in your life, you had no girlfriend at that point, you just it was just you pretty much. Yep, just me. And you just decided, did you tell your parents or your friends like I'm just gonna do this? And they're like, what the hell are you thinking?

SPEAKER_03 58:01

Yeah, yeah. So I told quite a few business owners that I knew at the time. I was actually initially I was trying to do it to raise funds for um a bicycle nonprofit that I was doing. We raised a whole $200, so it didn't really fund anything. But my marketing team wasn't that good at the time. But I did let my family know. I checked in with them consistently. There's actually a YouTube video which is kind of cringy to watch, but there's actually a few YouTube videos out there uh somewhere with me narrating this trip and like different things we would see.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

Well, well, you know, we have we have like what what he we're up to 50,000 listeners now or something like that. 51,000. 51,000. So if somebody I guarantee you somebody's gonna want to look this up on on YouTube. So what what words would you type in to find it?

SPEAKER_03 58:50

The dude who cycled the Pacific Coast.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Okay, you type that in, it's gonna pop up. It's gonna pop up. Yeah, yeah. Oh my god, I gotta watch that. We'll find it. Yeah, we'll find it.

SPEAKER_03 58:58

And I was I was powered a lot by um fireball whiskey, malto meal, peanut butter, those are like my staples. So yeah. Anytime I'd see this huge 3,000-foot mountain coming up, I would shoot two shots of fireball whiskey, I'd put my head down, and just start trekking.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Which I think Breakfast of Champions, right there.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:21

Man, I tell you what, if I if we we could spend an hour just talking about that, but unfortunately we have 30 seconds left. No, just kidding. So let's just skip to the last one, and then we're gonna do what we call last call. So this is another this is the one that really warms my heart. So you say that you used to operate a nonprofit called Recycle Your Bicycle, and that was 100% your idea. You came up with that, obviously. Yeah. I know your mind. And then you would collect used bikes that kids could ride, you know, those smaller bikes probably. You'd refurbish them, and you just give them out to kids in the community. And what kid doesn't want to have their own bike, especially if you know their parents can't afford to buy them a bike. And then you said you gave out uh over 200 bike or close to 200 bikes over the years you did this. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

Yeah, um that was uh a fun a fun project. Uh um you know, seeing the glow on the kids' faces when they received their bikes. I recall one kid in particular, he showed up a little late to our giveaway, so all we had were girls' bikes left. Well, girl colors, right? Pink, purple, that kind of stuff. And he just jumped right on the bike and he was excited to take it. And his sister came in, she was probably six years old, seven years old. He must have been probably four. And she said, Oh, don't worry, I'll teach you how to ride on this bike. This is your bike. And they just walked off, and it was the most touching thing to see just these two siblings interacting with each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:55

And what inspired that was I just wanted to get kids out into the community without there's there's a lot of kids out there that aren't attracted to team sports. And me growing up as a skateboarder, I was attracted to you know being on the streets in in that type of fashion, you know, skating, riding bikes, rollerblading, things like that. Just kind of like the alternative types of sports. And I wanted to make sure those kids still had an opportunity to get out even if they couldn't afford it. I I remember how important it was for me growing up and you know, playing skate with my friends, uh staying out until you know the lights would go out or the streetlights go off, just trying different jumps out there. And I wanted to make sure kids still had a chance to be kids while they you know before society kind of got their grips, their grip on it. So um we would take in used bikes that were broken or rotting inside of somebody's garage, and there's a plethora of them out there. If you put an ad out right now for who's got a old used or old kids bike that they're not using, you'll probably collect a hundred bikes in less than a week. And I would just find don't uh sponsors to fund some of the repairs. Most of the time it's crazy, most of the time the repairs would cost more than just buying another bike for them, but it was it was the act of of service that was also beneficial for the organization.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

And uh to me, that's at at your young age when you were doing this, that's maybe the thing that kind of was the impetus for the the rest of your life that you've been so involved in charitable stuff, I think, you know, right? I mean Yeah, yeah. That's a big one. I mean, who comes up with ideas like that? It's it's genius. But it it's such a simple thing, and it's and it's like that's what kids want when they're when they're young and it's all I wanted.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

I just wanted a bike.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Yeah, I wanted to get a big one.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:48

So Fairest Song was bicycle. It is time. It is that time. It is time for the finale of the show here, folks. Uh this is the last call. So this is uh this is gonna be a little 10 uh 10 questionnaire here. Um kind of kind of quick fast responses um to get a little bit more uh information about you, but it's uh it's a little, you know, a bunch of different things here that we're gonna ask you.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:20

We're gonna this is where we really embarrass your ass.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:22

Yeah. Let's go, baby. Alright. You wanna you want me to kick it off? You want to kick it off? I'll go. Alright. Uh what is your go-to cocktail?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:29

Ooh. You know, old fashioned tends to be the go-to right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:35

The original, not the Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:37

The original.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:38

Good. Good answer. I I would agree with that. That that would be my answer too. Um, what's your favorite sport to watch on TV? And I know it's soccer season right now, but I do love soccer, but honestly, Dodger Baseball is one of my favorite sports to watch.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:51

Dodger baseball.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:51

You know, uh, by the way, our uh one of our sponsors, Bravery Brewing, they uh they play all the uh all the home games, yeah. Pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

It's a good place to watch.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

Yeah. I agree. It's a little it's a little crazy out there sometimes, you know. Sometimes. Yeah. Unruly passengers.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

Well they're they're tame. Um if you could have a drink with any historical figure, dead or alive, who would it be?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:15

I don't think I'm equipped for it, but Jim Morrison would kind of be to have it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:20

That that guy pandering to him?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:22

No. You know what I mean? Pandering to him right now? I grew up on the doors, and so to have a that drink would probably turn into a whole psychedelic trip, but just hanging out with Jim Morrison.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:32

Show me your emails right now and prove that you didn't get an email from parton so we can talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

That was spontaneous, I promise you. I used to title myself American Poet number two, so wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

We got uh I'll tell you what, off off off uh when we're done with this podcast, I gotta hit you up on that one, man, because uh I've actually spoken to two of the the original doors. Um I won't go into it, but um, of course, Jim Morrison died July 3rd. We're coming up on his anniversary, 1971, he was 27 years old. Yeah, but man, you're right. That would that would have been a guy if you just would have bumped into him, he pro and he probably would have sat there and talked to you for an hour.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:10

Oh, for sure. About nothing too.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:12

About nothing, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

That's that is might this might lead into the next question part. I feel like it might. It just might be my turn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

Actually, actually, I I think he's gonna go a different direction here, but we'll see. We'll see. Yeah, yeah. So who is your favorite musical artist?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

Oh, my favorite band, let's Led Zeppelin. They powered me through that entire trip.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:34

So okay, you got me on that one too, because that would that's my too. I think Led Zeppelin's the greatest rock butt band of all time. The greatest rock band. People say like it's all these other things, like, no, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

Sorry, Gudgar, you say you don't pander.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:46

I'm impressed, man, so far. We haven't embarrassed his ass yet. Do we embarrass him?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Yeah, we it it the later. If I could find the little iPod that I took on that trip, you'll see it's all Led Zeppelin discography, is all I could put on there.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:59

He's probably got Some Taylor Swift somewhere. Alright. What's your favorite place to travel to go for a weekend getaway? I'm really liking Tahoe a lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:08

Tahoe is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

By the way, of course it's not Maui. Yeah, no, it's all right. Yeah, no, no. That's not great. That's not number 20 or 25 or 30 or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:18

You can't spend a weekend in Maui. You gotta do a whole week out there. So where is it?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:22

Tahoe?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

Tahoe is up there. Actually, June Lake is really up there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:27

Yeah. This is our favorite. I think this is our favorite one. We like to ask.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:31

Yeah, I love I love this one. Okay, so if you were to host a speakeasy, which you never know. You will, I think. Someday. What would be the secret password to get into the speakeasy? Yeah, there you go. Now we're gonna embarrass your ass. And it's not gonna be your wife's name or something. So my what's the secret password you can do?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:58

My initial answer was gonna be my password for all my computers, which I don't want to give that. Yeah, like let's keep that one separate. Yeah, yeah. Let's not let's not do that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:08

What's your social security number and your credit card numbers, by the way? We need that too. Yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:14

Uh secret password. Hmm. I don't know. Okay, it's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:22

I don't know. We can accept that, right? Yeah, I don't know. As his secret password. Um if you could instantly master any skill, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:33

Instantly master. Just snap of the finger, boom. Jiu-jitsu is one thing that I really want to do. Okay. Yeah. Jiu Jitsu. Hmm. I like it. Yeah, I think that'd be fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:43

All right, and then we singer of Tool knows how to do jujitsu. Oh, really? Does he really? Yeah. Maynard? Freaking Maynard? Judo flip. Yeah, he judo flipped some dude that came on stage during a concert once. Heck yeah. Like he went up there and he looked, he's like, give me a hug, and he goes, Nope. And he judo flipped him and then put him in a rear naked choke and then kept singing. Oh my god. Look the video up. That's wild. That's online? Yeah. It's wild. Yeah, Maynard did that. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

He's an actual trained jiu-jitsu martial artist. And he's not, he's not a real big guy. No, he's very, very toothpicky. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:17

That's a cool way to get choked out, is listening to tool, you know, in your ear while you're getting choked out. On stage while getting choked out. Going to sleep, yeah. Yeah, that's a nice way to go to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:26

Look up that video. Um so what's something on your bucket list that you're uh determined to cross off?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:36

So I don't know if I'm gonna be able to hit it, but I do want to do a seven-day horseback riding trip somewhere. Preferably up the Pacific Crest Trail. I've been taking horseback riding lessons just trying to see if I can become one with the animal, but they're stubborn as hell, and I don't I don't know if I'm ever gonna get it done, but that's that's on my list. Something about it sounds real old western, real like um I don't know, natural. Sounds kinda cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:09

You don't need the lessons. Just watch any Kevin Costner or Kurt Russell movie in which it's a Western, and you'll learn how to ride a horse. Hell yeah. They're the they're the perfect people that ride horses in any movie that you watch. Nice. I'll watch them again. Guaranteed. Hands down. Let's do it. Alright. Uh what's the best concert you've ever been to?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:29

Best concert, shoot. Who have I been to that I really like?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:35

You know, one day we're gonna ask our guest this question, and he's gonna go, or she's never been to a concert. Yeah, it's it's gonna happen. I'm almost guaranteeding it's a good one. Well, how many concerts have you been to, maybe, in your life? You're you're very young. You're we we already figured that out. You're what are you, 22 or 23? Yeah, 24.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:54

24. Yeah. Um gosh, I'm drawing a blank. Tennessee's he sings Tennessee whistle. Oh, the Tennessee Wisconsin. Chris Stapleton.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:01

Chris Stapleton. Oh, yeah, you saw him.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:03

So I wasn't a big country fan until I married my Veronica, and now Chris Stapleton is actually seeing him live is pretty impressive. Like he is true, a true artist.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:15

Yeah, and his voice is crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:17

Oh man, and live, he is just as good, if not better, than he is in the studio, which most artists are not. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:24

Where did you see him in a couple of things?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:26

We saw no, it was at this location heading towards San Bernardino. I forgot what the name of that uh Fairplex is there. It's not Pomona Fairplex. Um San Bernardino something. Yeah, yeah. But it was it was an impressive concert.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:41

Okay. I and by the way, um going back a little bit, if you ask me that question, I actually I'm old enough. Don't say it. I saw Led Zeppelin. Don't say it. I saw Led Zeppelin at the forum in 1977 in there. It's such a flex. The song remains the flex. I know. I always have to bring that up. You're big time d right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:03

You were born during a really good time in New York.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:05

Oh, if you love rock and roll music going back to the 60s, you're right about that, man. And it's sad, they're all dying. All these guys are are passing away. It's like, except for Keith Richards. He'll he'll live forever. Oh my god. He'll live us all. My great-great-great That's as far as I'll go. My great-great-great-grandchildren will appreciate him when they see him live. Yeah. Oh he'll still be alive. He's still gonna be there. Yeah, Keith Richards. He'll never die. He'll never die.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:30

When the world ends, it's gonna be cockroaches and then Keith Richards right there. Singing to him.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:35

Do I get the last one? You get the last one? Okay. This this is a this is a tough one, so think about it. And you can't get you gotta you gotta give us an answer on this one. So what's what's the best piece of advice that you I think this is gonna be an easy question for you. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received from someone that obviously you respect?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:57

Um the best piece of advice control of the controllables is one of the best pieces of advice I've received. It's it's about just being able to take ownership and control over the things that you actually have power over and not worrying so much about the ones that you don't.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

I love that, man. That's that's that's beautiful. Yeah. Do you know did somebody give that to you or you just you just picked that up?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:22

Yeah, no, somebody gave it to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:24

Yeah. Do you want to share that?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:26

Insurance sales lab, they're uh a team of guys, they're in their 20s, uh 22, 23 years old, I think, and these guys are killing it in the insurance industry. Hell yeah. But they're um they're teachers. And you know, me being older, I still, you know, I still learn. I'm always a student.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:44

So beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:45

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:46

I love it. Alright, man. Well that's that's it. That was painless, right? That was super easy. You still look chill as hell.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:53

Super chill. There's something in this cigar, I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:57

Yeah, well, we we can't disclose that information either. Alright, guys. Um the last thing though, we're gonna give him uh Oh yeah, you are right. Bart. See, this is why we keep you around. This is why we keep you around. Um the final the final thing that we do here. Um what's the name of our podcast again? Deep diving in the speakeasy. Yeah, deep diving in the speakeasy. Um this this last bit is going to be for you. So you you can take a minute, minute and a half, however long you need, um to plug something, promote something, something that's going on in your life that you want to share, that you want to get off your chest. This is your moment, your time to shine. Uh, whatever you want, tell the masses what you got.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:41

Yeah. Um, you know, I think supporting your local businesses is so is so big. Uh we here we have a local soccer organization, Avialta, and I think it's such a privilege to be able to have a team like that. Um too many times I'll see on Facebook where everybody sees like a mom and pop restaurant or mom and pop shop shut down, and think, oh, it's so sad that they shut down. But in reality, all it took was a little bit of support early on from different people in the community. And I truly believe you gotta give back to those people. When you're donating your time and money to major corporations, that money doesn't stimulate your local economy. So I highly encourage everybody to give their local businesses a shot, maybe two shots, even if they mess up a little bit, you know, have s give them some grace. You know, keep going back, visiting them, and helping them succeed. These are people they're gonna in turn give back to their community, hopefully. Hopefully. Um big plug for them. Uh Avi Alta is an amazing organization. I think you know, we gotta support them, we gotta show up, show up, enjoy their games. Uh there's a lot of good people that have put that project together, and I think I want to see it grow into something massive. Also, um the different organizations that we support, the Children's Center of the A V is another one that needs constant support. Um you know, any type of youth youth-based organizations, they could definitely use uh the people's support and help. Uh there's a ton of kids out there that are struggling, that have been through horrific situations, and I think it's our job as adults and future leaders to help when we can. So those are the big ones. I um who else? Anything else you can think of? Bart, who would you support?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:34

I love the A Avi Alta thing because I I want to see them succeed, and you know, it's their second season and they're uh they're still trying to fill the seats and and uh I don't want to see this thing fail. I want I want people to just keep coming out and it's so exciting, even if you've never seen a soccer game, uh you get out to that stadium and the tickets are not very much. I mean twenty, thirty bucks and stuff, and you just go out there and just have a good time. I mean, what does the Dodger game cost? Yeah, besides parking and driving all the way down to Dodgers Stadium. Maybe not, you know, I'm just not picking on the Dodgers, but I'm just saying it's like you can go get entertained for a borderline two and a half hours.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:16

Less than a hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:17

Yeah. Oh, for a family of four or well, yeah. Unless you start jumping.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:22

And our and our boys are showing out this year too. Year two. They moved from 14th to fourth. So they're currently, if it ended right now, they're in the playoffs, and they're third in power rankings. Yeah, they're kicking ass right now, and it's time to go go out there and show them support.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:36

So no, we love we I I'm very good friends with the owners and uh and the management there. Andy, what a great we're gonna have actually we want to have uh John. I want to get John who's one of the owners and uh and coach right here just to talk about it because um it it's a big story in this valley. I mean uh and and and the other thing I'll say about Avi Alta, and I'm sorry that I'm hogging um your time here, uh Edgar.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:01

Oh, go for it. Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

But these guys play in this some of these soccer fields, they travel all around the United States to play these their games and stuff, and they s they go to these uh soccer fields and they're they're pitches, they call them, and they're like converted baseball fields or football fields or whatever, and they don't even look like they spent so much money putting that field to make it perfect. And and that's a that's a big plus too, but um I appreciate you you bringing that up.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:30

Yeah, one of the big things we do with our agencies, we give out forty tickets to every single game.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:34

You do, you guys do. Oh, hell yeah. Hell yeah. Oh, that's that's awesome too, man. I mean it's like yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:39

We team up with sport teams and we get them out there, the the kids, the parents, all of them go out and have a good time.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:45

And truly, I think it's something that's near and dear to my heart, and I want them to go out and and be able to enjoy the everything that's near and dear to your heart, I love, because you're you're you're good at everything that you do with your with your heart. Um I'm sure your beautiful wife, Veronica, is gonna listen to this podcast, so why don't you finish up by just saying something to your wife?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:08

Yeah, my my wife is the most amazing, uh loving, and she'll get this joke, kind person that I know. And she's got truly a heart of gold. If it wasn't for the endless support and love that I get from her and that she gives to our family, um, we wouldn't be nearly as successful as we are. So, baby, you're amazing. Um I I can't appreciate you enough. And a lot of times words just don't don't do it justice, so that's why I do my best to show you every single day how much I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:42

I love that. You know what? On that note, I think that's a beautiful end. That's a beautiful end right there, right? Would you agree?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:48

Absolutely end. I'm so happy. Uh, I can't wait for people to listen to this podcast because I I think it's there's something really special that happened here tonight in Speakeasy. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:58

Very much so. Guys, um, this was Edgar Ortiz. Uh, thank you so much uh for sitting down with us, uh talking talking to us about your life and and all the incredible work that you do out here in the Antelope Valley. Uh, we very, very, very much appreciate you uh coming on and spending time with us, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:15

Appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Bart. Thank you, Justin.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:18

Absolutely. All right, guys. Hey, get on that Instagram, follow Deep Diving on the Speakeasy, uh Deep Diving in the Speakeasy uh on Instagram. Uh we will always let you know when the new episodes are dropping. We'll also be posting uh pictures of uh our recording sessions. Um tell your friends, tell your family, tell people you don't like uh to listen to the show. We don't care. Bring them on. Uh another one in the bag, episode four. Thank you guys.