The Milk of Texas

August 19, 2024

We're joined this week by Aaron Francis for a very special pre-Laracon episode to discuss his hatred of certain cheeses, why olives are gross, satisfying vs. maximizing, & more. Plus we make him do the absolute dumbest thing he's ever done. It's great.
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Transcript

Ben
00:00:00 – 00:00:04
I think half of our episodes are just cold opens to, oh, hey, Susanna.
Aaron
00:00:07 – 00:00:13
Alright. So I'll be careful not to talk about how terrible JavaScript is or anything like that because we're already recording.
Dave
00:00:14 – 00:00:16
You could talk about that if you'd like. We're not gonna stop you.
Ben
00:00:16 – 00:00:22
It's terrible. What's your favorite part of JavaScript, Aaron?
Aaron
00:00:22 – 00:00:26
Do you is it possible that you have one? Not using
Zuzana
00:00:34 – 00:00:34
it?
Ben
00:00:35 – 00:00:35
Hey, Suzanna.
Zuzana
00:00:36 – 00:00:46
Hi. Welcome. Sorry. I just I don't wanna show you what's in the background because it's terrible mess. So I'm just kinda positioning myself so you don't see what's behind me.
Aaron
00:00:46 – 00:00:48
Pointing at the the camera at the ceiling instead.
Zuzana
00:00:48 – 00:00:52
Can't I can't do that. There you go.
Aaron
00:00:52 – 00:00:54
I'm just hearing the phone. Perfect.
Zuzana
00:00:55 – 00:01:00
Is the sound okay, Dave? Because I don't have my Yeah. I don't I can't, like, raise the mic.
Dave
00:01:01 – 00:01:03
No. Right there is actually that was good.
Zuzana
00:01:04 – 00:01:05
This is good?
Dave
00:01:05 – 00:01:07
Yeah. That's good. It's good.
Ben
00:01:07 – 00:01:08
Producer Dave approved. Love it.
Zuzana
00:01:08 – 00:01:13
I'll try not to touch anything. I'm just a little one in the corner for a change.
Dave
00:01:17 – 00:01:31
Oh, Aaron, welcome. You are only our second guest. You got some big shoes to fill. Eric Barnes was on, and he had a wild story about getting in a fight in London. So I expect you'll also be sharing some wild stories as well.
Dave
00:01:31 – 00:01:32
How are you?
Aaron
00:01:32 – 00:01:48
I probably don't get in as many fights as Eric because I think my current number is 0. So I don't know how many fights he gets in, but it's definitely less than Eric. So I'm I'm happy to be here and tell you why cheese is bad and weather. Weather is weather.
Dave
00:01:48 – 00:01:51
See, we were gonna I was gonna, like, gently No. No.
Zuzana
00:01:51 – 00:01:52
No. No.
Aaron
00:01:52 – 00:02:01
No. No. This is that nope. You can't bury the lead. So we don't have to talk about it now, but it's out there, and people are gonna be like, it's just a random thinks cheese is bad.
Ben
00:02:01 – 00:02:02
Yeah. Wow.
Dave
00:02:02 – 00:02:04
My body thinks cheese is bad. Yeah.
Ben
00:02:04 – 00:02:05
That's very accurate.
Dave
00:02:05 – 00:02:07
My brain doesn't, but my body Body keeps
Aaron
00:02:07 – 00:02:11
score as as they say, you know, so the body knows.
Ben
00:02:11 – 00:02:12
Oh, boy.
Dave
00:02:12 – 00:02:16
Ben, you're our you're our chief Wisconsin correspondent. I feel like
Ben
00:02:16 – 00:02:34
you're constantly obligated. Yeah. Once we knew Aaron was joining us, I was googling Texas cheese, famous Texas cheeses, cheese production. And Mhmm. I can say, Aaron, I think there's an opportunity because it turns out Texas is the number 3 dairy producer in the United States.
Ben
00:02:34 – 00:02:36
The big state here in America.
Aaron
00:02:36 – 00:02:37
Number 1.
Ben
00:02:37 – 00:02:47
Well, California, number 1. Wisconsin, number 2. Texas, number 3. A lot of cows in Texas, but you're not in the top ten for cheese production. Wisconsin's number 1.
Ben
00:02:47 – 00:02:51
California is number 2. Like, Ohio is beating you.
Dave
00:02:52 – 00:02:53
New York's beating you.
Zuzana
00:02:53 – 00:02:55
What are you doing with all this milk?
Ben
00:02:55 – 00:02:58
Yeah. Where is your milk going, man? This should be going to cheese, don't
Zuzana
00:02:58 – 00:02:58
you think?
Aaron
00:02:59 – 00:03:03
You know, that's a good that's a good question and something I definitely know a lot about.
Ben
00:03:03 – 00:03:04
Yeah. Permission, Marianne. Please.
Zuzana
00:03:04 – 00:03:05
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron
00:03:05 – 00:03:10
Yeah. Our milk is experts here. You know, or it's yeah. Yeah. So that's it.
Aaron
00:03:10 – 00:03:12
That's that's probably where it goes. Yeah.
Dave
00:03:12 – 00:03:13
Yeah. Right there.
Aaron
00:03:13 – 00:03:21
Uh-huh. Yeah. Don't know if, I don't know if everybody caught it, but that's that's Dylan Furr. The only time I'm gonna say it is, just say, yep. There you go.
Aaron
00:03:21 – 00:03:22
Milk of Texas.
Dave
00:03:22 – 00:03:26
Went through, like, a metaphorical tunnel while he's on a cell phone. He just dropped out.
Aaron
00:03:27 – 00:03:37
Came back with 0 answers for the rest of us. No idea where the milk of Texas goes. I imagine we drink it or we ship it to Ohio for them to make cheese.
Ben
00:03:37 – 00:03:42
That those are my key guesses. Ohio could be importing a lot of Texas milk.
Aaron
00:03:42 – 00:03:49
Yeah. I'll be honest. I don't know where Ohio is, and Steve no. No. No.
Aaron
00:03:49 – 00:03:52
It gets worse. Steve Did you figure out where Idaho is?
Ben
00:03:52 – 00:03:52
Anyhow Steve
Aaron
00:03:52 – 00:03:56
told me he's in Idaho, and I'm like, I don't know. I called Idaho the Midwest, and he laughed at me. And I'm like
Dave
00:03:56 – 00:03:57
Oh, boy.
Aaron
00:03:57 – 00:04:10
I think Idaho is the Midwest. And then our new our new Linda, whose name is Kelsey, is, from Iowa, and I was like, I don't know where Iowa is. Isn't that Idaho? And they were both like, yeah. We get that a lot.
Aaron
00:04:10 – 00:04:23
Iowa is the Midwest. Get that about Idaho, and Idaho gets it about Iowa. Oh, guys, I could not if you gave me a map right now, I could identify maybe 6 or 7 states.
Dave
00:04:23 – 00:04:24
Yeah.
Ben
00:04:24 – 00:04:31
Maybe. So you're taking the idea of, like, why should I remember it if I can look it up? You're taking that to the geographic extreme.
Aaron
00:04:32 – 00:04:41
Yeah. Or, like, why when when do I need to know where where Connecticut is? I know it's up there. Like, I know it's
Zuzana
00:04:41 – 00:04:41
up there.
Ben
00:04:42 – 00:04:43
Love it. But I
Dave
00:04:43 – 00:04:44
don't why why do I
Aaron
00:04:44 – 00:04:50
need to I'm not gonna, like, I'm not gonna walk there, and if I did, there would be signs. But, like Do
Zuzana
00:04:50 – 00:04:50
you know
Ben
00:04:50 – 00:04:51
where England is?
Aaron
00:04:52 – 00:04:53
Yeah. Yeah. Ish.
Ben
00:04:53 – 00:04:55
Could you on a map. Right?
Aaron
00:04:56 – 00:05:03
Yeah. I mean, I know where the UK is. Now what the UK is is an open question, but I know that it's an island. Right?
Ben
00:05:03 – 00:05:06
Susana, can you do an explainer on that for us sometime?
Aaron
00:05:06 – 00:05:10
No. No. There's there's like it's overlapping Venn diagrams.
Dave
00:05:10 – 00:05:14
It is. It's a great Venn. It's just a fantastic Venn series of Venn diagrams.
Aaron
00:05:14 – 00:05:17
No. I don't I don't have the mental bandwidth for that.
Dave
00:05:17 – 00:05:18
Like Well, there's Yeah.
Aaron
00:05:18 – 00:05:22
New York, California, Florida, Texas, Washington state
Ben
00:05:22 – 00:05:23
The Cornish.
Dave
00:05:23 – 00:05:24
Washington. The Cornish.
Aaron
00:05:24 – 00:05:32
Okay. Maybe Tennessee because it's long and and skinny. Sure. Yeah. Oklahoma because it's right above us.
Ben
00:05:32 – 00:05:40
Yeah. Was prepared for this call. I would have brought a map game and had Aaron and Susanna go head to head on US geography.
Zuzana
00:05:41 – 00:05:43
My chances would be really good, to be honest.
Aaron
00:05:44 – 00:05:52
Yeah. You you they really would. Even, like, New Mexico, Arizona, like, which one's which? I don't know. Colorado, I know.
Ben
00:05:52 – 00:05:56
Colorado. Got that one. Yeah. So it looks a lot like Wyoming, though.
Aaron
00:05:56 – 00:05:59
You gotta be careful. Exactly. That's what I'm saying.
Dave
00:05:59 – 00:06:07
I think Wyoming is to Colorado as Oklahoma is to is to Texas. Right? It is sort of Colorado's hat, if you were. Much like Oklahoma is Texas's hat. Yeah.
Aaron
00:06:07 – 00:06:12
Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. Oklahoma's claim to fame is that it is near Texas.
Dave
00:06:12 – 00:06:23
I lived I lived in Oklahoma in high school, and I I don't dispute that at all. There's, yeah, yeah, there's just nothing. Sorry. People in Oklahoma, all of the listeners of Cheese and Weather from Oklahoma, I'm so sorry. There's just nothing happening there.
Aaron
00:06:23 – 00:06:28
Y'all y'all have casinos, and you're near Texas. So that's good.
Ben
00:06:28 – 00:06:29
That's that's 2 things.
Aaron
00:06:29 – 00:06:31
Yeah. That's great. That's great.
Ben
00:06:31 – 00:06:40
I almost ended up in Oklahoma for the eclipse. I was headed to that corner of what is it? Like, Texarkana or whatever? Like, Texas. Mhmm.
Ben
00:06:40 – 00:06:43
Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas. Yeah.
Aaron
00:06:43 – 00:06:52
Texas, Texas, Texas, Oklahoma, ended up in Illinois. There's a Texoma. There's a Oh. Lake Texoma. So we love on the border towns, we love to just, you know, throw their names together.
Aaron
00:06:52 – 00:06:52
Yeah.
Ben
00:06:52 – 00:06:59
Mhmm. So, famously, we're going to Dallas in well, next week when this episode comes out.
Dave
00:06:59 – 00:06:59
That's right.
Ben
00:06:59 – 00:07:05
And that is Aaron's hometown. He is the king of Dallas, Texas as far as we're concerned.
Aaron
00:07:05 – 00:07:06
Mhmm. Duly appointed.
Ben
00:07:06 – 00:07:18
We need to talk a little bit about Laracon weather in Dallas, Texas in late August, which is really the best time to visit Dallas, I think. Truly. Can you help us understand? Help us prepare?
Aaron
00:07:20 – 00:07:22
It's going to be oppressive.
Dave
00:07:24 – 00:07:26
Oppressive. Oppressive.
Zuzana
00:07:26 – 00:07:29
Oh, because he was saying it's going impressive. Not not impressive. Impressive.
Ben
00:07:29 – 00:07:30
No. Well,
Aaron
00:07:30 – 00:07:31
you you might be
Dave
00:07:31 – 00:07:32
able to mean by impressive?
Aaron
00:07:32 – 00:07:44
Yeah. It's gonna be bad. So next week, I think, is gonna be the hottest week so far. So maybe we'll miss, you know, the absolute hottest for Lyricon.
Ben
00:07:44 – 00:07:48
You mean, like, the hottest of the summer? Uh-huh. Oh, great. Uh-huh.
Aaron
00:07:48 – 00:07:55
Yeah. So next week, we're looking at next week, we're looking at 105. 1105 to 110.
Dave
00:07:55 – 00:07:58
And that's before heat index. That's just actual
Aaron
00:07:58 – 00:08:17
Yeah. That's just that's just the raw numby. Yeah. So the good news is Dallas is basically a concrete heat dome. So we're gonna you know, when it's at 105, at least at night, it'll cool down to maybe 98, 99, something like that.
Aaron
00:08:17 – 00:08:29
So we can, you know, have a nice breeze at night. Yeah. I wouldn't plan depending on how close you are to the venue, I wouldn't plan on walking, to the venue or rather anywhere really.
Ben
00:08:30 – 00:08:35
This really affects Dallas's reputation as a walkable city. I think this is really gonna hurt.
Aaron
00:08:35 – 00:08:44
No. This doesn't affect it at all because our reputation is is we are not a walkable city. Yeah. We drive our big SUVs to the grocery store and
Ben
00:08:45 – 00:08:47
go from the air conditioned cockpit to air conditioned cockpit. Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron
00:08:47 – 00:08:47
So Yeah.
Dave
00:08:48 – 00:09:04
This is I'm glad you brought this up. So, Aaron, a number actually, I think Ben and I are staying at the at the same hotel. I think I know a lot of people are are there's, like, one hotel that is, like, theoretically, those of us from outside Texas, we look at this and go, it's like an 8 minute walk. This is walkable Mhmm. To the venue.
Dave
00:09:04 – 00:09:11
Does that sound walkable for like, on a Texas scale? Like, maybe walk in the morning, but in the afternoon, probably.
Aaron
00:09:11 – 00:09:27
Perhaps walkable in the morning. Okay. You might wanna check the route to see if it is physically walkable. I mean, there there's, like, there's a good chance, you know, if you're like, I'm just on the other side of the overpass. It's like, well, there's there's there's no sidewalks to get to where you're going.
Aaron
00:09:27 – 00:09:47
That is entirely possible. I will say the area of town, in which Lyricon is happening is a little more vibey and walkable. So that you know, we have that in in our favor there. But, yeah, beyond that, I wouldn't expect, like I don't know where Laracon after dark is. I don't remember, but Yeah.
Aaron
00:09:47 – 00:09:51
Just don't plan on trying to walk there is is my guess.
Ben
00:09:52 – 00:09:55
It looks like 0.7 or no 0.3 miles. Is that
Aaron
00:09:55 – 00:09:57
What's the name of the hotel?
Zuzana
00:09:57 – 00:09:57
That's nothing.
Ben
00:09:57 – 00:09:59
It's the Kimpton. Kimpton.
Dave
00:09:59 – 00:10:00
In Dallas. And, 0.3.
Zuzana
00:10:00 – 00:10:01
That feels
Ben
00:10:02 – 00:10:04
borderline. I mean, in decent weather, 100%.
Aaron
00:10:04 – 00:10:06
Well, in the morning, I feel like
Dave
00:10:06 – 00:10:08
in the morning in the morning, we should be okay.
Aaron
00:10:09 – 00:10:10
And I don't think we have
Dave
00:10:10 – 00:10:11
to cross the highway.
Aaron
00:10:11 – 00:10:28
No. This looks like you do. So the factory, which I will say is not a not as cool a name as it used to be. It used to be called the bomb factory because it was literally a bomb factory. And then they went and renamed it the factory, and I'm like, the guys
Dave
00:10:28 – 00:10:29
The woke mind virus is
Aaron
00:10:29 – 00:10:42
coming from all of them. Probably. Yeah. So the factory is 8 minute an 8 minute walk, and it looks totally walkable. But, yeah, it'll be warm.
Aaron
00:10:43 – 00:10:52
It'll be warm. Warm. And it won't be it won't be a pretty walk because you're truly walking right under 75, which is a a highway. Yeah. So, yeah, you can do it.
Dave
00:10:52 – 00:10:57
Susana, as you're listening to this, how much are you miss you're just the FOMO's kicking in already.
Zuzana
00:10:57 – 00:10:58
Oh, yeah.
Dave
00:10:58 – 00:11:02
A former bomb factory walking under an overpass. This is just real Americana.
Aaron
00:11:03 – 00:11:06
Yeah. Real Americana. It's probably an Arby's nearby.
Zuzana
00:11:08 – 00:11:17
I'm just expecting a lot of pictures and videos and experiences. Next time we talk, you have to fill me in on all the things that happened, and I'm gonna be here.
Aaron
00:11:17 – 00:11:18
And you'll be sad.
Dave
00:11:18 – 00:11:26
Yeah. You won't be oh, oh, no. Susanna. Who? Are you, I was gonna say, I don't think anything will be livestreamed except Taylor's, talk will be livestreamed.
Dave
00:11:26 – 00:11:27
I think I saw it.
Zuzana
00:11:27 – 00:11:29
I'm not gonna watch it, though. I don't no. No. Nothing to
Aaron
00:11:29 – 00:11:32
do with Taylor. Okay. Woah. No. I'm not
Zuzana
00:11:35 – 00:11:35
gonna watch Taylor. Do you
Ben
00:11:35 – 00:11:37
wanna provide any context or just I would
Aaron
00:11:37 – 00:11:40
love to. Yeah. That's the big boss you're talking about.
Zuzana
00:11:40 – 00:11:47
No. I I'm just gonna ignore everything that's happening that way because it's gonna be too hard. It's gonna hurt too much. So that's why.
Ben
00:11:47 – 00:11:51
I really wish we could've got you over here for this one. You really shouldn't miss any of them.
Zuzana
00:11:51 – 00:12:07
Yeah. But August is just difficult with the kids. I know in the US, kids start schools earlier. Like, in the UK, August is the month when the kids are properly home, and it's just yeah. So as long as lockdown happens in August, I'm not gonna be able to come.
Zuzana
00:12:07 – 00:12:13
Just saying saying if Taylor if Taylor is listening, I'm just saying, Taylor Yes. If you wanna see me ever again,
Aaron
00:12:14 – 00:12:16
it sounds like I'm threatening you.
Zuzana
00:12:16 – 00:12:17
Okay. I'm gonna say it in different tones.
Aaron
00:12:18 – 00:12:18
Definitely a threat.
Zuzana
00:12:18 – 00:12:20
That's a that sounds like a chore.
Aaron
00:12:20 – 00:12:22
We're gonna choose an ultimatum. So,
Zuzana
00:12:23 – 00:12:29
no, Taylor, you know you love to no. Hold on. I have to think about it. Basically How
Aaron
00:12:29 – 00:12:29
do you see it in
Ben
00:12:29 – 00:12:31
a threatening, but not threatening?
Zuzana
00:12:31 – 00:12:43
Yeah. I don't know. How do I say it? I need to say like, the message I'm trying to put across is that if I were to come to Laracon US again, it cannot be in August. So how do I say it nicely to Taylor so that he doesn't do it in August again?
Ben
00:12:44 – 00:12:47
I would love to join you at Laracon US in June 2025.
Aaron
00:12:48 – 00:12:50
That's like, I'm still aggressive.
Dave
00:12:52 – 00:12:52
July? Yeah.
Aaron
00:12:52 – 00:13:01
I feel like I feel like Iain is is partially missing because his kid's going off to college or it's like he's dropped off that week or something. So I don't think you're the only one.
Dave
00:13:01 – 00:13:16
Yeah. It was a whole thing, like, depending on where Iain's kid went to college, there was like I think it was down to, like, a couple options. And for a lot of college kids, they're starting, like, that last week. And for kids in the northeast, they don't start school until, I think, that last week
Zuzana
00:13:16 – 00:13:16
Mhmm.
Dave
00:13:16 – 00:13:22
Of August as well. Whereas in in Texas, Aaron, I assume they probably went back this week, the week before, something like that.
Aaron
00:13:22 – 00:13:43
Yeah. I think most kids I don't know about colleges, but I think most kids started this week because school zones are back on. And, you know, working at an an apartment as I do, the pool is is empty now. All the, like, all the kids are back in school, so that's that's nice. You're called to school.
Aaron
00:13:43 – 00:13:48
Terribly loud, but sometimes there were, like, you know, a bunch of kids outside playing in the pool.
Zuzana
00:13:48 – 00:13:50
It's like does every apartment building have a pool?
Aaron
00:13:53 – 00:13:57
I think most apartment complexes have pools.
Zuzana
00:13:57 – 00:13:59
Is it inside or outside?
Aaron
00:14:00 – 00:14:06
It's an outdoor pool. Outdoor. In the, it's surrounded by the apartment, but it is outdoors. So it's like a courtyard.
Zuzana
00:14:06 – 00:14:08
Oh, okay. Okay. That is so cool.
Aaron
00:14:09 – 00:14:14
It's awesome. Yeah. My family uses it. Like, they've they've swam in the pool. I'm in here working.
Aaron
00:14:14 – 00:14:15
Like, they'll come out here
Ben
00:14:15 – 00:14:16
and they'll make the code.
Aaron
00:14:16 – 00:14:18
The code. It's been working from
Ben
00:14:18 – 00:14:23
home man. From an apartment. Uh-huh. You can expense it. This is fantastic.
Ben
00:14:23 – 00:14:25
Yep. Why don't more people do this?
Aaron
00:14:25 – 00:14:36
I don't know. I don't know. More people need to be crazier. Yeah. It's it's like I've got a full gym right downstairs, a pool that my, you know, wife and kids and the au pair use.
Aaron
00:14:37 – 00:14:48
There's obviously a full kitchen, full private bathroom, 2 rooms. I'm in the studio room. There's a living room out there. It's like, it's it's awesome. I love it.
Dave
00:14:48 – 00:15:01
Aaron, you could do a whole this could be a whole, like, sort of, you know, marketing niche for you. Like, you could be try you could, you know, be telling people, like, almost in a very Steve Jobs iPhone introduction way. You're like, you know, it's an office. It's a swimming pool. It's a gym.
Dave
00:15:01 – 00:15:13
Are you getting it? It's my apartment complex. Are you getting it? Right. You could be pitching this in some way, the secrets of, you know, you know, the one thing, Aaron, much like, you know, people say you wanna find a friend with a boat, you probably don't wanna own a boat.
Dave
00:15:13 – 00:15:17
You don't have to own a pool. You are the business Aaron is the friend
Aaron
00:15:17 – 00:15:18
with the pool. It's great.
Dave
00:15:18 – 00:15:19
That's right. That's right.
Aaron
00:15:19 – 00:15:26
Aaron Francis Inc has a pool. However, Aaron Francis Personal also wants a pool. Yeah. Yeah. I know.
Aaron
00:15:26 – 00:15:27
Yeah. I've heard some noise about this.
Ben
00:15:27 – 00:15:30
You would like want to dig your own pool?
Aaron
00:15:31 – 00:15:32
Well, I want to have dug my
Ben
00:15:32 – 00:15:35
own pool, I will say. Yeah. You want a pool?
Aaron
00:15:35 – 00:15:39
That's like a lot of things in life, I want to have done them. I don't
Ben
00:15:39 – 00:15:46
want to do them, which is it's just much time to do them, but it would be nice to have had the time.
Aaron
00:15:46 – 00:16:00
Exactly. Yeah. I don't know about the hand digging anymore. It wouldn't ever really be hand. It would be machine assisted digging, but I I think maybe doing it myself is just generally a bad idea.
Ben
00:16:00 – 00:16:05
I am always hunting for an excuse to rent a small excavator. Haven't found one yet.
Dave
00:16:05 – 00:16:06
Aren't we all?
Ben
00:16:06 – 00:16:13
Yeah. No. Man, anytime I drive past the rental center, I'm like, oh, look at that. Wonder what I could use that lift for.
Aaron
00:16:13 – 00:16:21
I've rented a little, like, like, a little bucket loader that you stand on the back of, and it's got tracks and a bucket Oh, you have a little bit of a dream before.
Ben
00:16:21 – 00:16:23
What did you do with that? Awesome.
Aaron
00:16:24 – 00:16:50
At our old house, I created something called the chill zone. That was its technical name. And there was this little dead corner of the yard that had a bunch of junk in it, and so I rented this bucket loader and, like, moved all of it around, leveled the ground, and then had, like, I don't know, 3 or 4 yards of gravel delivered and scooped up all the gravel and made, like, a just like a hang space, called the chill zone. It was awesome.
Dave
00:16:50 – 00:16:51
The chill zone.
Aaron
00:16:51 – 00:16:51
So much fun.
Dave
00:16:52 – 00:16:52
Chill zone.
Ben
00:16:52 – 00:16:55
Yeah. Feel like we need to name more patios.
Aaron
00:16:56 – 00:16:57
Everything needs a name.
Dave
00:16:57 – 00:16:57
A lot of
Ben
00:16:57 – 00:16:59
people just call that the yard.
Dave
00:16:59 – 00:17:07
You could let people you could let people pay for it. You could get sponsorships. You could Exactly. You know, in in in the university space, we call those endowments. Right?
Dave
00:17:07 – 00:17:09
You get you get your your patio endowed.
Aaron
00:17:09 – 00:17:21
Yes. Imagine imagine how cool it would be to have the Dave Hicking pool of swimming at Aaron Francis' house. Like, isn't that a great name? You can toy with the name a little bit if you want.
Dave
00:17:21 – 00:17:23
Do I get a plaque? I get a plaque. Right?
Aaron
00:17:23 – 00:17:24
You get a little plaque. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:17:24 – 00:17:25
For I
Aaron
00:17:25 – 00:17:26
would prefer a $100,000
Dave
00:17:28 – 00:17:28
dollars.
Aaron
00:17:28 – 00:17:32
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 50,000, no plaque. Just like a honorable mention.
Dave
00:17:32 – 00:17:34
Honorable mention? Okay. Mhmm.
Zuzana
00:17:34 – 00:17:34
Can
Ben
00:17:34 – 00:17:37
you build a pool for $50? I have no concept for
Aaron
00:17:37 – 00:17:40
how much it cost to put a pool in it back. No way.
Dave
00:17:40 – 00:17:48
The the only thing I know about pool costs are what I learned in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, right, which is that you can cover it with an end of the year bonus, which I don't think is probably true.
Ben
00:17:48 – 00:17:49
No. Not anymore.
Dave
00:17:49 – 00:17:50
I wanna believe.
Ben
00:17:50 – 00:17:51
That's Hollywood.
Aaron
00:17:51 – 00:17:58
Yeah. Somebody I don't know if it was a relative or somebody online was telling me that pools are north of a $100,000, and that's when I was like,
Ben
00:17:58 – 00:18:00
there's no way you get that much use out
Aaron
00:18:00 – 00:18:02
of a pool. Right?
Ben
00:18:02 – 00:18:07
No. Like, how many years of municipal pool passes is your own pool?
Zuzana
00:18:07 – 00:18:13
How big a pool are we talking? I mean, you can try to get, like, an inflatable pool that doesn't cost us more.
Ben
00:18:13 – 00:18:16
No. You were talking about people on the ground that's Like
Dave
00:18:16 – 00:18:18
a hole in the ground pool?
Zuzana
00:18:18 – 00:18:18
Yeah. But still because
Dave
00:18:18 – 00:18:19
you probably need 5
Ben
00:18:19 – 00:18:20
or 6 meters long.
Dave
00:18:20 – 00:18:24
And you're gonna have some, like, some sort of a a situation to put some, like
Aaron
00:18:24 – 00:18:25
You gotta have a situation.
Dave
00:18:26 – 00:18:27
Chairs and You
Ben
00:18:27 – 00:18:27
gotta have
Aaron
00:18:27 – 00:18:29
a chills on. Chills
Dave
00:18:30 – 00:18:30
on. Hardscape.
Aaron
00:18:30 – 00:18:31
I need a chills on.
Zuzana
00:18:31 – 00:18:39
Yeah. But now it's out of scope. That's too much. Now you are that's not, you know, scope out of scope. You wanna pool?
Zuzana
00:18:39 – 00:18:44
You you get a pool. There's no talk about chill zone, just a pool. What's
Aaron
00:18:44 – 00:18:49
they're all together. What's a yeah. A pool without a chill zone is just a hole in the ground, frankly.
Zuzana
00:18:49 – 00:18:49
With both.
Ben
00:18:49 – 00:18:57
Well, then you need a second sponsor for the chill zone, although that could be like the silver level spot that you could do. You could do that for 50.
Aaron
00:18:58 – 00:19:02
For 50. You can have the Dave Hickey chill zone. Yeah. That was
Dave
00:19:02 – 00:19:05
the naming rights for this pool are really, really adding up.
Ben
00:19:05 – 00:19:15
It's going to be something Yukon, right? What do they call the Yukon? The Yukon like basketball arena or hockey arena? Do they have like. So Okay.
Dave
00:19:15 – 00:19:25
Oh, it gets and it gets complicated. There are naming opportunities. Right? So, like, you can, like, at some universities, there's, like, the name of the arena, but the floor is named after somebody else. Right?
Dave
00:19:25 – 00:19:31
So you can name the floor. I really thought about, I was I mean, not real I mean, really thought about it.
Aaron
00:19:31 – 00:19:32
Not really.
Dave
00:19:32 – 00:19:37
Really thought about, honing up 20 grand to have one of the Zambonis named after us,
Zuzana
00:19:37 – 00:19:37
which I
Ben
00:19:37 – 00:19:40
thought would be great. Incredible. That might be worth 20 grand.
Aaron
00:19:40 – 00:19:44
Listen. If you got $20, I have a chill zone to sell you.
Dave
00:19:44 – 00:19:47
Trust me. That's amazing. We're wheeling a deal.
Aaron
00:19:47 – 00:19:49
Yeah. I'll let it go for 20 for sure.
Ben
00:19:50 – 00:19:55
Yeah. A Zamboni, though. Could you pick, like, the wrap on the thing? Like, they must have
Aaron
00:19:55 – 00:19:56
wrapped it with vinyl
Ben
00:19:56 – 00:19:57
stickers or something.
Zuzana
00:19:57 – 00:19:59
What is a Zamboni? Although
Ben
00:19:59 – 00:20:00
Oh, great question.
Zuzana
00:20:00 – 00:20:03
I'm sorry. I feel so dumb today. Like, I understand.
Dave
00:20:03 – 00:20:06
No. This is great. I love to man sweats, but things
Aaron
00:20:06 – 00:20:07
know what a Zamboni is.
Ben
00:20:07 – 00:20:09
That's the major theme of this podcast.
Aaron
00:20:10 – 00:20:11
Me not
Zuzana
00:20:11 – 00:20:13
knowing stuff. Yes. Go on. So you have, you know, indoor hockey rinks. Yep.
Dave
00:20:13 – 00:20:16
Frozen ice, obviously. And you they need to be I'm
Zuzana
00:20:16 – 00:20:16
just
Dave
00:20:16 – 00:20:19
I'm laying this for everybody. Well, there's no such thing as
Aaron
00:20:22 – 00:20:25
ice that's not frozen. So, like, I don't know. Keep going. Good job.
Zuzana
00:20:25 – 00:20:26
Good job.
Ben
00:20:26 – 00:20:26
It's fine.
Dave
00:20:26 – 00:20:32
That's fine. Listen. I'm on my first day of ADHD, man. So my brain is, like, so fast right now. Okay.
Ben
00:20:32 – 00:20:35
We'll talk about that later. Yeah. We're gonna do that.
Dave
00:20:35 – 00:20:46
As you're as as the players are using it, skating on it, the ice is getting kind of beat up in between during the period. And so in between periods, they have this machine that is spraying down water and then freeze and then
Aaron
00:20:46 – 00:20:47
it so it can get
Dave
00:20:47 – 00:20:50
frozen and smoothing it out, creating a new fresh surface And that's what
Zuzana
00:20:50 – 00:20:52
it's called, Zamboni.
Ben
00:20:52 – 00:20:54
Yeah. Mhmm. It's called the Zamboni monkey game. Right, Zuzana?
Zuzana
00:20:55 – 00:21:00
Yeah. I didn't know what it's Okay. This is what is it called in a check? I don't even know what it's called in check. But I know it's a machine.
Zuzana
00:21:00 – 00:21:02
You know? It doesn't know what that's what it was called.
Dave
00:21:02 – 00:21:03
And so at our at our older,
Ben
00:21:04 – 00:21:06
we need to to let Dave explain it to you. He
Zuzana
00:21:06 – 00:21:08
Yeah. Go on, Dave. Tell me.
Dave
00:21:08 – 00:21:26
At our older arena, the one that's downtown, it's the former NHL arena. When we play there, they have an old schools, they have an older old school Zamboni where they have a kid who can, like, sit on the back, like, in between periods and, like, wave at everybody. Right? It's great. These new ones for safety or insurance or who knows, the kids can't even sit on
Zuzana
00:21:26 – 00:21:27
it anymore. It's like Boring.
Ben
00:21:28 – 00:21:42
We used to be wild games, they have a fake Zamboni that has, like, couches and seating on top instead of the regular Zamboni stuff, and they drive them around the arena. So you can, like, rent the thing and get driven around, like, the middle of ice in between periods.
Zuzana
00:21:42 – 00:21:43
Why is it fake? Not
Ben
00:21:43 – 00:21:44
worth 20 feet.
Zuzana
00:21:44 – 00:21:49
Does it not do the job? If you're already going around the arena, why not just let it do the job?
Ben
00:21:49 – 00:21:56
I think there's no room for the couch if they have to store the ice shavings. K. Priorities. Yeah.
Aaron
00:21:56 – 00:22:01
Yeah. The Dave Hicking Zamboni for frozen ice. I like that. That sounds good.
Ben
00:22:02 – 00:22:02
You've got a pen.
Dave
00:22:02 – 00:22:07
It's very dirty Zoolander School. Yeah. Kids who can't read good and stuff. Yeah.
Aaron
00:22:07 – 00:22:08
That's worth 20 grand.
Ben
00:22:09 – 00:22:13
20 grand. What else have you considered naming at UK?
Dave
00:22:13 – 00:22:17
You can have, like, the locker rooms named after you. You can have, like, basically any piece of a
Ben
00:22:18 – 00:22:20
chair in the basketball arena. Could you have, like, your name
Dave
00:22:20 – 00:22:21
on the basketball?
Zuzana
00:22:21 – 00:22:22
I don't know
Dave
00:22:22 – 00:22:24
if you can get I don't know if you can get a a chair individually. Yeah.
Ben
00:22:24 – 00:22:26
I'm just trying to go down the
Dave
00:22:26 – 00:22:27
Sure.
Ben
00:22:27 – 00:22:30
Trying to go down the we're at $20. What can you get for a Yeah.
Dave
00:22:30 – 00:22:37
I don't know. What's the cheapest Or 2,000. Oh, 5 or 2,000? Yeah. I don't even know if Yukon will get a real person on the phone with me for 5 grand.
Dave
00:22:37 – 00:22:38
That's Probably
Aaron
00:22:38 – 00:22:41
a a brick. You you get a brick with your name on it.
Ben
00:22:41 – 00:22:43
And then they put it on the ground outside the arena.
Aaron
00:22:43 – 00:22:44
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Dave
00:22:44 – 00:22:45
That's right.
Ben
00:22:45 – 00:22:54
Yeah. Yeah. I'd rather have a Zamboni named after me than 10 bricks in the plaza. There's no way that conversion rate works.
Zuzana
00:22:54 – 00:22:56
Yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll
Aaron
00:22:56 – 00:23:00
be honest. Any number of bricks with my name on it doesn't move me a whole lot. Yeah.
Dave
00:23:00 – 00:23:07
Can you maybe sell me you could be selling bricks to your to your chill zone brick by brick. That way, you're sort of taking that big number and you're breaking it down for people.
Aaron
00:23:08 – 00:23:11
Oh, that is not the craziest thing I've ever heard.
Ben
00:23:11 – 00:23:22
You're just in the math on how big how big is my newsletter list? What's the conversion rate if I put this out there? How much do I need for the pool?
Aaron
00:23:22 – 00:23:32
I'm not kidding. I would totally pave my backyard in sponsored bricks. Oh, 100%. 100%. This is be a great idea.
Zuzana
00:23:33 – 00:23:34
Starter for your bricks.
Ben
00:23:35 – 00:23:39
Zuzanna, I'm gonna put you on the spot. How much would you pay for a brick in Erin's backyard?
Zuzana
00:23:39 – 00:23:43
Thing. I'm sorry. No. This doesn't doesn't do anything
Dave
00:23:43 – 00:23:44
from 0.
Zuzana
00:23:44 – 00:23:45
I'm sorry.
Aaron
00:23:45 – 00:23:51
What if it wasn't in August around when school starts? What if I did all of the fundraising in June? Would you pay for a brick in June?
Zuzana
00:23:52 – 00:23:57
No. It's close. I'm sorry.
Dave
00:23:57 – 00:24:05
Is there, is there, like, a a webcam that people can, like, watch? So when the construction's happening, people love to see, like, construction videos. Right? You could,
Zuzana
00:24:05 – 00:24:05
yeah.
Ben
00:24:06 – 00:24:06
You could sell ads
Aaron
00:24:06 – 00:24:07
on the web page.
Ben
00:24:07 – 00:24:13
The Zamboni. You could sell naming rights on the excavator Mhmm. Tooling around the backyard. Mhmm.
Aaron
00:24:13 – 00:24:20
Boy. Boy. Well, how do I play this brick thing to get people to give me money to build a swimming pool.
Zuzana
00:24:20 – 00:24:26
That's the Kickstarter. I'm telling you. Kickstarter. Just start people pay all sorts of money on Kickstarter. Go for it.
Ben
00:24:26 – 00:24:26
Not Suzanna.
Zuzana
00:24:26 – 00:24:27
Not people.
Aaron
00:24:27 – 00:24:29
No. Yeah. Yeah. Other people. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:24:29 – 00:24:30
I'm I'm not I'm not that stoked.
Aaron
00:24:30 – 00:24:34
That other people must do this. Yeah. What she's saying. This is a
Ben
00:24:34 – 00:24:39
I feel like you have to play up the kid angle a lot because that's already an important part of your brand. Mhmm.
Zuzana
00:24:40 – 00:24:40
Yeah. Mhmm.
Ben
00:24:40 – 00:24:42
And, like, help my kids
Zuzana
00:24:43 – 00:24:43
Yeah.
Ben
00:24:43 – 00:24:49
Realize their dreams of having a backyard pool. Not Right. My dreams, my children's dreams.
Dave
00:24:49 – 00:24:50
Yeah. Children's dreams. Yeah.
Ben
00:24:50 – 00:24:54
The apartment complex too far away can't get there.
Aaron
00:24:54 – 00:24:54
Right.
Dave
00:24:54 – 00:24:56
You don't want an unsafe pool.
Aaron
00:24:56 – 00:24:58
Right? No. Heaven forbid.
Dave
00:24:58 – 00:24:59
Not for the
Zuzana
00:24:59 – 00:25:02
So so are you collecting money for a lifeguard as well now? Or
Ben
00:25:02 – 00:25:07
Not that safe. I think in America, we just put a fence around it. We're like, that's the liability.
Dave
00:25:07 – 00:25:13
Well, I assume I I'm guessing even Texas, you have to put a a fence around a pool, but I don't know, man. It's little it's kinda lawless
Zuzana
00:25:13 – 00:25:13
down there.
Aaron
00:25:13 – 00:25:21
Even though. Yeah. You can shoot anyone you want, but you do have to have a you have to have a fence around your pool. I mean, we're come on. We're civilized.
Aaron
00:25:21 – 00:25:22
Well, that's controlled
Ben
00:25:22 – 00:25:23
by the insurance.
Dave
00:25:23 – 00:25:27
Texas open carry? I should Google that. I gotta Oh, yes.
Ben
00:25:27 – 00:25:29
Absolutely. To open carry then. You can do
Aaron
00:25:29 – 00:25:30
your gun there.
Zuzana
00:25:30 – 00:25:30
If you
Aaron
00:25:30 – 00:25:33
don't carry a gun openly, you will get shot.
Dave
00:25:33 – 00:25:41
I have to mentally prepare myself for every time I go to a state that's open carry. Because I've been I've been up in you know, even though I I used to live in North Carolina, I went to high school in Oklahoma.
Zuzana
00:25:41 – 00:25:41
Mhmm.
Dave
00:25:41 – 00:25:53
I've been up here in in, you know, soft, you know, liberal Connecticut for so long, when I go to a place where there are guns more they're just more out in the open, I have to it's like such a shock to the system. I gotta prep myself.
Aaron
00:25:54 – 00:26:04
Some some may say that that's a reasonable response, but, I mean, who who am I to judge? To see a gun in public. Gun and be shocked, I think, is pretty that's the right thing, but maybe gun
Ben
00:26:04 – 00:26:05
when you're not at the gun range. Yeah.
Aaron
00:26:05 – 00:26:14
Yeah. Exactly. I honestly don't see terribly many people carrying ever. Yeah. That's good.
Aaron
00:26:14 – 00:26:18
But, yeah, you can, like I think you can, like, walk around with a long gun just out.
Zuzana
00:26:18 – 00:26:21
Why would people carry it over your shoulder? Why?
Aaron
00:26:21 – 00:26:24
Why? These people are insane. I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know.
Aaron
00:26:24 – 00:26:24
Scared.
Dave
00:26:25 – 00:26:26
Of? Of what?
Zuzana
00:26:26 – 00:26:27
Other people carrying guns.
Aaron
00:26:28 – 00:26:34
Just like big trucks are some people's personality, guns are some people's personality. Don't know.
Dave
00:26:34 – 00:26:37
Yeah. Aaron, do you drive a big truck?
Aaron
00:26:37 – 00:26:38
I drive a 4 Runner.
Ben
00:26:38 – 00:26:40
That's a solid choice. Yeah.
Aaron
00:26:40 – 00:26:41
Solid choice.
Zuzana
00:26:42 – 00:26:43
No idea what that is. Anyway
Aaron
00:26:44 – 00:26:46
It's just a Toyota SUV.
Zuzana
00:26:46 – 00:26:51
S u I know what SUV is. Okay. Okay. I got some sort of image in my head now.
Aaron
00:26:51 – 00:26:56
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, Eric Barnes and I drive the same the same vehicle, both, 4 Runner.
Ben
00:26:56 – 00:26:57
Take turns?
Aaron
00:26:58 – 00:27:05
Or Yeah. It's tough because he's in North Carolina. So it's like not that useful, but we're saving a ton of money. Yeah. Right.
Aaron
00:27:05 – 00:27:11
Sure. It's the shipping the car back and forth. That's where they really get you. Yeah.
Dave
00:27:12 – 00:27:19
You gotta find some sort of scheme where you're you're picking up in one location and dropping off in the other Exactly. The math work. Yeah.
Aaron
00:27:19 – 00:27:21
Yeah. And it's just I don't So
Ben
00:27:21 – 00:27:21
far not
Aaron
00:27:21 – 00:27:32
working. In North Carolina that often, so it makes it makes the logistics a little bit more difficult. I will say if we had, producer Dave's favorite topic, if we had tunnels where we could just ship cars underground
Zuzana
00:27:32 – 00:27:33
Sure.
Aaron
00:27:33 – 00:27:34
That'd be so much easier.
Ben
00:27:34 – 00:27:37
Do you still think the tunnel is a good idea? Just to clarify.
Aaron
00:27:38 – 00:27:40
I have actually evolved, and I think the tunnel is a great idea.
Zuzana
00:27:40 – 00:27:42
Okay. Great idea. Yeah.
Aaron
00:27:42 – 00:27:44
You would be like, I Gotcha.
Ben
00:27:45 – 00:28:12
Here in, the colder parts of the country Mhmm. It's not uncommon to have tunnels between buildings on college campuses. So, for example, University of Minnesota, Duluth is in a particularly cold spot. The students there will basically spend the winter in shorts because they the cafeteria, the classrooms, the dorms are all connected by tunnel. It may be dark at 4 PM and the sun may not rise until nearly 9 AM, But you can wear shorts
Aaron
00:28:12 – 00:28:17
all when it At least we don't have to go outside. Tunnels everywhere.
Ben
00:28:18 – 00:28:20
You can't put a car in them, but they are tunnel.
Dave
00:28:21 – 00:28:23
Ben, are they wearing flip flops?
Ben
00:28:23 – 00:28:26
I'm sure they are. Oh. Wouldn't you?
Dave
00:28:26 – 00:28:27
Now now Aaron's out. Aaron's out.
Ben
00:28:27 – 00:28:28
I'm out.
Aaron
00:28:28 – 00:28:32
I Imagine all those stinky toes clogging up the tunnel. That's disgusting.
Zuzana
00:28:33 – 00:28:37
Oh, you you are the one who wears shoes and toes. Right?
Ben
00:28:37 – 00:28:48
Have this thing about not having your dogs out. You should wear socks with slide sandals. I did not realize you were an undercover Gen Z operative here. What's going on?
Aaron
00:28:48 – 00:28:51
Yeah. I will. You know, I'm just young at heart. Here's the thing. Right.
Aaron
00:28:52 – 00:28:55
Toes, specifically men's toes
Dave
00:28:56 – 00:28:56
Okay.
Aaron
00:28:56 – 00:29:00
Not great. Hideous, in fact. If unless
Ben
00:29:00 – 00:29:03
you are happy someone out of Riverside. How do you
Aaron
00:29:03 – 00:29:10
Unless you are actively falling into a body of water, as a man, your your toes should not be visible. I'm sorry.
Zuzana
00:29:10 – 00:29:14
So do you wear sandals or do you never wear sandals? And if you wear sandals
Aaron
00:29:14 – 00:29:14
wear sandals.
Zuzana
00:29:15 – 00:29:19
So you don't. If you did wear sandals, would you wear them with socks? Or you just never wear them?
Aaron
00:29:19 – 00:29:22
No. Because I would be at the beach about to get into the water.
Ben
00:29:23 – 00:29:39
So do you wear your shoes to the edge of the water and then put on your sandals? Or where what's the what's the point Mhmm. Where you are done with shoes? Like, the parking lot at the beach? The sand, the water.
Aaron
00:29:39 – 00:29:45
If I if I am in if I'm in swimming regalia, then I will I will maybe wear flip flops, like
Zuzana
00:29:45 – 00:29:45
Okay.
Aaron
00:29:45 – 00:29:49
To, you know, get out of the house into the car. But I have a swimsuit on, so I'm just
Ben
00:29:49 – 00:29:50
like to.
Aaron
00:29:50 – 00:29:56
I I have cover. You know? I'm like, hey, guys. I'm I'm about to I under I know the rules, but I'm about to be at the water. Mhmm.
Ben
00:29:56 – 00:29:58
For sure. Please avert your eyes.
Aaron
00:29:58 – 00:30:05
Yes. Don't don't look because I'm not there yet, and this is everyone's embarrassed, myself included. Let's just wait till we get to the beach.
Zuzana
00:30:05 – 00:30:09
I'd like to do Yeah. How about the pool at the apartment complex? Sorry. Go
Aaron
00:30:09 – 00:30:19
on. The pool at the apartment complex, I haven't actually gotten in yet, and so I've never I've never exposed my toes at the apartment for that reason. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:30:19 – 00:30:23
I wonder where this is stemming from. Like, where what's the origin of this?
Aaron
00:30:24 – 00:30:27
Have you ever seen a man's toes?
Zuzana
00:30:27 – 00:30:28
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Aaron
00:30:28 – 00:30:29
There you go. There's your answer.
Zuzana
00:30:29 – 00:30:30
But it's No.
Aaron
00:30:30 – 00:30:31
Horrifying. They're
Zuzana
00:30:31 – 00:30:39
not not that bad. I mean, maybe the European toast are different to the American toast. It could possible. I don't think I've ever seen American toast.
Aaron
00:30:40 – 00:30:43
Well, maybe maybe it is an American thing. Maybe there are more
Zuzana
00:30:44 – 00:30:49
So is it just the Aran thing or what Dave, Ben, what do you think about American male toads?
Ben
00:30:50 – 00:30:51
I work. I work in the soft summer.
Dave
00:30:51 – 00:30:52
It's fine. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:30:52 – 00:30:53
You don't have a issue.
Ben
00:30:53 – 00:30:58
I'm shameless, I guess. Uh-huh. I think Yeah. To bring it back to guns, really. Yeah.
Ben
00:30:58 – 00:31:06
Cool. It's like that. Right? Like, you in Europe, open carry, if you saw an open carry, if you saw a gun on someone, you would be freaking out.
Zuzana
00:31:06 – 00:31:06
Oh, yeah.
Ben
00:31:06 – 00:31:14
It's like Aaron's freaking out about dad toes. But in America, it's the opposite. Guns are cool or Texas. Guns are cool.
Zuzana
00:31:14 – 00:31:15
Toes are not.
Dave
00:31:16 – 00:31:19
Yep. Aaron, it's very interesting. Yeah. I have a business opportunity
Aaron
00:31:19 – 00:31:24
for you, though. Great. Better than the brakes because that one was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, it's it's
Dave
00:31:24 – 00:31:32
gonna test your resolve because if you're looking for funding opportunities, do you know how the Internet feels about toes? I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say
Aaron
00:31:32 – 00:31:33
Unfortunately, I I do know how
Zuzana
00:31:33 – 00:31:34
Yeah. Sure.
Aaron
00:31:34 – 00:31:40
Weirdos and perverts feel about toes. But, yeah, keep going. What else you got? Keep going. Please
Ben
00:31:40 – 00:31:42
don't. Please stop.
Dave
00:31:43 – 00:31:48
You can offer them, basically, toes that nobody has seen. Right? These aren't just toes
Zuzana
00:31:48 – 00:31:49
out there in
Dave
00:31:49 – 00:32:01
the world. Like, we're talking this is like an ultra rare, like, Pokemon card of toes that they are able to to pay a premium for. Right? These aren't everyday toes. You don't even wanna look at them yourself.
Aaron
00:32:01 – 00:32:05
I don't. Yeah. I haven't seen my toes in years. Yeah. That's interesting.
Aaron
00:32:05 – 00:32:05
That is
Ben
00:32:05 – 00:32:05
a good idea.
Aaron
00:32:05 – 00:32:07
If you if you ever
Dave
00:32:07 – 00:32:09
You could just say bless my heart. It's okay. I understand.
Aaron
00:32:09 – 00:32:22
No. This is an interesting idea. It is very fun how different people can be. It if you ever see if you ever see me doing only feet, you know that things have gone totally sideways.
Zuzana
00:32:22 – 00:32:22
Sure.
Aaron
00:32:22 – 00:32:28
Yeah. So just if that would be a cry for help if I if I start posting about my only feet account.
Zuzana
00:32:28 – 00:32:39
Yeah. It's good to know. K. So so everyone, for all our 12 listeners, if anyone see Aaron showing his toes online, go and rescue him. Something's something surreal.
Ben
00:32:39 – 00:32:40
His kickstarter.
Zuzana
00:32:40 – 00:32:41
Yeah.
Dave
00:32:41 – 00:32:51
Also also a great way to to check, like, if you see that on his Twitter, somebody who knows him, check-in with him personally. He may have been hacked. He may have been abducted. All bets are off. Yeah.
Dave
00:32:51 – 00:32:53
It's good to know. 100%.
Aaron
00:32:53 – 00:32:54
The bricks is a still a much
Dave
00:32:54 – 00:32:56
better idea than bricks. A good idea.
Ben
00:32:56 – 00:32:59
Alright. Bricks is at the top of the more valuable. Idea. I wonder
Aaron
00:32:59 – 00:33:04
how I wonder what the economics of, like, getting a custom brick made are. Bricks.
Ben
00:33:04 – 00:33:05
Yeah. What's the fundraising margin
Zuzana
00:33:05 – 00:33:06
in that?
Dave
00:33:06 – 00:33:07
That's a good question.
Zuzana
00:33:07 – 00:33:08
Yeah. Hold on. I need
Aaron
00:33:08 – 00:33:09
to cost.
Zuzana
00:33:09 – 00:33:12
I need to go back to the toast. So I can't let it go. I
Dave
00:33:12 – 00:33:13
need just
Ben
00:33:13 – 00:33:14
to get this out.
Zuzana
00:33:14 – 00:33:20
I'm so sorry about it. So what do you do if you're on a plane and somebody takes their shoes and socks off next to you?
Ben
00:33:20 – 00:33:21
Okay. I
Dave
00:33:21 – 00:33:24
no. Oh, no. That's just Yeah.
Ben
00:33:24 – 00:33:25
That's a huge breach of etiquette.
Zuzana
00:33:26 – 00:33:31
Yeah. But people do that. I mean, I saw it on a plane, just the recent one I was on. Somebody I'm
Ben
00:33:31 – 00:33:32
so sorry.
Zuzana
00:33:32 – 00:33:35
Just so I wonder how would you react? Would you say something?
Aaron
00:33:35 – 00:33:53
Is when you have to summon all your powers of nonverbal communication and tell them exactly how you feel with a glance. That, like, that is the moment for staring through their soul. I don't know if I would say anything. Everybody's so crazy these days.
Zuzana
00:33:53 – 00:33:58
So that's about taking socks off. What about just taking shoes off? Is that acceptable? Or
Aaron
00:33:59 – 00:34:00
Still a breach of protocol.
Zuzana
00:34:01 – 00:34:01
Okay.
Aaron
00:34:02 – 00:34:05
Yeah. We're living in a society. You don't take your shoes off
Ben
00:34:05 – 00:34:06
on any of that space.
Zuzana
00:34:06 – 00:34:15
Yeah. Yeah. But some people like to work work barefoot. Like, so what do are you on the, like, no shirts, no shoes, no surf kind of thing?
Aaron
00:34:15 – 00:34:29
Yeah. There's a lot of things I like to do that just, you know, you can't really do in public. So, like, I'm sorry if you like to keep your shoes off while you work. That's great for at home or maybe your office where they allow that. But in an airplane?
Aaron
00:34:29 – 00:34:29
I
Zuzana
00:34:29 – 00:34:45
I don't know. I'm just I've just seen many people, so I just wonder how how you would because I I don't have strong opinions. So I I see, I notice, and I move on. But seeing how passionate you are about this topic, I just wonder what would you do in that situation. Because it could potentially be very dangerous.
Aaron
00:34:46 – 00:34:48
To see things and notice it
Zuzana
00:34:48 – 00:34:52
and move on. Just the toes. Honestly, it's not not other things, but the toes. Toes.
Aaron
00:34:54 – 00:35:04
I don't know. I truly wouldn't say probably wouldn't say anything because people, especially on airplanes, are very on edge. And if some some bros
Zuzana
00:35:04 – 00:35:04
Tight planes.
Aaron
00:35:04 – 00:35:13
Yeah. If some bro is, like, confident enough to take his shoes and socks off, I don't really wanna, like, I don't really wanna poke the bear. You know?
Zuzana
00:35:14 – 00:35:15
Oh, so male toes
Ben
00:35:15 – 00:35:16
something going on. What about
Zuzana
00:35:16 – 00:35:22
female toes then? What about women toes? Are you more relaxed about that or still no no?
Aaron
00:35:23 – 00:35:42
Oh, so much more relaxed about it. I still don't think I would appreciate someone actively removing their socks and shoes on an airplane. Mhmm. Even if it was a woman, I'd be like, that feels a little familiar, doesn't it? But if a, you know, if a woman had on flip flops and she, like, flipped her feet out, it's like, I don't super care about that.
Dave
00:35:42 – 00:35:42
Yeah.
Aaron
00:35:42 – 00:35:44
That's I feel like that's totally different.
Zuzana
00:35:44 – 00:35:44
Okay.
Ben
00:35:44 – 00:35:53
For some reason, I don't think anyone should be wearing flip flops on an airplane. Like, I'll wear sandals anywhere, but not on an airplane. I guess I have shoes
Zuzana
00:35:53 – 00:35:58
for But sandals and flip flops are different, Charlie. Flip flops. Unless we talk are we talking about the same thing?
Dave
00:35:58 – 00:36:01
We use them kind of we use them kind of interchangeably in America.
Zuzana
00:36:01 – 00:36:06
So what what type of shoe are we talking about? Is it just the one with the thing in between the toes or like a scent
Aaron
00:36:07 – 00:36:07
Anything open toe.
Zuzana
00:36:07 – 00:36:09
Anything open toe is the same thing. Okay.
Ben
00:36:09 – 00:36:11
And those are more like sandalish
Aaron
00:36:11 – 00:36:17
or Chukas. Yeah. I agree. Chukas are the same. Anything open toes are not like a dress shoe that, you know, has a Okay.
Aaron
00:36:18 – 00:36:20
A peak or whatever you call that for the toe.
Zuzana
00:36:20 – 00:36:24
A peak. Okay. I'm learning so much today. I didn't know there was I'm loving it.
Aaron
00:36:24 – 00:36:29
That that's technical. So don't say that Americans say that. Yeah. That's different.
Zuzana
00:36:29 – 00:36:31
Learning a lot about toes.
Dave
00:36:31 – 00:36:34
To become a a toe and shoe podcast apparently. This is wonderful.
Aaron
00:36:34 – 00:36:38
This is great news. Yeah. Because I don't know anything about cheese, so that's good.
Zuzana
00:36:38 – 00:36:46
So hold on. Back to cheese, do you mean you don't eat it? You don't like it? You don't eat it? Or you don't just, like, eat it, but you're not passionate about it?
Aaron
00:36:47 – 00:36:48
Oh, so that's
Ben
00:36:48 – 00:36:51
what got the invite on this podcast, actually. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:36:51 – 00:36:52
Okay. Okay.
Aaron
00:36:53 – 00:36:54
So here's a little Are
Ben
00:36:54 – 00:36:57
we talking one particular cheese? Break it down for us, please.
Aaron
00:36:57 – 00:37:09
We're talking we're talking, the field. There's, like, 2 or 3 cheeses that are that are good and reasonable and, like, right down the middle. Mhmm. You know, something like a cheddar. Like, give me a give me a cheddar, sharp cheddar.
Aaron
00:37:09 – 00:37:15
That's great. But then you start getting into anything that kinda stinky or, like, soft or crumbly.
Zuzana
00:37:16 – 00:37:17
Yeah. No.
Aaron
00:37:17 – 00:37:19
Crumbly. Or anything where they're like, hey.
Zuzana
00:37:20 – 00:37:20
This is
Aaron
00:37:20 – 00:37:27
aged this is aged for 4 years, so it's all moldy. You're gonna love it. I'm like, what? What are you talking about? You just told me that cheese is moldy.
Aaron
00:37:28 – 00:37:42
So I was in Boise last week, this week time. It's a flat circle. I was in Boise, and I was eating in the hotel restaurant, by myself, which is fun, not sad. I love it.
Dave
00:37:42 – 00:37:44
And I asked for some bread.
Ben
00:37:44 – 00:37:45
Ahead of the allegation. Yeah.
Aaron
00:37:45 – 00:37:48
Yeah. You were sad. Come on. Hey. Come on.
Aaron
00:37:48 – 00:37:58
Don't bully me. So I asked for some bread because bread is good. And the guy came over and he's like, hey. We don't have any bread, so I brought you this instead. I'm like, oh, that's very thoughtful of you.
Aaron
00:37:58 – 00:38:05
I appreciate that. It was this tray of olives Mhmm. Pimento cheese
Ben
00:38:06 – 00:38:06
Uh-huh.
Aaron
00:38:07 – 00:38:12
And, like, like candied jalapenos. And no bread like
Zuzana
00:38:12 – 00:38:12
No bread.
Aaron
00:38:12 – 00:38:17
3 or 4 packages of club crackers. And so I took I
Ben
00:38:17 – 00:38:18
took this
Aaron
00:38:18 – 00:38:23
tray of horrors and put it to the side and ate some club crackers until my Would
Ben
00:38:23 – 00:38:25
you have eaten anything? So you didn't eat any of those?
Aaron
00:38:25 – 00:38:29
Not at all. Options. Offline. Didn't touch it.
Ben
00:38:29 – 00:38:31
I wouldn't eat the cheese. I'm not a big fan of pimento cheese.
Zuzana
00:38:31 – 00:38:32
I don't
Dave
00:38:32 – 00:38:32
like pimento.
Zuzana
00:38:32 – 00:38:33
Which one is that?
Dave
00:38:34 – 00:38:35
Yeah. Which one is that?
Ben
00:38:35 – 00:38:38
Love all cheese here, Erin, but we show every cheese some dignity.
Zuzana
00:38:40 – 00:38:43
Well, what's wrong with olives? Olives are good.
Ben
00:38:43 – 00:38:45
Cheese, actually, cheese. Gross.
Zuzana
00:38:46 – 00:38:46
Oh, come on.
Dave
00:38:46 – 00:38:48
I knew I liked you for some reason, Aaron.
Ben
00:38:49 – 00:38:50
Yeah. Olives are coming down
Zuzana
00:38:50 – 00:39:04
at all. So olives, I used to don't like olives. I used to hate olives, but I thought it was very cool to eat them. So I ate enough to like them, and now I genuinely like them. So olives, I made myself like olives.
Zuzana
00:39:04 – 00:39:23
Because for some reason, I think I was influenced by American movies when you've got, like, a olives. Because back then, that was in Czech, and there weren't many. Like, olives are not native to Czech. So, you know, people don't normally eat olives, but I saw it in movies and I wanted to like them. Tried them a few times, they were horrible, but I persisted until I like them and now I like them.
Zuzana
00:39:23 – 00:39:25
So just saying, it's there's a hope
Dave
00:39:25 – 00:39:34
for you to Susana's Susanna's jersey with olives. A journey with olives sounds like, like a like an 18 year old kid's journey with beer where it's like, yeah. It's disgusting.
Aaron
00:39:34 – 00:39:35
But then the more I
Ben
00:39:36 – 00:39:38
But I saw an American movies that they were drinking.
Dave
00:39:38 – 00:39:40
And then I was like, yeah. Let's drink it. And then after a while,
Ben
00:39:40 – 00:39:40
it's like,
Dave
00:39:40 – 00:39:42
you know, I kinda like it. Yeah.
Aaron
00:39:42 – 00:39:51
Yeah. Exactly. See, I just don't feel, compelled for that to be a growth vector in my life. I don't like olives. Don't wanna like them.
Zuzana
00:39:51 – 00:39:51
Okay.
Aaron
00:39:52 – 00:39:59
Am happy just dogging them, and it's like, I'm not I'm not gonna get into olives. At this point, I'm not gonna get into olives.
Zuzana
00:39:59 – 00:40:13
Well, is there something that you would like to like? Maybe not olives, but is there something or you just if you don't like it or you like it, you don't care. But is there something you would like to like more than you like? Uh-huh. Too many likes.
Ben
00:40:13 – 00:40:13
That's good.
Dave
00:40:13 – 00:40:14
No aspirations.
Aaron
00:40:14 – 00:40:19
That's the right amount of likes. Yeah. Are we talking in life or in food?
Zuzana
00:40:19 – 00:40:19
Generally.
Aaron
00:40:20 – 00:40:23
Oh, I don't know what that means. Very deep. Generally
Zuzana
00:40:24 – 00:40:25
We could start with food if it's easier.
Aaron
00:40:26 – 00:40:28
Food? No. I am happy as could be.
Ben
00:40:28 – 00:40:30
That's locked in.
Aaron
00:40:30 – 00:40:40
Yeah. I am just thrilled to death about my choices. I will say one time I accidentally did not get the onions removed from a thing, and it was good.
Zuzana
00:40:40 – 00:40:42
Yeah. So do you like onions then?
Aaron
00:40:43 – 00:40:50
No. I wouldn't say that. But Okay. When I order these quesadillas from Mi Cocina, I no longer get the onions removed.
Zuzana
00:40:50 – 00:40:50
Okay.
Ben
00:40:50 – 00:40:52
And so Okay. That feels like growth.
Zuzana
00:40:52 – 00:40:53
That is
Ben
00:40:53 – 00:40:56
But you still wouldn't say you like maybe you like onions on quesadillas.
Aaron
00:40:57 – 00:41:05
Maybe I like whatever they're doing. They're very thin, and I think they they cook them separately, so they're a little crispier
Ben
00:41:06 – 00:41:07
Sounds delicious.
Aaron
00:41:07 – 00:41:13
Before they throw them into the quesadillas. We can go to Mico while y'all are here. Mico's great. So yeah.
Ben
00:41:13 – 00:41:28
I was hoping actually for some food recommendations for Laracon. Food and things to do. Yep. I went looking for the worst things to do in Dallas. Like, I scrolled into page 40 or so of TripAdvisor where things no longer have any ratings.
Ben
00:41:28 – 00:41:41
Yep. And first of all, they need to do some data cleanup. They have so much duplicate content and missing photos, miscategorized. So TripAdvisor get it together. But I found hiking yoga.
Ben
00:41:41 – 00:41:45
That seems like a great activity when it's 110 degrees.
Zuzana
00:41:45 – 00:41:45
Mhmm.
Ben
00:41:45 – 00:41:51
Or running tours. Sounds like a perfect time to do a running tour. See Dallas.
Zuzana
00:41:51 – 00:41:54
So I think Pilates is for Dave so he doesn't miss out.
Ben
00:41:54 – 00:41:55
I'm. Oh, I'm sure.
Dave
00:41:55 – 00:41:59
I've already got to I am doing Pilates when I'm there. Don't worry. How many times? Yeah.
Aaron
00:41:59 – 00:42:01
How many appointments? Just Tuesday.
Dave
00:42:01 – 00:42:07
Just Tuesday Thursday morning. Unfortunately, they are early. There's a club Pilates. I think it's like a 10 minute car drive from the hotel.
Aaron
00:42:07 – 00:42:08
So Nice.
Dave
00:42:09 – 00:42:12
Yeah. It's 5:30 in the morning, which I'm gonna regret, but that's okay.
Aaron
00:42:12 – 00:42:14
That sounds fun for you.
Zuzana
00:42:14 – 00:42:14
Oh, it's
Dave
00:42:14 – 00:42:16
gonna be great for me. Yeah. Very excited.
Zuzana
00:42:17 – 00:42:21
So is that something you would do, Aaron, then? Yeah. Aaron, you could
Dave
00:42:21 – 00:42:22
do some Pilates with me. That would be
Zuzana
00:42:22 – 00:42:29
I don't know. I just want some emotion. I just want something some something out of you. Like, you are very don't like it. Not gonna do it.
Zuzana
00:42:29 – 00:42:33
I want something from you. I wanna I don't know what I want.
Dave
00:42:33 – 00:42:34
Passion.
Zuzana
00:42:34 – 00:42:41
Passion. Yeah. But, I mean, he's passionate against something. So it's not passion what I'm looking for. It's I don't know.
Aaron
00:42:41 – 00:43:01
There are here's the thing. I am not a, I am not a maximizer in life. I'm not always I'm not always looking to, I'm not always looking for the absolute maximum. I am very happy, I think, in most cases at a local maximum. Maxima?
Aaron
00:43:02 – 00:43:03
Maximum. Maxima.
Ben
00:43:04 – 00:43:04
Maximum.
Aaron
00:43:05 – 00:43:18
Maximum. I think when it's more than one, it's maxima. Yeah. So I am what you would call a satisficer. Meaning, when I find something that makes me happy, that's basic that's when I stop looking.
Dave
00:43:18 – 00:43:19
Okay.
Aaron
00:43:19 – 00:43:48
And there are people for whom when they find something that makes them happy, they continue to look for the thing that would make them the most happy. Okay. And this is like a very common I don't know if it's economics or, like, behavioral psychology or whatever, but it's a very common thing. Like, most people either fall into maximizers or satisficers. And so let's say with the the onions, for example, I've been having these quesadillas for years, and I've just thoroughly enjoyed them for many, many years.
Aaron
00:43:48 – 00:44:00
And I've never once thought, I should try something new. Why would I try something new? Because I'm so happy. And then, you know, once you get you accidentally get the onions on there and you realize, hey. It's better with onions.
Aaron
00:44:00 – 00:44:14
But here's the thing. 1, I didn't go seek that out. And 2, it doesn't diminish the amount of happiness I've had for the past 10 years. You know? It's just like, oh, now this is I'm satisfied with this, and I'm I'm very happy with that.
Aaron
00:44:14 – 00:44:30
And so it's very uncommon, I think, in the, like at least in, like, the tech world to be like, oh, no. This thing works well enough, and I like it. So I'm just gonna keep using it. But it's very much like that is how my brain works. If I find something I'm happy with, I'm generally pretty happy.
Zuzana
00:44:31 – 00:44:34
That was very deep. I've got nothing to say. Okay.
Aaron
00:44:34 – 00:44:36
Oh, was that is that deep? You want it deep. Is that good?
Zuzana
00:44:36 – 00:44:37
Yeah. It was very good. Well done.
Aaron
00:44:37 – 00:44:38
Okay. Good.
Zuzana
00:44:39 – 00:44:40
I'm still looking
Ben
00:44:40 – 00:44:42
for some dream with something you're
Aaron
00:44:43 – 00:44:43
you want to
Ben
00:44:44 – 00:44:45
Deep down. More than you like?
Zuzana
00:44:45 – 00:44:55
Yeah. Well, I want to try more things, generally. I think I'm in a way I'm like Simpon. I wouldn't sound similar to Aron. No way.
Zuzana
00:44:56 – 00:44:57
In many, many ways.
Ben
00:44:58 – 00:45:00
No. Dirty with the foot thing.
Zuzana
00:45:01 – 00:45:33
No, I like, I wanna try more things, because I get comfortable, and maybe like you, if I like something, why try something else? But then when I do end up trying something else, I like it. And I think the danger is that you are, for me, I am I get too comfortable in what I'm doing, that I stop seeking new experiences and new things, whether it comes to food or activities or something. But every time when I do end up doing something new, I like it. So for me, it's, if it was up to me, I wouldn't try anything new because that's the safe and comfortable place to be.
Zuzana
00:45:33 – 00:45:53
But I I'm actively pushing myself to do new things. So like going to restaurant, I tend to go to the same places and have the same thing. And how did I end up having the thing in the 1st place? I just chose it randomly and I liked it and I keep having it. But who's to say that another thing wouldn't be even better?
Zuzana
00:45:53 – 00:46:09
I don't know. But I don't tend to choose the other thing because I'm happy eating the same thing. But I'm trying to actively make myself to choose something else. Yeah. Because I think it's good for me and, I think in life, generally, if you don't move forward there's no such a thing as standing still.
Zuzana
00:46:09 – 00:46:19
You either move forward or you move back. And if I don't I feel if I don't move forward even tiny bits, I will move back. Maybe it's wrong, I don't know. That's me. Silent.
Zuzana
00:46:21 – 00:46:22
No. No.
Aaron
00:46:23 – 00:46:24
I was
Ben
00:46:24 – 00:46:41
just thinking, like, where does that come from? I've thought of this recently about, like, moving on from your hometown. Like, sometimes I feel like there's this idea that you have to move off. And for transparency, I moved out of my hometown and then came back to my hometown. So part of that is a little bit of chip on my shoulder.
Ben
00:46:41 – 00:46:56
Like, it's it's fine. It's fine that I'm back in my hometown. My actual goal is to die in the same hospital I was born in so that my average velocity for my entire life will be 0. That's that's the ultimate goal. But in the meantime, I'm in my hometown and I was thinking about it recently.
Ben
00:46:56 – 00:47:11
Like, what is the benefit? Like, what's it? Why do we feel like we should go out and live in a different place and experience different things? Why is that superior to remaining in the same spot? And I think it's the same idea of like, why is it better?
Ben
00:47:11 – 00:47:33
Why do we feel a motivation either? I think it's mostly from ourselves that we should be trying new experiences. We should be doing new things, trying a new dish at a restaurant or a new thing that we're not doing. I'm not disagreeing with that, but it's I was curious about the motivation behind it and why do we feel that that pressure to do it?
Zuzana
00:47:33 – 00:47:38
Probably FOMO. Like, I think if you don't try it, you're missing out on something.
Dave
00:47:38 – 00:47:39
Mhmm.
Zuzana
00:47:39 – 00:47:44
So I think that plays a role, which doesn't sound very good for me, does it? Oh, well. It's okay.
Aaron
00:47:45 – 00:48:06
I'll I'll I'll save you. There's there's also a there's a potential second reason that Susanna probably feels as well. It's not really the FOMO for me. Like, in terms of going to a restaurant and getting something new, I'm never gonna do that. As long as I'm still happy with the thing that I'm getting, I'm never gonna try something new because I know that I will be happy when I order the quesadillas.
Aaron
00:48:07 – 00:48:42
Mhmm. Now there are times, of course, when I'm like, you know what? I'm not feeling the quesadillas, and and then I'm gonna try something different, but for the most part, right down the middle. Now when it comes to life experiences, I feel like, I want more out of life than the standard path allows for. And so that's why in terms of, like, doing things, I continue to do as many things as I possibly can because I don't want I don't want to live a life where I'm like, I wish I had done more.
Aaron
00:48:43 – 00:49:17
Now there are people for whom working an a regular 9 to 5 and going home and, you know, watching TV all night makes them really happy. I have to assume that those people exist. That is just not what I want out of my life, and I don't begrudge the people who want something different, but I want something, like, much bigger and grander than that out of life. But that is, like, not incompatible with getting the same thing at a restaurant over and over and over. Like, I think in some areas, I know that the thing that I have always had will make me happy, I e quesadillas.
Aaron
00:49:17 – 00:49:32
And in other areas, I'm like, I want my life to be this grand adventure, so I'm gonna do new things and try bigger things. And, it's less FOMO for me and more, like, fear of future regret. So Yeah.
Zuzana
00:49:32 – 00:49:36
Oh, I think that's nice way to put the fear. Yeah. I think that's nice.
Ben
00:49:36 – 00:49:42
And you're not going to regret not trying that crumbly, malty cheese. That's No.
Zuzana
00:49:42 – 00:49:43
That's just not okay.
Aaron
00:49:43 – 00:49:46
No. No. I don't I don't think I don't think I will.
Zuzana
00:49:46 – 00:50:08
I think you need to have some sort of balance. So if you you're pushing yourself in other areas, then you need to have some safe space, which maybe in your case is food, something that you know will make you feel good, and you don't have to you can, like, relax like this comfy pair of socks you slip into. That's that's the food, mate, I'm discussing. Like, for you that Mhmm. You are experimenting and possibly risking things in other areas of your life.
Zuzana
00:50:08 – 00:50:15
So food is the place that you just wanna not risk and not think and just do the thing that, you know, eat the thing you like.
Aaron
00:50:15 – 00:50:16
Yeah. I like that.
Dave
00:50:16 – 00:50:17
Yeah. I think that's Let's
Ben
00:50:17 – 00:50:18
wrap that.
Dave
00:50:18 – 00:50:38
I think that makes sense. Just like some people, they've decided fashion, they're just gonna, like, wear the same kinds of clothes. Like, they're not gonna remember. But for other people, they might be super simple for what they eat, but they have decided fashion is how they're going to be adventurous. Like, you know, I think people ideally have at least one thing, but maybe you don't wanna be, like, super adventurous in
Aaron
00:50:38 – 00:50:40
every single aspect of your life.
Dave
00:50:40 – 00:50:43
Like, you need something to anchor you down from.
Aaron
00:50:43 – 00:50:51
Yeah. Yeah. And, like, I like being at home. You know, some people are like, I just have to travel 6 times a year. And I don't have I don't have that bug.
Aaron
00:50:51 – 00:51:04
I'm like, man, I love being at home. Love it so much. And, you know, in other ways, I am way more adventurous than many people, but in a lot of ways, I'm way more, conservative.
Zuzana
00:51:06 – 00:51:08
This has become really, really deep. Need to log in
Aaron
00:51:08 – 00:51:09
to about
Ben
00:51:09 – 00:51:12
your slug problem, Susan. Can I pull it out for a second?
Zuzana
00:51:12 – 00:51:14
Slugs. Do you have slugs in
Dave
00:51:14 – 00:51:15
still around?
Zuzana
00:51:16 – 00:51:19
No. It's quite hot now, so I haven't seen them. Maybe at night, but not during today.
Ben
00:51:19 – 00:51:20
Slug in the state of Texas.
Zuzana
00:51:20 – 00:51:21
Yeah. I was gonna ask, do you
Dave
00:51:21 – 00:51:22
have we've
Zuzana
00:51:22 – 00:51:22
got slugs?
Aaron
00:51:22 – 00:51:23
Yeah. We've got slugs.
Zuzana
00:51:23 – 00:51:27
What sorts of do you have, like, the brown ones or the black ones? How big are they?
Aaron
00:51:30 – 00:51:33
Medium. And I don't know what color they are. Does that help?
Zuzana
00:51:33 – 00:51:35
I don't know. I'm just wondering.
Ben
00:51:35 – 00:51:39
So you're saying you have slugs, but you can't describe them in any way.
Aaron
00:51:39 – 00:51:43
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So Yep.
Dave
00:51:43 – 00:51:47
I'm on the, I'm on the Texas Invasive Species Institute website.
Zuzana
00:51:47 – 00:51:48
Of course you are, Dave.
Dave
00:51:49 – 00:51:55
There's apparently something called the yellow garden slug. I would describe this more as brownish maybe, but
Zuzana
00:51:55 – 00:51:55
sure.
Dave
00:51:55 – 00:51:57
It's like 3 to 4 inches.
Zuzana
00:51:57 – 00:52:00
I am not gonna Google that. That's huge. Wanna
Ben
00:52:00 – 00:52:05
That at anywhere in the world, a 4 inch slug is invasive. I don't care where you're from.
Aaron
00:52:05 – 00:52:06
Go Texas. That's awesome.
Dave
00:52:06 – 00:52:14
Well, Texas also has the giant garden slug. 62 more than 8 inches. That's that's a large Woah.
Aaron
00:52:15 – 00:52:19
Using using my dad measurement here, that's about that big. That's huge.
Dave
00:52:19 – 00:52:20
Yeah. It's a good size.
Zuzana
00:52:21 – 00:52:26
Sorry about the noise. I was just trying to well, how did you how many inches did you ruler? No. I'm trying. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:52:26 – 00:52:28
I think she's bringing out a program. In centimeters. Do a
Aaron
00:52:28 – 00:52:29
bunch of geometry.
Zuzana
00:52:29 – 00:52:31
Hold on. Hold on. Centimeters.
Aaron
00:52:32 – 00:52:33
It's impossible to say.
Ben
00:52:33 – 00:52:35
It'd be about Well, it's like centimeters.
Dave
00:52:35 – 00:52:37
8 yeah. 8 inches is, like, 20 centimeters.
Zuzana
00:52:38 – 00:52:40
Oh, that's too much. No. No. So the ones we have here
Ben
00:52:40 – 00:52:45
Can you imagine that thing walking around? 11. That thing doesn't slide. That thing Yeah.
Aaron
00:52:45 – 00:52:47
No. Not nice. It walks.
Zuzana
00:52:47 – 00:52:47
We have,
Ben
00:52:47 – 00:52:51
like, 1 inch long slots here in
Zuzana
00:52:51 – 00:52:54
1 inch? No. That's tiny. We've got bigger ones.
Aaron
00:52:54 – 00:52:54
Yeah. One four. That's
Ben
00:52:54 – 00:53:01
They look harmless. I don't I don't I'm sure an 8 inch slug is harmless, but it it doesn't feel like it.
Zuzana
00:53:01 – 00:53:11
No. We had lots of slugs this year. There were, like, invasion of slugs. I don't know why. They said because the weather was kind of mild, but yet, wet enough for them to come out.
Zuzana
00:53:11 – 00:53:28
And it was just about a month ago, was it? I just went out at the dusk, like, in the evening, and there were slacks everywhere. I'm not saying it was just that one night. It's just that night I went out. There were slacks on the ground, on the walls, there were every like, it was I'm not saying 1, 2, 3.
Zuzana
00:53:28 – 00:53:43
I like tens and tens of slacks everywhere. And then I heard my neighbor, like, sweeping her yard. I was like, what is she doing? And she was, yeah, she was sweeping the slacks away. And because I was I told her, have you seen because we've got, like, this shared path behind our house.
Zuzana
00:53:43 – 00:53:50
I said, have you seen them? She said, yeah. They're they're terrible. They're everywhere. And she was swiping, sweeping, sweeping the yard.
Zuzana
00:53:50 – 00:54:02
And you could see them, like, when she ended on one end, started on one end and came towards me. And then they started coming back. Like, there's no stopping them. Anyway, it was like from a horror movie. It was horrible.
Zuzana
00:54:02 – 00:54:21
And then I think it was right the next day or 2 days later, my daughter, she 14 year old daughter, she went on a school trip. It was the end of the school, and they went on a school trip. And about 1 o'clock in the in the afternoon, I got a message. Mommy, there is a freaking slack in my shoe. I was like, in your shoe?
Zuzana
00:54:21 – 00:54:32
I said, like, how what? You've just noticed? She said, yeah. It's been there the whole day. And she only noticed at 1 o'clock because she went it must have moved and tickled her toes.
Zuzana
00:54:32 – 00:54:35
I don't know. She went
Aaron
00:54:36 – 00:54:40
she went horrible. Rose. Rose. Rose. Rose.
Dave
00:54:40 – 00:54:43
Please. Please. Log off.
Aaron
00:54:44 – 00:54:47
Toes are basically slugs. But to have an actual
Zuzana
00:54:47 – 00:54:47
slug on
Aaron
00:54:47 – 00:54:48
your toe.
Zuzana
00:54:48 – 00:54:55
No. It's not nice. No. And she said she sat down and she she couldn't believe at first. And she just looked in her shoe and she started like screaming.
Zuzana
00:54:55 – 00:55:01
And the teachers came over, what's wrong? What's wrong? And then she said, there's a slug in my shoe. I said, slug? What are you talking about?
Zuzana
00:55:01 – 00:55:17
And then, but there is a slug in your shoe. So she had a slug in her shoe, must have gone in overnight. She put the shoes on in the morning, went until 1 pm, put a slug in her shoe, and only then shook it out. By that point, I think it was pretty much dead, but then she had the slime
Aaron
00:55:17 – 00:55:19
out of the gooey thing. Wish it's Yeah.
Zuzana
00:55:19 – 00:55:27
She did. Yeah. So she yeah. So it has socks wet the socks wet. I think she tried to wash her socks in the toilet there.
Zuzana
00:55:27 – 00:55:29
She put tissues down because she had to put
Aaron
00:55:29 – 00:55:32
the shoe back on. Worse. You don't wash in the toilet. Do you
Ben
00:55:32 – 00:55:34
mean toilet or like bathroom?
Zuzana
00:55:34 – 00:55:36
No. No. Bathroom. It's in the sink in the bathroom.
Aaron
00:55:36 – 00:55:37
Just a drink.
Zuzana
00:55:37 – 00:55:37
Oh, okay.
Ben
00:55:37 – 00:55:39
Yeah. The translation.
Aaron
00:55:39 – 00:55:47
I was gonna say, this this feels like a early 2000 comedy movie where, like, you have a bad thing and then you make it worse. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:55:47 – 00:55:48
No. No. No. Oh, luckily, I don't know.
Aaron
00:55:48 – 00:55:50
Been a while. She had to
Zuzana
00:55:50 – 00:55:58
put the shoe back on. So she was not happy. And she said and I think, do I remember it correctly? She went to a chocolate factory. Was it the chocolate factory today?
Zuzana
00:55:58 – 00:55:59
So they have, like, at the end
Ben
00:55:59 – 00:56:00
of the Where?
Zuzana
00:56:00 – 00:56:13
Kinda. They have at last week of school here, they do activities every every day of the week. And so every day, there was a trip. And I think that was the trip that she went to the chocolate factory. So she said she was having a lovely only a week.
Zuzana
00:56:13 – 00:56:22
A different trip. I can't remember. But anyway, she said she was having a lovely day until the point said she found a slug in her shoe. So that's my Slack story. It's horrible.
Zuzana
00:56:22 – 00:56:23
I mean, they're horrible.
Ben
00:56:23 – 00:56:29
I think that's a universal experience. I was having a lovely day until I found the slug in my shoe. That would be true for anyone.
Aaron
00:56:29 – 00:56:30
That transcends.
Zuzana
00:56:30 – 00:56:32
And I think the Are you a martial
Ben
00:56:32 – 00:56:36
predator for slugs like birds? Do they who who who's controlling the slugs?
Zuzana
00:56:36 – 00:56:37
I have no idea.
Ben
00:56:37 – 00:56:39
How do you introduce more of them?
Zuzana
00:56:40 – 00:56:54
I don't know. I mean, there are ways to kill them, but we've got animals. I mean, we've got cats, so we can't use anything toxic. And the one safe or safe, sure thing to kill them is to put salt on them. They will all shrivel up and die.
Zuzana
00:56:54 – 00:57:05
But you can't go and put salt all over your garden. Like, you can't do that. Right. And then we tried other things like eggshells that apparently, when they, like, slide on the eggshells, it will cut them up. But no.
Zuzana
00:57:05 – 00:57:10
We saw slugs with egg shells on their bags, and they were happily moving around.
Aaron
00:57:10 – 00:57:12
I think he got bamboozled on
Ben
00:57:12 – 00:57:14
that one. Razor blades into the garden.
Zuzana
00:57:14 – 00:57:18
That's cool. Copper also, I think copper. They don't like copper, but what I mean, what what how do I get
Ben
00:57:18 – 00:57:22
I've seen people electrify their garden beds. Like, are these garden beds? Gonna
Zuzana
00:57:22 – 00:57:23
say. The
Aaron
00:57:23 – 00:57:24
mobile fence wires.
Zuzana
00:57:24 – 00:57:26
Yeah. But I've got the animals. I know.
Ben
00:57:26 – 00:57:29
Think of the cats. I I don't think the cats would trigger it.
Aaron
00:57:29 – 00:57:30
They just jump over it.
Ben
00:57:30 – 00:57:33
But as the slug crawls over the 2 conductors
Zuzana
00:57:33 – 00:57:34
Maybe. That's
Ben
00:57:34 – 00:57:34
what I need
Zuzana
00:57:34 – 00:57:35
to do.
Ben
00:57:35 – 00:57:38
And They get a little zap. I don't think it kills them. I think it
Aaron
00:57:38 – 00:57:39
just keeps them
Zuzana
00:57:39 – 00:57:41
It keeps them away from your And
Ben
00:57:41 – 00:57:41
some people,
Zuzana
00:57:41 – 00:57:42
I think
Ben
00:57:42 – 00:57:45
I'm just make it. Yeah. If you if you really went for it,
Zuzana
00:57:45 – 00:58:03
you could kill the slugs. Yeah. I think some people use beer. Apprentice likes like beer, and they put beers in, like, little pots, and they climb in and drown. So I've never tried I heard I heard that that might work, but I what I don't really want to do is in the morning, open the door and find, like, a bucket of beer full of slugs.
Zuzana
00:58:03 – 00:58:05
So that I don't wanna handle that, so I'm not gonna do that.
Ben
00:58:06 – 00:58:07
I think you have to move. This is it.
Zuzana
00:58:07 – 00:58:10
No. It's not. No. I've asked. It's not just this place.
Zuzana
00:58:10 – 00:58:13
Mhmm. Never. Then you've got guns.
Ben
00:58:13 – 00:58:15
Have you ever woken up and found slugs in your shoes?
Aaron
00:58:16 – 00:58:17
No. Never. Okay. So
Ben
00:58:17 – 00:58:18
Texas is safe, Dave?
Aaron
00:58:18 – 00:58:24
Texas is safe, and I can point to 5 other states on the map where you could live. But beyond that, you're
Ben
00:58:24 – 00:58:27
on your own. Alright. That's settled.
Zuzana
00:58:27 – 00:58:29
Yeah. So that's my spot. There are
Aaron
00:58:29 – 00:58:35
parts of Texas where you have to check your shoes for scorpions before you put them on. Yeah.
Zuzana
00:58:35 – 00:58:37
It's a Dallas style one of
Aaron
00:58:37 – 00:58:37
those parts.
Zuzana
00:58:37 – 00:58:41
Yeah. What animals do you have that are unpleasant slash dangerous in Texas?
Aaron
00:58:42 – 00:58:46
Oh, unpleasant slash dangerous. So I was gonna say we've got the normal ones, cats and dogs and birds and stuff.
Zuzana
00:58:46 – 00:58:48
That's not unpleasant nor dangerous.
Aaron
00:58:49 – 00:58:51
Unpleasant slash dangerous.
Zuzana
00:58:53 – 00:58:54
Do you have snakes?
Aaron
00:58:54 – 00:59:02
We we do have snakes. Yeah. We have pretty good pretty pretty good snakes. Water moccasins are a kind of a bigger deal.
Zuzana
00:59:02 – 00:59:03
Are they dangerous?
Ben
00:59:03 – 00:59:04
Keep them up. Cool.
Aaron
00:59:05 – 00:59:08
Yeah. Pools, creeks, ponds, all of that. It can be pretty dangerous.
Zuzana
00:59:09 – 00:59:12
Like, what do they do? Bite or or suffocate? What do they do?
Aaron
00:59:13 – 00:59:14
Pretty sure water moccasins bite.
Ben
00:59:15 – 00:59:16
Yeah. They're venomous.
Zuzana
00:59:16 – 00:59:17
Okay. That's not nice.
Ben
00:59:17 – 00:59:17
And they
Aaron
00:59:17 – 00:59:41
can get they can get to be quite large. Once you get a little bit further out, we've got, like, bobcats and cougars and foxes and stuff like that. Sometimes you'll see, like, on a residential, like, message board, like, hey. It is has anyone seen my cat? I know there's a cougar that's been wandering around recently, and you're like, oh.
Zuzana
00:59:41 – 00:59:41
Oh, no. I think
Aaron
00:59:41 – 00:59:54
your cat might be donezo. So you'll see that occasionally, but beyond that, we don't have a lot of exotic stuff, at least not, you know, around here in the city. I'm trying to think even out even out in the country.
Zuzana
00:59:54 – 00:59:56
Do you have bears? I was gonna ask them. You don't have bears?
Aaron
00:59:56 – 01:00:06
No. We don't have we don't have bears. Big cats, I think, are probably our fiercest predator, if I had to guess. Yeah. I I don't know.
Aaron
01:00:06 – 01:00:06
I see Spiders?
Zuzana
01:00:06 – 01:00:07
How big are spiders?
Aaron
01:00:08 – 01:00:10
We've got spiders. Yeah. We've got a lot of spiders.
Zuzana
01:00:10 – 01:00:11
How big?
Aaron
01:00:13 – 01:00:16
Could could be anything, but, like, you know, small palm size.
Zuzana
01:00:16 – 01:00:19
Like, that's including the legs or that's just the body?
Aaron
01:00:19 – 01:00:22
That would be including the legs. Body would be, you know, an inch or 2 inches
Zuzana
01:00:22 – 01:00:24
Other than those are the meaty ones?
Aaron
01:00:24 – 01:00:33
I don't yeah. I don't really see those, like, in the house Okay. Ever. We're kinda like Australia light. Like, we've got snakes.
Aaron
01:00:33 – 01:00:44
We've got spiders. We've got scorpions, but honestly, not a lot in the city. And then we don't have the crazy stuff like they have. Like, we don't have crocodiles and alligators and, you know, stuff like that.
Zuzana
01:00:44 – 01:00:53
Okay. I don't think I've asked this question to Ben or Dave. Like, do you have any? What are your dangerous slash weird animals in where you live? Do you have anything?
Dave
01:00:53 – 01:00:55
Spiders, snakes, bears.
Zuzana
01:00:56 – 01:00:59
Bears are not dangerous. Anyway, what about your snake?
Aaron
01:01:01 – 01:01:02
You're crazy.
Zuzana
01:01:03 – 01:01:07
No. Bears are cute and fluffy, and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.
Dave
01:01:07 – 01:01:08
We've got some coyotes.
Aaron
01:01:09 – 01:01:11
Yeah. Coyotes. Yep.
Ben
01:01:11 – 01:01:18
But they have very little bugs. Poisonous or venomous. Yeah. We have black bears. I'm gonna disagree with Dave and Aaron.
Ben
01:01:18 – 01:01:25
They are not gonna give you trouble. They'll get into your bird feeder. That's about it. Disagree. But, yeah, nothing to worry about.
Ben
01:01:25 – 01:01:37
We don't have I don't even think we have we might have 1 or 2 species of venomous snake. We don't have any poisonous spiders or venomous spiders. We're good to go up here. Yeah. So their plugs are tiny.
Aaron
01:01:37 – 01:01:43
I looked up dangerous animals in Texas. Scorpions, rattlesnakes, brown recluse spiders.
Dave
01:01:43 – 01:01:45
Oh, those are really those are really bad. Yeah.
Aaron
01:01:45 – 01:01:50
Those are bad. Cotton mouth snakes, feral pigs made the list, which are
Zuzana
01:01:50 – 01:01:51
a thing outside of
Ben
01:01:51 – 01:01:52
30 40.
Aaron
01:01:52 – 01:01:56
Outside of cities. 30 to 40. That's why we have the, AR fifteens for the 30
Ben
01:01:56 – 01:01:59
to 40 open pigs. Exists Yep. Exactly. City of Dallas.
Aaron
01:01:59 – 01:02:05
Armadillos, which I'm sorry. Dangerous. That's not dangerous at all. They're everywhere. That's a whole new era everywhere.
Zuzana
01:02:05 – 01:02:06
And then holidays.
Ben
01:02:07 – 01:02:11
Okay. The rest of this list is immediately suspect. If they put Water bottle since
Aaron
01:02:13 – 01:02:15
Yeah. That's about it.
Ben
01:02:15 – 01:02:17
I actually looked up water bottle
Aaron
01:02:17 – 01:02:22
since Deer are not dangerous. No. Deer. Deer. Mountain lions mountain lions and cougars.
Dave
01:02:23 – 01:02:28
I'll stay away. Yeah. I'm gonna stay to I'm gonna stay to a city environment when I am in Dallas.
Aaron
01:02:28 – 01:02:31
Yeah. Just keep walking under the underpass. You won't find anything.
Ben
01:02:32 – 01:02:33
That'd be good.
Zuzana
01:02:33 – 01:02:38
I should have checked, like, before I went to Nashville. Does Tennessee have any dangerous species? What do they have?
Dave
01:02:38 – 01:02:40
Well, we saw we saw the bear.
Zuzana
01:02:40 – 01:02:42
That's not dangerous. Come on. Next. Next.
Aaron
01:02:43 – 01:02:48
I think bears I'm sorry. I think Tennessee has big cats too. I think they've got cougars and mountain lions and stuff like that.
Zuzana
01:02:48 – 01:02:49
Oh, it's so interesting.
Aaron
01:02:50 – 01:02:53
Also known mountain lion. Also known as a cougar, panther, puma, catamount.
Zuzana
01:02:54 – 01:02:59
Oh, is that what it is? I saw there are different things. Yeah. It's what it says. Woah.
Zuzana
01:02:59 – 01:03:01
Okay. So they're like a black cat.
Aaron
01:03:01 – 01:03:04
Remote areas of West Texas. Mhmm.
Dave
01:03:04 – 01:03:07
That's like a different state altogether, though.
Aaron
01:03:07 – 01:03:15
Oh, fully. Yeah. One that's on this list that is not funny because it's dangerous, but it's funny is, brain eating amoebas.
Zuzana
01:03:16 – 01:03:16
Oh. Wow.
Aaron
01:03:17 – 01:03:30
So and and flesh eating bacteria. So we've got we've got all kinds of little guys too. So I think the problem, the problem with brain eating amoebas and flesh eating bacterias, well, the problem is they they eat the
Dave
01:03:30 – 01:03:30
Sure. Yep.
Aaron
01:03:31 – 01:03:42
Which is bad. Sure. The rather the, occasion from which they arise is warm water. And so this is one thing I was looking at when I was looking at digging my own pool, which is probably on hold, is
Zuzana
01:03:44 – 01:03:44
if
Aaron
01:03:44 – 01:04:02
you don't, like, if you dig, like, a natural pool slash pond and you don't treat it, like, you're treating it with, you know, natural means like plants and stuff, and it gets too warm, then these brain eating amoebas can just, like, boom, flourish out of nowhere if the water house.
Dave
01:04:03 – 01:04:03
How
Zuzana
01:04:03 – 01:04:03
or how
Aaron
01:04:03 – 01:04:06
do they get in the dark? Literally.
Zuzana
01:04:06 – 01:04:06
So, no, these are
Aaron
01:04:07 – 01:04:09
I think they're microscopic. So you don't microscopic.
Dave
01:04:09 – 01:04:10
That's the terrifying part.
Ben
01:04:10 – 01:04:11
Yeah. You don't see be anywhere.
Zuzana
01:04:11 – 01:04:19
But then Yep. That only in the water, so you can only get infected in the water, or can they, like, can you get it elsewhere? Yeah. Only So listen to this.
Aaron
01:04:19 – 01:04:22
Have you guys ever done a neti pot? Yes.
Dave
01:04:22 – 01:04:23
I know what it is, but I
Ben
01:04:23 – 01:04:26
don't I I don't do it. Do that here from sinuses.
Aaron
01:04:26 – 01:04:33
This is the insane thing where you heat up a pot of water and you pour it in your nose. And so, anyway, so here here we'll we'll get to that. The that's that's foreshadowing.
Ben
01:04:33 – 01:04:34
I love the idea
Zuzana
01:04:34 – 01:04:35
of self curing that.
Ben
01:04:35 – 01:04:36
You pour it in your nose.
Aaron
01:04:36 – 01:05:04
And Yeah. This this thing is called a nigleria, a brain eating amoeba. A nigleria enters your body through the nose and shimmies into your skull where it plays around in your brain destroying the tissue. This amoeba can also strike when you use contaminated tap water to flush your sinuses, comma, f y I. So when the neti pot is like, whatever you do, make sure you use distilled or boiled water.
Aaron
01:05:04 – 01:05:08
It's because you don't want flesh eating bacteria in your brain.
Ben
01:05:08 – 01:05:16
Imagine being the one who put it in there. Like, you're the fool who did the put the amoeba directly into your brain.
Zuzana
01:05:16 – 01:05:20
So once they are there, how'd you get them out? Is that that's it?
Aaron
01:05:20 – 01:05:21
Yeah. I don't know.
Ben
01:05:21 – 01:05:21
You
Aaron
01:05:21 – 01:05:29
It says it is extremely serious and almost always fatal, so I don't think you get it out. I think it's the old way. Can you just tell us the URL
Ben
01:05:30 – 01:05:34
that you're reading here? This does not sound very scientific to me. Texasmonthly.com/travel/12
Aaron
01:05:38 – 01:05:42
dash most dash dangerous dash creatures dash in dash Texas
Zuzana
01:05:42 – 01:05:43
dash. I
Ben
01:05:43 – 01:05:47
mean, it's not a scientific journal, but it's not like crap.
Aaron
01:05:47 – 01:05:56
But it's not, yeah, it's not like dotblogspot.com. It's it's a real Texas Monthly is actually a reputable magazine here in, here in old Texas.
Zuzana
01:05:57 – 01:06:01
Maybe don't go swimming in open waters then when it's cold. Swimming in
Aaron
01:06:01 – 01:06:05
open water in the middle of the summer Yeah. Might might be bad.
Zuzana
01:06:07 – 01:06:07
Mhmm. Mhmm.
Ben
01:06:07 – 01:06:09
Don't put it in your in your nose.
Aaron
01:06:09 – 01:06:11
Yeah. That's another good one.
Zuzana
01:06:11 – 01:06:11
Or it
Ben
01:06:11 – 01:06:12
might shimmy shimmy
Aaron
01:06:12 – 01:06:13
into the brain.
Zuzana
01:06:13 – 01:06:13
What does shimmy mean? I
Ben
01:06:13 – 01:06:15
think shimmy was the word I was really
Zuzana
01:06:15 – 01:06:24
not doing. What is shimmy? What is the movement when you shimmy? I wish people saw that. Like, little shoulder shit.
Zuzana
01:06:24 – 01:06:28
Yeah. I wish people could see that. Should do, like, a I don't
Ben
01:06:28 – 01:06:32
know what you call it in the Queen's English, but, yeah, that's what we I don't know.
Zuzana
01:06:32 – 01:06:39
Like, I never claimed I could speak English, Queens or otherwise. So, you know, I'm just winging it.
Aaron
01:06:39 – 01:06:40
Bacteria stuff is crazy. Gotta
Dave
01:06:40 – 01:06:43
get Yeah. Now you're down a rabbit hole. I gotta close that
Ben
01:06:43 – 01:06:44
browser tab. Close that tab, man.
Zuzana
01:06:44 – 01:06:46
Let's talk about cheese.
Aaron
01:06:46 – 01:06:50
Apparently, 2 guys died at a beach in July from the flesh eating bacteria this year.
Dave
01:06:51 – 01:06:52
Nope. Nope. Nope. No.
Aaron
01:06:52 – 01:06:53
I don't think it kills you that fast.
Zuzana
01:06:54 – 01:06:54
Oh,
Ben
01:06:55 – 01:06:57
command shift t. Get back to
Zuzana
01:06:57 – 01:06:57
the Yeah.
Ben
01:06:57 – 01:06:58
Those fears.
Zuzana
01:06:58 – 01:06:59
Let's talk about cheese
Aaron
01:06:59 – 01:07:04
1 in That's another reason. To Texas a and m. Hell, yeah. Texas a and m. That's where I went to school.
Aaron
01:07:04 – 01:07:29
According to Texas a and m College of Medicine professor, this guy, between 712100 people contract necrotizing fasciitis every year. 1 in 3 of those people will die as did 2 men at a Texas beach in July. Wow. And this was published in October of 2019, so it's a couple years old. But they it still happened.
Ben
01:07:30 – 01:07:32
So No. Thank you.
Zuzana
01:07:32 – 01:07:36
So I hope you all have fun in Texas during the lockdown.
Aaron
01:07:36 – 01:07:38
Yeah. Yeah. Come to Texas. It's great here.
Ben
01:07:38 – 01:07:44
Maybe this will be the affliction of this edition of Lyricon. It's gonna be flesh eating bacteria.
Aaron
01:07:45 – 01:07:50
First than whatever happened in India. Yeah. Oh, man.
Dave
01:07:50 – 01:07:54
And, Aaron, you are you are serving as the the emcee? I am.
Aaron
01:07:55 – 01:07:56
The master of ceremonies.
Dave
01:07:56 – 01:08:04
Master of ceremonies. Excellent. Or you will be available to give people advice on local places they can buy cheese, olives. Sure.
Aaron
01:08:04 – 01:08:05
Yeah. For sure.
Zuzana
01:08:05 – 01:08:07
Yeah. Cheese, olives, and Fauna and florums.
Dave
01:08:07 – 01:08:08
Yeah. Nuts.
Aaron
01:08:08 – 01:08:11
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That would be great. Yeah.
Aaron
01:08:11 – 01:08:18
I'm super excited. The only time I've ever been to the factory was to see Casey Musgraves, and that was back when it was the bomb factory.
Ben
01:08:19 – 01:08:19
Mhmm.
Aaron
01:08:19 – 01:08:25
And that was the last standing room only concert I went to because I realized I'm too old for this.
Dave
01:08:25 – 01:08:27
You made a business decision, and you decided, no.
Ben
01:08:27 – 01:08:29
I'm not doing that anymore. My parents will see you will
Aaron
01:08:29 – 01:08:30
no longer be standing.
Dave
01:08:30 – 01:08:31
That's right. That's right.
Aaron
01:08:31 – 01:08:33
But Excellent. Cool venue.
Dave
01:08:33 – 01:08:35
Yeah. That's great. And, As long
Ben
01:08:35 – 01:08:36
as you don't have to stand the whole time.
Aaron
01:08:36 – 01:08:38
As long as you don't have to stand. Yeah.
Dave
01:08:38 – 01:08:39
Yeah. The whole time.
Ben
01:08:39 – 01:08:46
Except for Aaron's talk as a sign of respect, please. Yes. Anytime Aaron's on stage, not talk, but any time he's on stage. Anytime Aaron stands
Aaron
01:08:46 – 01:08:47
out of due respect, please.
Dave
01:08:47 – 01:08:50
Please stand for Aaron Francis. I think that's. Yeah.
Ben
01:08:50 – 01:09:02
Yeah. Yeah. You actually have, what are the people who go ahead of you? Like the Herald who walks into the room and then announces, please stand. It's like when the president walks into a room or the king or queen.
Aaron
01:09:02 – 01:09:07
Or the speaker of the house or something. Isn't that who does it? Who comes in and shouts?
Zuzana
01:09:07 – 01:09:09
The president is actually in
Aaron
01:09:09 – 01:09:10
the States.
Dave
01:09:10 – 01:09:13
So I I understand why that would make sense. That's because he's
Ben
01:09:13 – 01:09:14
actually speaks. Sure.
Aaron
01:09:14 – 01:09:15
But in the house,
Dave
01:09:15 – 01:09:20
those are 2 separate titles. There's the guy who does the thing, and the speaker of the house is actually totally separate.
Aaron
01:09:20 – 01:09:26
So Oh, okay. Got it. I thought it was, like, the the main guy who speaks in the house.
Ben
01:09:26 – 01:09:31
No. No. Thanks for the civics lesson, Dave. What's the show of this guy who yells it out?
Dave
01:09:31 – 01:09:37
He's the guy who yells it out. I don't know. And, you know, actually, from what I hear, it's a pretty plum patronage position. I didn't mean to do a little trick.
Aaron
01:09:37 – 01:09:38
Have to have
Ben
01:09:38 – 01:09:39
a good voice, but if
Dave
01:09:39 – 01:09:41
she got it, she got it. Yeah. Gig.
Ben
01:09:41 – 01:09:43
Yeah. I wonder if there's a I
Aaron
01:09:43 – 01:09:51
guess that's true because doesn't he announce it to the speaker of the house? Like, when he walks in, does he say, madam speaker, the president? Isn't that what he does?
Dave
01:09:51 – 01:09:57
Something he says something like that. He's introducing it. Yeah. I don't think he's having a wonderful sales. To do it.
Dave
01:09:57 – 01:10:02
Like, the State of the Union, and then there's any other special addresses to congress, and I think that's kind of it.
Ben
01:10:03 – 01:10:05
Wow. And that's a thing. He might be available.
Dave
01:10:06 – 01:10:08
He could be potentially available.
Aaron
01:10:09 – 01:10:13
I don't know when the state of the union is, but I can't imagine it's State of the
Dave
01:10:13 – 01:10:17
union is is it is in January typically, so I think or February, so you're fine. Yeah.
Zuzana
01:10:17 – 01:10:18
He's he's
Ben
01:10:18 – 01:10:20
he's got a good time.
Zuzana
01:10:20 – 01:10:20
His voice is rested. He he'll be rested. Yeah. Well rested.
Ben
01:10:20 – 01:10:22
This is a great idea. A great idea. Absolutely. If only we could figure out a way
Dave
01:10:22 – 01:10:23
to to sync this up with the people
Aaron
01:10:23 – 01:10:24
paying for
Zuzana
01:10:24 – 01:10:24
bricks idea, you'd really be on to something.
Aaron
01:10:24 – 01:10:25
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dave
01:10:25 – 01:10:28
Maybe he could do shorts. Anytime someone buys a brick, he could announce their name
Aaron
01:10:35 – 01:10:36
we can do it online.
Dave
01:10:36 – 01:10:40
Oh. Like, like, sort of cameo, but for Aaron That's
Aaron
01:10:40 – 01:10:41
the right. Upsell.
Ben
01:10:41 – 01:10:41
That's actually
Aaron
01:10:41 – 01:10:42
Uh-huh. Upsell.
Ben
01:10:43 – 01:10:43
Yeah. If you wanna
Aaron
01:10:44 – 01:10:57
This feels a lot like when, Jim tricked Dwight into garden party etiquette, and he said it's the height of decorum to loudly announce your guests as they enter, and so Dwight shouts everybody's name. I feel like this is the same thing.
Dave
01:10:58 – 01:11:02
Do you do you get to choose, sort of your walk up music, Aaron, at Laracao?
Aaron
01:11:02 – 01:11:13
I don't know. I'll I'll I'll be honest. Yeah. I've gotten exactly zero instruction as to what's happening Yeah. Which is, you get to make it up then.
Ben
01:11:14 – 01:11:17
No. You get to define how it's supposed to go. You get to
Aaron
01:11:17 – 01:11:28
be the one to snatch you. Last year Yeah. Before having spoken to Taylor about anything about the schedule and the vibe or anything like that. And so I just showed up in Nashville. I was like, hey.
Aaron
01:11:28 – 01:11:31
I'm still doing this. Right? He's like, yeah. Of course. You're still doing this.
Aaron
01:11:31 – 01:11:37
Why would you? And I'm like, okay. Sounds good because I was wondering. So, yeah, I imagine I won't know anything until
Dave
01:11:37 – 01:11:38
Until you're there.
Aaron
01:11:38 – 01:11:40
Tuesday or the Monday before. Yeah.
Zuzana
01:11:40 – 01:11:48
Yeah. Yeah. So are you preparing the little things you have to say for each speaker beforehand, or you're just gonna do it on the spot on the day?
Aaron
01:11:48 – 01:11:50
No. I'll I'll prepare them beforehand.
Zuzana
01:11:51 – 01:11:54
I wonder, how do you prepare them? So how what is your process?
Aaron
01:11:55 – 01:12:34
Well, last year so last year in Nashville, I, you know, prepared the same kind of thing, and that was, again, just like, I felt like that's what a speaker would want. That's what I would want as a speaker. And I have a I have a definite eye towards, like, towards the show. And so part of me wanted, to make sure that there was no, like, dead stage time and no time for people to be like, well, I guess I'll go I'll just get out of here for a little bit because they're switching over computers and stuff, and I wanted to, like, keep the thing going. And so the introductions served 2 purposes.
Aaron
01:12:34 – 01:12:53
1 to, like, hype the speaker because the last thing that anyone wants to do is get up there and be like, guys, you should listen to me because I'm really smart. I promise. And so that's my job. Right? So my job is to go out and say, y'all should listen to this person because they're smart, and we love them, and they're good at stuff, and look how smart they are.
Aaron
01:12:53 – 01:13:03
And then they get to come out and be like, oh, stop. No. Not me. But still we get to tell everybody, hey. These people are extremely qualified, and I'm gonna hype them up because that's my job.
Aaron
01:13:03 – 01:13:30
And it also helps give the AV crew time to, like, switch over laptops and everything without having without having any, like, weird, awkward dead space. And especially not having to keep a speaker on stage and, like, stress their nerves while the room is silent and, like, listen. I can handle that. I can get out there and vamp. If I fail, That's just funny.
Aaron
01:13:30 – 01:13:52
But you're about to give a talk. And if you get up there and try to start doing a stand up routine to keep the crowd entertained while they're switching over your laptop, like, that's a whole lot of pressure. And so, the process is basically I just sit down with a list of speakers and start looking up their Twitter bios and, you know, seeing what I know about them or don't know about them. What and then I'll I'll I'll message them and be like, hey. What do you want me to highlight?
Aaron
01:13:52 – 01:14:01
Because this is your chance for, like, a free pass. You get to brag through me, so tell me what you want me to to brag about. Mhmm. So that's kinda like a service to them.
Zuzana
01:14:01 – 01:14:19
That's nice. And you mentioned when you mentioned that that time on the stage, I actually I was an emcee for PHP Verona Day last year. So PHP Day in Italy. Don't know why they asked me because I've never done anything like that before. Anyway, the problem there was that they also they were also live streaming it.
Zuzana
01:14:20 – 01:14:31
So when I introduced the speaker, that there was about how long was it? Maybe a minute gap where I wasn't supposed to say anything significant because that's when the online intro would be playing. So
Aaron
01:14:32 – 01:14:32
Oh, yeah.
Zuzana
01:14:32 – 01:14:48
I was like, there was this I had I can't remember how long it was. Time on stage before after I introduced the speaker, before they could say anything or before I could even say anything. So the first couple of times, I was like, oh, this is awkward. So what am I gonna say? And then I started saying jokes.
Zuzana
01:14:49 – 01:15:01
Terrible, terrible jokes. But I was I would Google them just before I went on stage. It's not that I know that many jokes. But then I got the audience to say jokes as well. So it was like and it was 2 days full of there was a 2 day conference.
Zuzana
01:15:01 – 01:15:15
So by the end of the day 2, I think people are fed up with the jokes. But it was really difficult to say anything else. In such, it was too short, yet too long to just be quiet, but too short to say anything, you know, of value. So Mhmm. There were a lot of jokes.
Zuzana
01:15:15 – 01:15:19
I don't think I'll be invited back again, but it was a good experience. Say that's
Aaron
01:15:19 – 01:15:26
probably that's probably why they picked you because you're good on your feet. And, like, some feeling dead air is tough,
Zuzana
01:15:26 – 01:15:33
and the fact that you're not getting that's great. So and that's just a suggestion. If there is anything, just say jokes. You know? Google them.
Zuzana
01:15:33 – 01:15:39
Use chat g p t. That has terrible jokes, but people will laugh most likely. So just say jokes.
Aaron
01:15:39 – 01:16:12
Yeah. I, last year, I made up some questions. I I tried to, like, solicit audience questions, but they were few and far between. I may do a little more effort, this year up front about getting people to join the Telegram chat and then, like, try to pull questions out of there because it's kinda like you can kill the dead space in 2 directions. You can have the previous speaker stay on stage, and, like, you can ask them some questions while the AV is, like, taking their laptop away.
Aaron
01:16:12 – 01:16:25
And then while they're putting the new person's laptop on, you can, like, do the intro and all of that. You can kinda split the dead air in half that way. But, yeah, getting questions from the audience last year was kind of a bust, and I'm gonna try harder this year to do that.
Zuzana
01:16:25 – 01:16:51
I think engaging the audience, it's I I enjoy it. Like, I did that, I think, most of the talks, maybe not the one in Nashville, but I gave a talk in London, the Laravelife, and then I, by chance, gave a talk, short one. And there was a meet up in Jordan this year, the first meet up in Amman, Jordan, which is weird because I happen to be there. Anyway, so I gave a short talk there. And, again, I kind of feel when you just stand there in front, you talk at people.
Zuzana
01:16:51 – 01:17:06
That's not my style, so I like to involve them. I don't not everyone likes it, but I treat it like I stand there like a teacher asking students, like, come on. Tell me something. Like, I like to ask questions. And it seems to have worked for me so far.
Zuzana
01:17:07 – 01:17:15
And it's different, like, when you talk about Laravelife or even the the Aman meets up and then Laracon US when you've got I don't know how many people are coming.
Aaron
01:17:16 – 01:17:17
Many 900?
Zuzana
01:17:17 – 01:17:27
900. Yeah. So that might be a little bit more difficult to get anyone. Even if they do shout out, like, how are you gonna hear them properly? But, yeah, I like to engage the audience because it's it's fun.
Zuzana
01:17:27 – 01:17:34
And I yeah. I like to be engaged as well as I if I'm part of the audience. So I don't just sit there and watch somebody talk at me.
Aaron
01:17:34 – 01:17:40
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. It'll be fun. And, the last last year was the first time I'd ever done it.
Aaron
01:17:40 – 01:17:49
So I'm right there with you, Susanna. That was my that I'm I I just asked if I could do it, and Taylor's like, sure you can do it. So we're same same page there.
Zuzana
01:17:49 – 01:18:02
Oh, I don't know how they go. They I think this, PHP Verona, they send me or the organizer, they send me an email saying, oh, you know, can you do an emcee? First of all, I had to Google what a emcee is. I had no idea. I was like, what are they asking me to do?
Zuzana
01:18:02 – 01:18:11
I said, oh, emcee is the person who speaks at conference. Oh, it stands for master of ceremonies. I had no idea. And then I asked them, like, why me? And they said, oh, they heard great things about me.
Zuzana
01:18:11 – 01:18:30
By by that point, I only gave one talk in Laracon EU, my first ever talk. So it's not like they see me give talks. So, like, maybe the Larval Laracon online, maybe, but that show that tells you nothing about what you are like in front of a real audience. So I think, to be honest, I think they confused me with somebody. But what am I going to question?
Zuzana
01:18:30 – 01:18:40
And what am I taking? Exactly. I just said yes. Anyway, because I'm I don't think anyone nobody could have recommended me because nobody saw me do anything like that before. I didn't do anything like that before.
Zuzana
01:18:40 – 01:18:48
So how could have anyone recommended me? So, anyway, well, I said yes. It was fun. But, yeah, it was an interesting experience. I was like, what is an emcee?
Zuzana
01:18:49 – 01:18:52
Who who is an emcee? So it's like the DJ?
Aaron
01:18:52 – 01:18:56
Ryan Seacrest. Ryan Seacrest and Mario Lopez. Those are MCs.
Zuzana
01:18:56 – 01:19:05
So now I know. But it's fun. I think it's more oh, well, it's fun. It's more, I think it's more fun than giving a talk, but it's also more exhausting.
Aaron
01:19:05 – 01:19:06
Way more fun.
Zuzana
01:19:06 – 01:19:10
But it's more exhausting. You have to be on your toes the 2 days.
Aaron
01:19:10 – 01:19:15
I love being on my toes. Don't love showing them, but I love being on them. Yeah. Absolutely.
Zuzana
01:19:15 – 01:19:18
Oh, we should say, Aaron, you have to show your toes.
Aaron
01:19:19 – 01:19:26
No. No way. No. No. I I love I love being up there and be it like, having to come up with stuff on the fly.
Aaron
01:19:26 – 01:19:27
I think that's fun. Yeah.
Zuzana
01:19:27 – 01:19:34
But for 2 days, I found it really mentally exhausting. Like Yeah. You can't switch off. You always have to be there. That
Dave
01:19:34 – 01:19:34
is true.
Zuzana
01:19:34 – 01:19:38
Case something goes wrong, you have to be ready to hop on the stage and do this.
Aaron
01:19:39 – 01:19:42
Case somebody ends their talk 10 minutes early, which happened last year, and
Zuzana
01:19:42 – 01:19:43
I was like, ugh,
Aaron
01:19:43 – 01:19:45
I'm not ready for this. A lot
Ben
01:19:45 – 01:19:45
of time. Yeah.
Zuzana
01:19:45 – 01:19:48
It was a lot of early. It wasn't me, was it? No. I don't think It
Aaron
01:19:48 – 01:19:59
wasn't me. No. So I have a funny wrong person's story if if we wanna if we wanna end here. Sure.
Zuzana
01:19:59 – 01:20:00
Sure.
Aaron
01:20:00 – 01:20:18
So you've mentioned they thought you were somebody else. One time one time we hired, we we hired a babysitter to come over, and this was, like, several years ago. So we just have the 2 kids. They're quite young, and we're like, okay. We're gonna we're gonna, like, get out of the house.
Aaron
01:20:18 – 01:20:41
We're gonna get a babysitter. So my wife texted, our babysitter that we use often named Molly. Molly is the daughter of 1 of our church friends, and Molly's maybe, you know, 14, 15, good babysitter. So the night comes, and, you know, Jennifer's texting her beforehand, hey, like, hey. Do you want me to do you need a ride?
Aaron
01:20:41 – 01:20:50
Do you want me to come pick you up? And Molly's like, nah. I'm I'm good. And so we're like, okay. Well, I guess, you know, mom's gonna bring her over, drop her off, or something.
Aaron
01:20:50 – 01:21:09
I'm in the back getting ready, and I hear, you know, the doorbell ring, and Jennifer goes out to get Molly. And so they're, like, talking, and then, Jennifer comes back, and I hear them entering the house. So Molly is inside the house. Jennifer comes back and says, that's not Molly. And I'm like, who is it?
Aaron
01:21:09 – 01:21:18
Why did you let them in? I'm like, who did are is this a babysitter? Are they gonna watch our kids? Do we know this person?
Ben
01:21:19 – 01:21:20
Pass the background check then?
Aaron
01:21:20 – 01:21:29
Why are they here? Where's Molly? Who have you been texting? Turns out she was texting a different Molly in her phone. Oh, no.
Aaron
01:21:29 – 01:21:36
Who is, like, 26 or 27. Definitely doesn't need Jennifer to come pick her up from her parents' house.
Dave
01:21:36 – 01:21:37
It's nice to do.
Aaron
01:21:37 – 01:21:47
Yeah. So Jennifer's texting this 26 year old, like, hey, do you need a ride? And she's, like, I'm good, actually. So she comes back. She's, like, waving her arms.
Aaron
01:21:47 – 01:22:09
It's not Molly. It's not Molly. And I'm, like, well, who is it? We find out it is, a woman named Molly, but not the Molly that we thought, but in fact a babysitter named Molly. She was saved in Jennifer's phone as Molly babysitter, but we have never seen this person in our life.
Aaron
01:22:09 – 01:22:18
We have, like, never interacted with them. It's one of those, like, got the name from a ma another mom. Yeah. And so she's she's thinking, okay. Our 14 year old, you know, friend's daughter's coming over.
Aaron
01:22:18 – 01:22:25
She opens the door, and this woman is standing there. And she says, hi. I'm Molly. And Jennifer says, hi. Hi, Molly.
Aaron
01:22:25 – 01:22:35
Jennifer, come on in. Just, like, didn't say a word, didn't say a word to Molly and was just like, yeah. Definitely. Come on in, Molly. I'm glad you're here.
Aaron
01:22:36 – 01:22:44
Because she's too embarrassed. Like, too embarrassed to say, who are you and are you gonna watch our children? Because I don't know you. Instead, she's like, yeah. That's great, Molly.
Aaron
01:22:44 – 01:22:51
Come on inside. And it was, like, fortunately, an actual babysitter, but not the Molly that we thought it was.
Ben
01:22:51 – 01:22:56
So how did you break it to Molly, the other babysitter? The the 26 year old? Did you ever
Dave
01:22:56 – 01:22:58
say I told her no. Of course not.
Zuzana
01:22:59 – 01:23:02
She might be listening to this podcast that she'll
Aaron
01:23:02 – 01:23:03
go away. She still thinks it's
Zuzana
01:23:03 – 01:23:04
a wow.
Ben
01:23:04 – 01:23:04
Family. What
Zuzana
01:23:04 – 01:23:05
was that one, Neil?
Aaron
01:23:05 – 01:23:13
People are really generous offering to pick me up. I wonder what their deal is. Well, their deal is we thought you were 14. That's the deal.
Zuzana
01:23:14 – 01:23:17
So but she did look at your kids. She stayed with your kids.
Aaron
01:23:17 – 01:23:18
Oh, yeah.
Zuzana
01:23:18 – 01:23:19
Although you've never seen her before.
Aaron
01:23:20 – 01:23:20
Never seen her in a
Zuzana
01:23:20 – 01:23:21
long time.
Aaron
01:23:21 – 01:23:21
Bring her
Ben
01:23:21 – 01:23:24
back for a second babysitting appointment?
Aaron
01:23:24 – 01:23:25
Yeah. She's come back. Mhmm.
Zuzana
01:23:25 – 01:23:26
Are you still doing tell her?
Ben
01:23:26 – 01:23:27
Told it?
Dave
01:23:27 – 01:23:28
No. Of course not.
Zuzana
01:23:28 – 01:23:30
You need to tell her. Come on.
Aaron
01:23:31 – 01:23:34
Why would we tell her? I don't know what you're telling, but
Dave
01:23:34 – 01:23:38
I feel like she would tell her. Built upon this very precarious Jenga block. You can't tell
Zuzana
01:23:38 – 01:23:39
her that.
Aaron
01:23:39 – 01:23:44
The relationship is tenuous at best. Hey. It's it's, hey, Molly. Can you babysit? No.
Aaron
01:23:44 – 01:23:47
Okay. Hey, other Molly. Can you babysit? Yes. Great.
Aaron
01:23:47 – 01:23:50
Come on over. I mean, we're not like buds.
Zuzana
01:23:50 – 01:23:54
Although, it's good that both of your babysitters are Molly, so you can't get the name of it.
Ben
01:23:54 – 01:23:57
You know? Babysitter not named Molly or is that like
Aaron
01:23:57 – 01:23:59
the Yeah. No. Very often.
Ben
01:23:59 – 01:23:59
I wasn't sure about that.
Aaron
01:24:00 – 01:24:06
That, we text every Molly babysitter or not just just to see if they wanna come over and watch the kids. Because, you know, we've had good luck with babies.
Ben
01:24:06 – 01:24:08
Group chat. It's you and a bunch of Molly babysitters.
Aaron
01:24:08 – 01:24:09
Exactly. Yeah.
Ben
01:24:09 – 01:24:11
Whoever answers first gets it.
Zuzana
01:24:11 – 01:24:11
The Molly's.
Aaron
01:24:11 – 01:24:18
And we never know, and we just say, great, Molly. Come on inside. Yeah. So Love it. Yeah.
Aaron
01:24:18 – 01:24:30
Maybe they thought you were the wrong person, Susanna, but you did great. You showed up and you MC'd the heck out of that conference. So and they're never gonna tell you just like I'm never gonna tell Molly. You're not the Molly we thought you were. Oh, well, no.
Zuzana
01:24:30 – 01:24:34
I don't wanna maybe would I want to know? Probably not.
Aaron
01:24:34 – 01:24:35
Si? Yeah. Probably not that.
Ben
01:24:35 – 01:24:36
It's better this way.
Zuzana
01:24:36 – 01:24:48
Yeah. It's better this way. I mean, I had my fun, wasn't invited back, but it doesn't mean anything, surely. But, I mean, yeah, it was a good experience.
Aaron
01:24:48 – 01:24:56
If it helps, I've never been invited to emcee anything, including this year. I've I've asked for everything, so they're one step ahead of me.
Zuzana
01:24:56 – 01:25:06
Yeah. That's ex actually, that's interesting. I don't think I would want to do it again because it was so emotionally exhausting. I'd rather do the talk. You do the talk and it's done, and you can enjoy the rest of the conference.
Zuzana
01:25:06 – 01:25:17
But with being an emcee, you can't even talk to people because you always have to be there. Mhmm. So I wouldn't probably do it. But then again, if anyone wants to invite me, do ask. I might say yes.
Aaron
01:25:17 – 01:25:19
Mhmm. After I've just said, like,
Zuzana
01:25:19 – 01:25:21
a disclaimer, I might say yes.
Aaron
01:25:21 – 01:25:25
So you won't be happy about it, just right? Yes. Yeah. No. It's
Ben
01:25:25 – 01:25:27
fine. Wonder if you really meant it.
Zuzana
01:25:27 – 01:25:34
Yeah. Well, that's the case with everything anything I ever did. Did did you really mean to ask me me? Are you sure it's me me? Oh, yeah.
Zuzana
01:25:34 – 01:25:35
Yeah. Nothing new there.
Aaron
01:25:35 – 01:25:37
Sounds like something we should dig into later.
Dave
01:25:37 – 01:25:39
Yeah. That could be a part 2 episode. Yeah.
Ben
01:25:40 – 01:25:44
I'm sure that's not a universal experience at all. No,
Dave
01:25:44 – 01:25:56
no. Aaron, thank you so much for being our second guest ever. Looking forward to hearing just the sweet tones of Aaron Francis on stage telling us what's going to happen at this conference.
Aaron
01:25:56 – 01:25:59
Where to find the bathrooms and the coffee. It's going to be great.
Dave
01:25:59 – 01:26:08
It's going to be. You know, the coffee sit you people are going to have a lot people, a lot of opinions about the coffee situation. We'll see how it compares to Nashville. That was touchy for some folks. I mean, you know, You know?
Dave
01:26:08 – 01:26:10
No. Yep. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Ben
01:26:10 – 01:26:17
Sure it'll be good. Important is that you all know that Aaron is he's the only person responsible for anything that goes wrong. Yeah.
Dave
01:26:17 – 01:26:19
He is the face he is the face of Laracon. True.
Aaron
01:26:19 – 01:26:20
Right. So make sure you bring in all
Ben
01:26:20 – 01:26:21
your problems.
Aaron
01:26:21 – 01:26:28
Don't don't mention it. But if anything goes poorly, make sure you find me and let me know. That would make me feel awesome.
Zuzana
01:26:28 – 01:26:31
On Twitter, if possible, and tag everyone else. Yeah. Yes.
Ben
01:26:31 – 01:26:33
Yeah. Put it in the So everyone chat.
Zuzana
01:26:33 – 01:26:35
Oh, Telegram chat. Yeah. Perfect.
Ben
01:26:35 – 01:26:39
Erin, will you do one favor and say take it cheesy to get us out of here?
Zuzana
01:26:39 – 01:26:42
No. That was the first hold on. Hold on. Hold on. That was the first season.
Zuzana
01:26:42 – 01:26:45
We are in the 2nd season. Now we are saying keep it fluffy.
Aaron
01:26:48 – 01:26:50
Is that real? Erin, do not
Ben
01:26:50 – 01:26:51
know if this is real at all.
Aaron
01:26:51 – 01:26:56
Yeah. I don't wanna get bamboozled. I'm happy to play along, but I don't wanna get bamboozled.
Dave
01:26:56 – 01:27:03
The thing is, Aaron, it's really it's truly just totally real. I it's it's Okay. Long story, but yes.
Aaron
01:27:03 – 01:27:06
So you want me to say keep it fluffy.
Dave
01:27:06 – 01:27:07
Keep it fluffy.
Aaron
01:27:07 – 01:27:10
Alright. Insane, by the way. Insane. Here we go.
Zuzana
01:27:14 – 01:27:14
This is
Aaron
01:27:14 – 01:27:23
the this is the dumbest thing I've ever done. This is why we do it. Okay. Okay. Keep it fluffy.
Ben
01:27:24 – 01:27:28
He did it. We don't know what to say it either.
Aaron
01:27:28 – 01:27:32
Yeah. I feel like that's gonna come back to haunt me, but sure. Yeah. Keep it fluffy.
Dave
01:27:38 – 01:27:42
Don't worry. We're totally not gonna use that to train your voice on something.
Aaron
01:27:42 – 01:27:42
Don't worry.
Zuzana
01:27:42 – 01:27:43
It's fine.
Aaron
01:27:43 – 01:27:43
Yeah. And
Zuzana
01:27:43 – 01:27:44
what's the fluff not
Ben
01:27:44 – 01:27:47
to model can say one thing and one thing alone.
Dave
01:27:47 – 01:27:48
Yeah. Just keep fluffy. That's right.
Zuzana
01:27:48 – 01:27:53
Fluffy. We need to think of a season 3. What are we gonna say? We've done cheesy. We've done fluffy.
Zuzana
01:27:53 – 01:27:55
I don't know what's gonna be next.
Ben
01:27:55 – 01:27:59
It actually comes from a fluffernutter if you want something to Google later, which is safe to Google.
Aaron
01:27:59 – 01:28:05
Yeah. It's very sound totally sounds NSFW, but I do I do know what a fluffernutter is, in fact.
Zuzana
01:28:05 – 01:28:06
Yeah. You do.
Dave
01:28:06 – 01:28:06
Weird food.
Ben
01:28:06 – 01:28:07
We're about it.
Zuzana
01:28:07 – 01:28:14
So if we didn't discuss any weird food, Texan weird food true. Oh, such a wasted opportunity.
Dave
01:28:14 – 01:28:19
I I I assume Ben and I will do a full food report when we, when we get back to our car.
Zuzana
01:28:19 – 01:28:25
Make sure you eat all the weird food, not the boring normal food, weird food. So you've got something to report.
Aaron
01:28:25 – 01:28:27
I'll give you some taco spots you can check out.
Zuzana
01:28:27 – 01:28:30
But tacos are not weird, are they? They're not weird.
Aaron
01:28:30 – 01:28:31
No. But they're good.
Zuzana
01:28:31 – 01:28:31
No. But we need to
Dave
01:28:31 – 01:28:33
We need we will need good food.
Aaron
01:28:33 – 01:28:34
That is weird.
Zuzana
01:28:34 – 01:28:34
Weird food.
Aaron
01:28:34 – 01:28:36
You can get weird stuff at the taco places.
Zuzana
01:28:36 – 01:28:40
So what is okay. I think we're not recording. Are we not not on it? But what is the weird
Ben
01:28:40 – 01:28:42
I've stopped. They've never stopped recording.
Zuzana
01:28:43 – 01:28:43
What is it
Aaron
01:28:43 – 01:28:46
weird? Honestly, I'm not the guy to ask for weird food.
Zuzana
01:28:46 – 01:28:49
Because you eat all the same things. That's true. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Zuzana
01:28:49 – 01:28:49
Yeah. Yeah.
Ben
01:28:49 – 01:28:54
So onions on his quesadilla once. Yeah. Twice. That's great. Twice.
Zuzana
01:28:54 – 01:29:02
That's so weird. Yeah. That's very that qualifies as weird, I suppose, if it's out of your ordinary. So, you know, that qualifies.
Aaron
01:29:02 – 01:29:03
Cool. Keep it fluffy.
Me

Thanks for reading! My name is Aaron and I write, make videos, and generally try really hard.

If you ever have any questions or want to chat, I'm always on Twitter.

You can find me on YouTube on my personal channel or the Try Hard Studios channel.

If you love podcasts, I got you covered. You can listen to me on Mostly Technical.