BBQ, Buc-ee's, and Bears Treading Water

0:00F.O.J. 69. Nice. What's up, Jay? Jeff Howell. Are you tall to my? Yeah, right. Our 14-year-old brain is, you know, sometimes takes over. My lizard brain is going fine. It's good, man. How are you? Good. You had a big road trip. I did. I drove to Texas and back last, not this past week, but last week. And spent some time with my son, Joshua and his baseball team and saw Jeff and Katie one evening for dinner. And I had a wonderful time. Road trip to all by myself, you know, big boy stuff. And it was, it was a blast, man. I had a great time. It's good. How did the baseball team do? Baseball team did not do very well. Baseball in Chicago land is a little bit different than baseball in Texas. Baseball in Texas, the guys are bigger. The guys are stronger. They throw harder

1:00and they hit the ball further. So, you know, I think the boys went like two and seven, but the experience was good. They saw probably as good of an opponent as they'll ever see in their season in Chicago, which is the point of the whole trip to kind of prepare them for their season here. And it's so far, it's worked because they've won their first two games since coming back. So that's good. But, you know, it's fun. I got to eat some meals with my son, which was great. And he spent the time with some friends, which is good. It was a spring break trip. And like I said, I got to see Jeff and Katie. And now I'm great. So any highlights on the food circuit? Oh, man. So our last episode, we talked about it, believe it was families. barbecue, if you recall, I did go there the very next day before I headed out of town from Tyler, Texas. And I got to tell you, man, it was awesome. First off, the ambiance of this place was great.

2:02It was like one of those places where the garage doors open and they obviously have like music there Friday and Saturday night. And it was, you know, just kind of like a patio feel on the inside, you know, tables are not fancy or anything like that. But just really cool ambiance, walked up and I asked the young lady, catch here, I'm like, suggest something to me up from out of town. She asked me where I was from. I told her Chicago and she's like, oh my God, what are you doing here? What are you doing here in Tyler, Texas? I'm like, well, I diced older. And she's like, okay, how about, she set me up with the ribs and the, what do they call it? The jalapeno cheddar sausage combo. And with little mac and cheese and little homemade coleslaw and phenomenal 10 out of 10 outstanding. Was the sausage spicy? Yeah, it's the jalapenos, right? Yes, yes it was and it was really, really good. Was that the highlight? You think that was the best thing you ate or is there more?

3:05At that place, the sausage was probably the best. The ribs were good, the ribs were good. I got the sauce on the side. And I'm looking at a picture of it right now. The picture you set me in like, Dan, that looks good. Yeah, it was good. It was good. Yeah, food was 10 out of 10 service was 10 out of 10 manager. I guess cashier told manager that I was in from out of town. Manager came up, I was eating by myself. It's like, hey, I hear you're from out of town from Chicago. You know, what do you think? And I told him how awesome the food was. And he's like, well, hey, we'll appreciate you coming in. And you know, as I hear you're heading out of town today, but he gave me a coupon for, he goes, you ever come back? This thing is good forever. So that's great for free meal. That's pretty cool. Way to go Stanley. Yeah. So Stanley's in Tyler, Texas. Yeah, 10 out of 10. I highly recommend. Okay. So they gave you a coupon for, for what? Free meal, free entry. Free entry. Okay. And they knew you're going on a town. And so the return on that is probably pretty low, right? You're probably not coming back any time soon. But probably from a customer service standpoint.

4:08Yeah, for the gesture. Yeah, exactly. So now we're talking about it on the world famous FOJ show to our millions of listeners, right? So Stanley's in, was it Tyler, Texas? Tyler, Texas. Yeah. I mean, it's little stuff like that that is like golden. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. That's great. So that was good. And then the other highlight food wise from that trip was from a place called Bubbos. Bubbos? Yes. A very similar, probably I would say Chili's meets a sports bar. Okay. atmosphere. If that makes any sense at all. A lot of burgers, they, you know, they did the Fiquitos chicken sandwiches and pretty much an expanded Chili's menu. But, you know, the total restaurant was, I guess, more of like a Buffalo wildings feel if that makes sense. TV's everywhere and all that kind of jazz. Had the, what did the avocado burger?

5:11Okay. Again, 10 out of 10, man. One of the, one of the better burgers I've had in a long time. Was it better or worse than any in and out you showed me? I thought it was better, honestly. I've never had in and out. So for whatever reason, not for any reason other than just, it just haven't. Okay. I'll get to them in a minute. But Bubbos is really good. Joshua had a smash burger and I had the jalapeno burger. And both were really good. Joshua's words, his was fire. And as the kids say, when they say things are fire, that means they're awesome. Yeah. Well, let's say that's hot. That's right. And that's right. So, so yeah, again, 10 out of 10 service was great. And, you know, I don't like you, but I'm one of those people where something's really good. I, I go out of my way to tell people because I remember when I worked in, in the restaurant business side, I always used to really appreciate when people pulled me when things were good because you

6:11always hear about the bad and you never really heard about the good. You just assume that if people leave without telling you anything, that it was good. So I try to, at least just a quick, hey, just want to let you know, food was awesome tonight. Thank you so much. That kind of thing. So really, really good. In and out, I've had in and out before. It's been a long time, but I have had in and out. It's mostly a, I think it's an out west down south type deal. It's a fast joint. Yeah. I know they're huge in California. Yeah. You know, I, it's good. I don't think it's out of this world. Good. I give it like a seven. Yeah. It's kind of what I figured is just standard. Is it what you, what'd you say? It's closer to a Wendy's or a McDonald's or a Burger King? I would say Wendy's Wendy's. Okay. I'll say that. Yeah. And I don't know why you said Burger King because I can't remember the last time I had Burger King. That's like the big three, right? Yeah. I guess I would assume they're closer to Wendy's. I do prefer Wendy's more than McDonald's, but I will not, you know, I won't kick you

7:16out of bed for crackers. If you know what I'm saying, I, I feel that, but yeah, in and out was, it was good. I guess what is it? If you order it, I did not do this. But I guess, you know, the big deal there is like to order the burgers. I think it's one of the animal style where it gives you a grilled onions and a certain, certain toppings on it. And it doesn't, they don't advertise on the menu, but you're supposed to stay that and you get grilled on your dinner with it. I did not do that. I just did like a meal list made all. And yeah, like I said, seven out of 10. Okay. Yeah. Well, you had bubbles and you had, um, say the standlies. So I also had, um, a place called, I tacos, place called, I think it was called Rico's tacos. It was right around the corner from my hotel. I got, um, like a mini burrito and two street tacos from them. And again, really good figured, hey, Texas, probably does Mexican food pretty well.

8:16Um, this was spicy as hell. If you like hot stuff, um, their green salsa, which, uh, North, green salsa is the mild. Down there, their green salsa was hot. So I don't know if the red is even hotter than what I add or if the red salsa down there at the mild, they flip flop it, but this green salsa was hot stuff. But it was really good, um, I'd steak all the way around. And, uh, yeah, definitely, uh, I would probably give that a nine. It was good. Um, rice and beans were great and what I liked about it, it was fast, um, but they were, I was the only person in the restaurant and I got, I got it to go, um, and it was at like 430 in the afternoon. So it's not like it would get inside or anything, but the, uh, you know, the cook came out and made sure everything was cool and, you know, thank me for coming in and I, I'm guessing he was maybe the cook slash owner. But, uh, yeah, it was, it was, I took it back to my hotel and I was very good.

9:18This good. What was it called? Rico's, Rico's tacos. Yeah, Rico's tacos. And that was technically, I guess in Plano. Okay. Yeah, that's up closer to like where I think Cruz is at some run out area. Yeah, excuse me. Um, then I met Jeff and Katie at a place called Hutchins barbecue, which I am drinking a water from Hutchins right now. And they're, they're caught as I brought home the souvenir. Um, Jeff and Katie recommended it and talk about filling this place, the portion sizes were enormous. And again, I got the, I got to sample the ribs. I got a little bit of brisket. I got a beef brisket. I got again, jalapeno, uh, sausage, which was really good. And then I got, uh, side of mechery cheese. I sampled their mashed potatoes and their grievines.

10:19And all six of those items were phenomenal. I had leftovers that I ate the next morning, uh, as I was leaving town, and, uh, what is it? Jeff even said, he's like, you've got to have what is, they had two desserts. And I forget what they were, but I'm like, I don't have any room for dessert. I mean, you could got soft, serve ice cream. Uh, there was a, I think there was a pie in a, some kind of pudding there, like a rice pudding or something like that and just really over the top. And this place was packed and we were there probably from about five, 35, 45 and we closed it down at nine. And, uh, yeah, I was definitely full. But yeah, definitely another 10 out of 10. So that was good. I mean, this sounds like a pretty successful trip all along with, uh, all the food excursions. It was excellent. And then we went to the last day, um, I actually drove up to Oklahoma city.

11:19Um, well, first I'm a way there. I had to stop off at a Bucky's gas station. You ever, you ever had been to a Bucky's gas station? You know, I've never been to one, but I know that they are like legendary. Yeah. And there's one company I think to North Carolina sometimes in. Okay. So I stopped on the Bucky's in, in Denton, Texas. Okay. Not to be confused with Mike Denton, but Denton, Texas. And I stopped there and got gas and this, this is a gas station that's probably got about, about 50 pumps, like it's huge. And, um, you know, inside they've got the retail store. They've got the food. They've got the, you know, truck stop, all everything's in there. And I got one of the better fried chicken sandwiches to go that I've ever had. It was, it was that good. Um, you know, along the lines of like a Popeyes or, uh, you know, where they serve the fried chicken, whatever sauce they have and pickles, and that's it. But, uh, really good.

12:19Bucky's is supposed to be one of those companies that are just really good to work for. Like they pay well, take care of their employees. They run a nice tight ship. Everybody seems to love like going there. The bathrooms are apparently legendarily clean for like a gas station type place. Dan a ton of people on staff. But again, the place was packed. And this was, this was a Saturday, when the Saturday Friday morning, excuse me, Friday morning. Um, and it was, it was packed. So, um, but yeah, Bucky's was good. And then, um, the one restaurant we went to in, um, Oklahoma city. I don't remember. I think it was like a, it was called, it was like Stella's garage or some of these garage or something like that. Um, again, burger place. I got a bison. Uh, avocado burger this time. And again, phenomenal. Wouldn't you take a heavy head bison before I have, I have.

13:21And you don't, you don't find it very many places, not a whole lot of places to serve it anymore. But they had it. So I gave it a shot and it was fantastic. And they had the big monster onion rings. So I got those and, uh, really good, uh, and then Joshua and his buddy, they got burgers as well. And, uh, really liked what they had it to. So the food on this trip, honest to God was just from start to finish was great. And I, I made it a point to not go anywhere that I could get at home. Cause obviously, you know, McDonald Burger King, Chick-fil-A, all that BS. You can get all that here. So I tried to go to places that I can't get here. See, I'm going to do it. That's it. And I'm glad I did. Yeah. Was that the little hidden gems place like that? That's right. That's right. So yeah, I, uh, it was awesome. That's great. Um, yeah, I didn't have anywhere nearer as an exciting. I was in Charlotte most of the week, uh, for work, um, doing my, my first, I guess,

14:23quasi, photo, uh, a movie director, directorial debut type thing for some work stuff that I'm working on. So how'd that go? Um, it went okay. I think, you know, it's trying to figure out like what it is that they wanted and sort of like how to shoot it. And I wish I had brought a different camera with me. Okay. Once I found out that I was there, but it was interesting, you know, trying to put together like these basically little three minute videos on like this topic for work and try to make it as visually interesting and high quality as possible. So we'll see. Now did you, uh, incorporate any AI into that? No, not yet. Um, why should it was basically just shooting the videos? So I was definitely behind the camera on this one. And kind of giving direction and thoughts like, okay, let's try this and, you know, let's, let's try this angle camera. Whiting, you know, things like that, but it wasn't this huge production. It was basically me and with a couple of cameras trying to figure out, you know, how do we make this look as best as we possibly can.

15:25Sure. And then giving some direction to our talent who was, you know, on there. And yeah, there's a big thing for, at least for me, I, I can sense when there's like chemistry. Between people, right on the conversation. Like, hopefully our chemistry comes across because we can know each other. So so freaking long, right? We know each other pretty well. Um, and despite the fact that we live like 800 miles apart, you know, it's still the same conversations. Right. It's kind of like sitting on the couch and on bobe end or, or Murphy or whatever it was, that's right. That's what these conversations are like. And I gotta tell you, there was not good chemistry on this one. Oh, it was very stiff and kind of corporate. And the best conversation that took place probably will stay on the cutting room floor. Because it was, you know, one of the people trying to convince the other person of why something should be.

16:29Instead of it being like this overly produced and sort of like stiff type thing. And I was like, man, that's like the best part. Yeah. Explaining like, you know, the person had an answer and I was like, well, hold on a second. You know, we'll call it basically, I kept the cameras rolling the entire time. But it was like, okay, let's, yeah, I guess the answer wasn't what the other person was expecting. And then they had like five minutes back and forth, which I thought was like, like, this is what you guys should be doing, you know, that's not what they wanted. But I was like thinking to myself after the fact that after I edited, you know, a couple of the clips and kind of put them together, kind of how I thought they would flow. I was like, man, that's like the best part. Okay. And the other part was like a rapid fire lightning round type thing where it's like, you know, give me brief thoughts on the bears. Go give me, you know, five seconds, 10 seconds. And it was like a, you know, a bunch of topics that are like that, you know, and that felt a little more kind of like natural versus like this rehearse to kind of polished, you know, sterile kind of thing.

17:30So if I get the chance to do it again and we shot like four or five shorts basically, so there's about a month and a half worth of contents that we probably already have. Okay. I think we'll see how those go and then make some adjustments. Now you said this is for work. So these are obviously people in your field. They just didn't, what the personalities didn't mesh or um, they tried to, they tried to kind of outdo each other. No, it was definitely not that. I think it was one person who's just not kind of used to being in front of a camera and microphone and talking. And then the other one who is very good, like, you know, a very good consultant, but is somewhat dry and almost like a, you know, vanilla news anchor type thing. If that's, yeah, but he's not like that in real life. Like he can, you know, he definitely has fun. I think that's one of the things I could talk about is like, okay, let's like,

18:32let's litter here down a little bit. You know, let's, you know, let's show some personality. And I think that will, that will go better next time. But again, going in, we have like six hours. I was like, all right, what are you guys trying to do? You know, let's figure it out on the fly. And you know, we're in a conference room and it's just like, you know, whatever. I was like, I want next time I'll bring my camera drone. And I'll mic you guys up and we'll walk to the park. And you guys just have a talk in the park with, and I'll have my camera drone follow you. And he got it cool. Yeah, you know, stuff like that, you know, but it's like, okay, now that I kind of get a sense of, of what their thing is and it's like, all right, I have a better idea how to do it next time. But I'm kind of, I wish I'd brought a different camera because I needed something with a little bit of zoom to kind of capture it the way I wanted to and the cameras that I have didn't, didn't have to have to see. Gotcha. Well, something like you're like raising your production game, you know, first you got the, I'm trying, you know, I want things to look good, sound good. Yeah, you got the pot first and now you put out an AI generated album.

19:34Now you've got a full fledged sounds like, you know, video short type deal for work. And yeah, I'm impressed, man. And I just earlier today finished my April Fools episode of my other podcast. Oh, okay. And so it is a, I went shorter at this time, but I think it's higher quality. It's about 12 and a half minutes of 100% AI and, you know, voice cloning and all kinds of stuff. You know, we'll see how it turns, you know, how it, how it reacts in the real world, but yeah, you know, we'll see, but I just finished that like this morning, because I'll be out, I'll be in California, all those coming weeks starting tomorrow. Right, right. This is like, all right, I got to go get all this stuff done. When will that be released? April 1st. April 1st. Hello. So we got a normal episode on Monday, which we've already recorded. And actually, the one that's coming out, the 30th, I wasn't part of that one,

20:38I was, I was in Charlotte. I ended up like, yeah, yeah. So I edited it. And that one's okay. I think that one of the questions that we ask when we first start off our interviews is, you know, how did you get into this space, basically? And, you know, I like this guy, I've met him in real life several times, like, you know, I'd say he's, you know, a work friend, you know, type person in our industry, kind of, you know, cool guy. And, but he took like 15 minutes to talk about how he got into this space. And usually we're at like two or three minutes of like, all right, like, give us the close-knows version. We don't need like the full, you know, Wikipedia article. Give me just the first paragraph. How do you, how do you like story, man? I just, how do you, how do you get here? Yeah. But, you know, it was fine. It turned out, it, it turned out fine. So it's, you know, it's a good conversation. So there's that on Monday. And then I think what, April 1st is what Tuesday? No, Wednesday. And so Wednesday, or my April fools episode come out. And I have not run this by my co-host. He thinks I'm doing something else.

21:39Oh, I love it. That's even better. It'll be a bit of a surprise and a little bit of a third person type of perspective. So let's talk right here. So April 1st is a week from Wednesday. Yep. So kind of quarter of 2026 is almost over. And it's crazy, man. I swear to God, time wise. And it's just, it's incredible how quickly life moves. Cause I remember it, I didn't feel like life moved this quickly as a kid. Like, you know, school year would take forever. And, you know, summer moved quicker than you had. It was like the first week was like, oh, this is great. After, you know, summer break. And then it just seemed like the days got shorter and time much faster or the closer you got to like August. Right. And I don't know about you, but we would go back to school in August. Yeah, we do hear as well. And did back then too. So yeah, now it's like middle of August. But yeah. And it just go by quickly. And then what I do like though is we've

22:46sprung forward on the on daylight savings. So now the sun's not going down till after, you know, 730 things like that. That's finally taken place. I hate it when the sun goes down at like five. Yeah, it bugs me. I can't stand that. Yeah. So that's that's kind of nice. It was a nice day here. I think we hit like 75 or something like that. Uh, say here as well. It was beautiful. I think my car said 78. Yeah. But we're back, we're back down in the 50s. I think tomorrow. So it's a weird time in Chicago. I mean, Tuesday, the high get those big swings. The high was 19. And we had snow on the ground. And then by Thursday, it was 65. It just very strange. But it's every year. So, you know, yeah. Well, I'm flying out to California tomorrow with my darling wife. So we've got fun, not fun. Uh, funeral related activities going on. So where do you fly into? Uh, finding the San Jose,

23:47and then we'll drive south and there to a Pacific Grove area. So we don't get in until probably like 10 o'clock tomorrow night. Uh, California Pacific time. And then we'll drive down. So probably get to the hotel hopefully by about midnight or so. How long are you there? Uh, just till Wednesday. And then we have like a, well, basically have a red eye Wednesday night and get back to Asheville around 9 a.m. on Thursday. Okay. With all time changes, stuff like that. So. So yeah. Well, I'm sorry for the circumstance. But kind of, I love California. California is great. Yeah. So it's so nice there. Yeah. So. Yep. I booked my Berlin flight today. Hey. So, um, booked my, my first class ticket out and back $10,000 later. Thankfully, I have, I have, you know, work basically that pays for that and the podcast. But

24:47there you go. That's good. I definitely was like, there's no way it would, like, first of all, I wouldn't want to pay that much, you know, for a ticket going one way, but it works being for it, of course. Um, but I, you know, it's almost, for me, it's almost like mandatory at this point. If I'm flying more than like six hours, like, I need, I need a better seat than like church, you know, it's just, it's just not happening anymore. A man of my advanced age can't be sitting in the back. I know. I drove, let's see. So the drive to Tyler from my house is 943 mile. And the drive I did, I kind of split it, but I mean 13 and a half hours, I did about 11 hours the first day. I got to just west of Texarkana, Texas. On the first day. Yeah, it is a long day, but like you, I can't sit in one spot. So any time I

25:49stopped and got gas, I mean, it was one of those, okay, I need to walk around for five, 10 minutes, because um, my body just stiffens up and all that. And I've had blood clot issues in the past, believe it or not. And I'm like, okay, I can't repeat this. And it's not like I have somebody traveling with me this time. So I got to be really careful. But um, yeah, I, you just stiffen up and like you get out of the car and it's like, holy crap, you can't even move. And, you know, and it's like unfolding. It's so weird. It's like, God, when did I get this old? How did this happen? You know, time flies. That's how. Yeah, I know. It does. It does. So yeah, sitting in coach for a good amount of time, I can, I can only imagine how rough that would be. I ain't doing that. I ain't about that. It's a long flight, too. I think it's like, I go from Asheville to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Berlin. And so I have like two or three connections, basically. It's basically what I did last year as well. And um, the Atlanta to Amsterdam flight is kind of middle of day. And so

26:58at this time, instead of like last time, I think I landed at like 11 a.m. Yeah. Okay. I got to Berlin around 11 a.m. It was kind of like what it was. But I was so dead tired at that point. Like I kind of feel like a wasted day. So now I'm not getting into like 5 p.m.ish. Uh-huh. And I'll feel better about, okay, let me just go to bed. And then because I'm not going to sleep well on the plane. Get the first night out. And then hopefully be back up and running. So I'll get it. I'll leave Friday, my end Saturday. Uh-huh. And hopefully by Sunday and Monday, the time change will be kind of caught up. And then I've got conference stuff. I think uh, Tuesday through Thursday or Friday. And then I'll leave on Saturday. I'm actually coming straight home. So I'm just going to be I'm just going out right there for that and and not doing any sexing other than what's in Berlin. Uh, that week. So what's? How many hours ahead of the day? It's like seven, six, six. Okay. So there's six hours ahead. And it's how long from Atlanta to Amsterdam?

27:59That's about seven hours, I think. Seven? Okay. So so you're looking at a 13 hour foot there. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Yeah. For the full half day. Yeah. That's that would be how long does it take you to adjust that a day recovery? Well, last time it took me a couple days. Uh-huh. But I think, you know, hopefully this kind of will go better and I just I don't sleep well on planes. If anything, I might doze slightly. But um, my plan is land. Find something to eat. Yeah, go to the hotel, find something to eat and then pretty much crash for the night. And just, you know, Sunday is just kind of like a whatever day. Sleep all day if I need to. And then hopefully start to get caught up at that point. What's worse, going there or coming back? Uh, ooh, I don't know. Um, because it's like going there, you'll lose time, but coming back, you

28:59I guess you'll lose a little bit of time, but not a lot. Yeah. I mean, you're going to lose five or six hours time difference-wise, you know, like the total flight durations are like, or the total trip is like 15 hours, including like, you know, lay over and stuff like that. But I don't know. I feel like uh, going backwards in time. God is still coming back. Yeah, coming back is probably harder. Only because it make, it technically makes the day longer. Yeah, because let's see. So if it's a six hour time difference and you, and it's a seven hour flight, you only really lose an hour. Right. Yeah. But if I go forward, I'm losing basically almost an entire day. Right. Exactly. Which is fine. So yeah. All right. Yeah. And what is this trip? Um, May 16th or something like that. Okay. So come on. Yeah. A couple of months away, but be here before you know it.

30:02Yeah. Uh, yeah. And I'll be fine solo. So heading out there and last time my wife let me out met me and Berlin. And we went to Amsterdam, which was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I remember just decided that she didn't want to come this time. Stay home. We got other trips that have kind of the plans, including maybe a trip to Mallorca in January for work. So my, where's that? Mallorca is island off the coast of Spain. Oh. Yeah. And so our international, one of our international companies has invited, you know, me and my other cohost to come out there and be part of that. So make, all right. Well, if you guys are paying, sure. Come on. Mallorca. Yeah. I looked off of Spain. That sounds awesome. And so, yeah. She was like, okay, definitely doing that. You're going to pick a choose. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I would go for that as well. Yeah. That'll be sweet, man. Yeah. So that's pretty much the plan. And and then they got Vegas couple weeks after that. So all kinds of stuff. Nice.

31:04Yep. Well, international travel world traveler. I love it. It's good. Yeah. I get around mostly, mostly US, but every, every once in a while, I get to get to go international. It's always fun. That's good. That's good. So, did you watch any of, I doubt you did. But did you catch any of the world baseball classic? Otherwise, kind of like the world cup of baseball. Do you watch any of that? I know. I don't have any live TV, so I mean, I know where it would have been. Okay. It's interesting. So the US made it to finals. And they lost to Venezuela of all countries and the finals. I did hear that. Yeah. Yeah. Was it three to two? Or was it Bryce Harper? They were doubt that US was getting shut out into the eighth inning by Venezuela. Bryce Harper comes up. It's two run homer in the, in the bottom of the eighth. And somehow, some way, Venezuela

32:09scratched a run across the ninth. And the US just couldn't do anything. So that is way out of the first time that they've ever won that tournament. I guess the tournaments. This is the sixth world baseball classic that's going on. I think it happens every three years if I'm not mistaken. And this is the first time they had ever been in the final. We're all on it. So yeah, pretty cool. And you know, some of these countries, it's very interesting. These guys, when you see, I don't know if you get into like international competition, like Olympics, World Cup soccer, baseball, that kind of thing. I'll tell you what, man, these athletes get into this. And when they win it, it's like, they, some of the guys in teams that I'd rather win this than the World Series. And I was like, holy cow, you know, that's a pretty big deal. And I mean, winning this thing brought some of these athletes tears. And it just, you know, really said something. And it was,

33:11it was kind of interesting when somebody said, well, you know, it's kind of, you know, appropriate that Venezuela beat the US, seeing it's how the US came in. It took Venezuela's leader out of the country and all that. But I just want to say hats off to Venezuela. They have a lot of major league talent on their team, which is pretty cool. And yeah, congrats to them. So that's awesome. Kind of a choke job, honestly, by the US, but you know, that's why you play the games, right? That's why they play the games. So yeah, so that, that just ended. And then we got opening day for major league baseball. I believe it's next either or this coming Wednesday or Thursday. So baseball is upon us. I'm sorry, Jeff, but it is. That's fine. Thanks. You know, it's fine. We've gone through one season already. Yeah. You know, as as the FOJ show. So it'll

34:12be fine. We'll survive. There will be no, there will be no gambling on the season this year. I have put the gambling away 100%. There's it's not a retirement plan anymore. It's not a second income anymore. It's, you know, I'm just I've just chosen to enjoy my sports. All right. Well, that's probably good good. I think it's a I think it's a smart move. And I would I would advise others to do that as well. Okay. So there's my PSA for for the chart today's five. Stop gambling. It's not good for you. It's a losing proposition. I mean, man, it's too late. gambling's taken over. It's everywhere now. It really just, you know, you know, individuals, you know, should be able to stop. But it's too ingrained in every sport now that yeah, that Pandora's box has already been opened. And there's no stuff in it back in unless something catastrophic happens, meaning some major controversy, you know, drama,

35:15something where it's like, no, we can't do some more. Somebody ruins it for everybody. Well, yeah, what do we talk about? Was it Calche? Calche? Calche. Yep. Calche. Yeah. All right. Good. Well, good. They should. I think that's I did look at it. I didn't look into doing it or anything, but I did take a look at it after we talk about it. Talk about ridiculous. I mean, talk about something that you could really ruin your life on is that. Yeah. That is stupid, in my opinion. Well, Calche has been blocked in Nevada. So even Nevada is like, we're not doing that. Interesting. They had some issues. You know, one of the things you could bet on was the Ayatollah in Iran, if you would finish this first term, and that caught all of what controversy, because somebody bet no with a lot of different, you know, with a lot of money, and then, you know, the Iran strikes happen. So clearly, there's insider dealing happening. Yeah. Yeah. Taking place. I think we kind of time as last time, but like that's the kind of stuff where it's just like, like it's it's it's it's not

36:18fair to anybody already. Like the house always wins, but you're just taking money from people who really can't afford it and give it to the people who can. Yeah. I think the I mean, and there's some funny stories out there. Like, what is the guy? There was a guy who ran on the field for the Super Bowl as a fan. Yeah. Do you hear about that? How? Yep. And he did it further. Yep. Yeah. He placed a bet. I guess the fine was significantly less than the winnings on the bet. So as well worth it. So why don't your stuff like that? I do laugh because it's like, yeah, somebody's beating the system. I could appreciate something like that. A little bit of a risk, but I think it's I think that kind of stuff is funny. But yeah, I just for me, it was it was not a winning deal. And I it's not like I lost my ass in it or anything like that. But it's like, you know what? This isn't fun. This isn't enjoyable. So I got out of it. Yeah. Well, good for you. Now you can just enjoy the game as they. That's right. It's a good year as an analyst. Yeah. You know, all that stuff. That's right. That's right. Kind of the same

37:19long scene reason why I got out of fantasy football for the most part. I mean, I got back into it, but I didn't pay near as much attention to fantasy football this year as I have in years past, back when we played, you know, what, 20 years ago or something like that. So I feel good about that. I had my fantasy draft for baseball that I've been doing with a bunch of work guys who could pass eight years. And that's and that's fun. But it's just for fun. There's no money. It's just for bragging rights and things like that. So I handle that kind of thing. But yeah, well, I'm gambling. It's no good. So it's good. So so the bears. It's an interesting time for the bears. Yeah. It's been a couple of weeks. They've made some moves. I know you and I have texted a couple of times around this. Where do you want to start? I don't remember what we've discussed when we haven't already. Well, okay. Obviously, we talked about the Dalman retirement. And I think everybody's kind of over that and we're past that. We replaced him. You know, maybe not with a guy that's as good. But I think they've replaced

38:23him with somebody that is good enough and was affordable. I'm not going to pay the Tyler Winderbomb money that he got in wherever it is he went. With three years, 81 million dollars per cent. I think that's outrageous. But you know, I think they did okay there. Still looking for a left tackle. I know they resigned. Braxton Jones. I don't think that that's who they would like to start. He's abandoned right to cover up for the injury. Yeah. I mean, I think it's one of those things that they have to. They will. They might find somebody in the draft. I think they're done for free agency wise for the multiple part. They signed Kobe Bryant, which I like. I think you liked. I liked Evan Bush. They liked Evan Bush. I like the speed. I was like the big problem. And he's a fast linebacker, baby. Yeah. And a depth signing that they just did the other day.

39:27They brought back a Jack Sanborn. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. I don't want your deal. And for depth, I'd like to see him born when he played. He was always in and around the football. And I think that's a guy that they can depend on for some depth. Then, you know, not really knowing what TJ Edwards is going to look like next year. But, you know, and bringing back to Marco Jackson, who has speed as well. And, you know, maybe Ruben Hippelite takes a step and we find out what kind of linebacker he really is. And now they might be okay there. So see. Yeah. But we'll see. I mean, they didn't solve for the defensive line and pass rush. So hopefully they get them the draft. No, I know they signed what offensive tackle. Actually, I think they signed two different levels. Yeah. Neville, Gala Moore is a defensive tackle. And then they also got Daniel Hardy and Contavia's Contavia street street is the guy I was thinking of. They left him. They

40:28signed. Was it Cam Lewis? Yeah, Cam Lewis corner. Corner. They also have that, what's his name, Zop Frazier, who they drafted last year, but didn't play. I guess you had some off-the-field stuff that he had to take care of, but they really like him, apparently. So they let CJ go. They let Briskard go. They let by turn. They turned over almost the entire secondary man, Zop Frazier. Yeah. But the more you look at it, they're defense as a whole. What's it rank all that high? I know. Obviously, Biden led the league in interceptions. Oh, they signed right to the other one. They let go. But all of these dudes, I think all four of them only got one year deal. Yeah. So it's not like they were huge free agent pickups. So it's like, okay, maybe letting those guys go isn't that big a deal because, you know, I think they were like 23rd or 22nd against the run. And like 29th or 30th against the past. They were horrible. Yeah. But I

41:31think you and I texted on us. It was like, well, I get it. They let people walk away, but nobody got signed really for money that was like, like crazy money. Like they all got it. I thought like we're, you know, okay, reasonable contracts could have I feel like the the bear is to let them walk. And yeah, you know, I think it texted you. It's like, all right, you know, now we're starting over again. It's a whole new secondary again. Instead of having, you know, at least a year underneath this, you know, defensive regime with Dennis Allen, that you're teaching, you know, five, six, seven guys that are on starters that are supposed to be starters, the defense again. And yeah, but based on the return that you got last year, is that necessarily a bad thing? Do you think they would have improved by, you know, they're, I mean, they had some injuries that was certainly healthy. They did. In the secondary, you know, Jalen Johnson, you know, those guys, a full healthy year, definitely would, would upgrade a little bit. Let's say they don't turn over the secondary. And maybe they, they only signed debt and bush,

42:36which I think would be a big upgrade linebacker for them. Speedwise. Yeah, yes, 100%. I think, and let's say they made more focus on the defensive line, and they went out and did a Treyhendrick Center Max Crosby deal. I think you can get away with that secondary that they have, especially since they were such ballharks and they were skiing appropriately. Well, yeah, I mean, we've talked about what's one way to make your secondary better improve the path for us. Right, definitely. But they didn't do that. What they did was they said, okay, well, we're going to basically trade secondaries. I don't know, I don't know what money looks like between like, let's call it like their starting corners, nickel back and two safeties, right? Those five players. I don't know what we're paying for the current five that we have and the five we had last year. But I have a feeling it's probably pretty close. Well, okay, you gave, they gave Kobe Bryant three years, 42 million. Okay. So that's 14 million a year. Jalen Johnson is in the middle of, you know, one of the bigger cornerback

43:40deals in football or at least it was when he signed it. I'm not sure what he's making now, but he's got an average of 19 million. Okay. Kyler Gordon, I know they extended him, which tells me that he probably makes pretty decent money. He's that 13 million. Okay. They still have Tyree Stevenson. They get Terrell Smith back. He was out all of last year. He was supposed to be like their number three corner. Like I said, they have Zot Frazier who's on a rookie deal who they like. You're probably looking at a safety in the draft. At least I hope so. Because I don't want to, I know they resigned Elijah Hicks, but he's not a starter. You know, he's a depth piece, but I think you're looking for a potential starting safety in the draft. I think safety has become a high priority. Yeah. They're only other safety. Well, you know, it's fine. They have Jalen Jones listed as safety. Yeah. They brought him back as well. That's

44:43right. But again, I don't know if he's a starter. Yeah. They have like a bunch of like Jalen Jones, Adrian Colbert. Yeah. Various Owens like Dominic Hampton. Like these are like, you know, Douglas Coleman who's making $795,000 series to. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. But these are all like, you know, nobody's basically. Yeah. They let Jonathan Owens go. So we won't be seeing. Which is fine. I don't think he was that great either. He was a special team guy and new special teams was solid, but you can find that in other places. You know, but I don't, what I'm saying is I don't think they got better in the secondary. I think they just swapped. I agree. And I think they're hoping that maybe some new faces makes them better. You're, yeah, on the surface, you're right. I don't think they got significantly better. I have a, I have a friend of mine who hated the Kobe Bryant signing. Um, Kobe Bryant makes the sale on money as Kyler Gordon. Yeah. I don't hate it. I thought he was pretty good. I mean,

45:44you, you plan a Super Bowl winning defense. You're probably pretty good. Um, but we'll see. You know, it is going to look drastically different. Um, but yes, past rush. I mean, I hopefully they get one in the drafts, supposedly edge is a pretty deep in this class. Booker, um, hopefully takes another step. But, you know, I think he played what 10 games and I don't know how many sacks he had, but, you know, it's four or five, we can six, I don't know. Um, but if he takes a step and they get that guy they drafted from NM last year, what's the schemart turner? If he's healthy, um, they've got, they've got guys as a matter of can, can one of them do anything? You know, can Dio give them anything? Supposedly he's motivated. So we'll see. You know, well, that changes everything. You're motivated. So I guess you're going to be great. I thought I was hoping he'd be motivated enough to be traded,

46:46but I guess that obviously the rest of the league either wasn't interested or the bears really like him for some reason. So yeah, I think we'd, you know, obviously a Crog beat deals, probably not going to happen. Um, and hey, if the guy's got a knee issue, maybe it's for the best. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But still I feel like there's other, I don't know, man, like the defensive line was clearly the pro was a big thing to solve for. You know, I think, you know, maybe the Jardalman retirement caused problems with trying to fix that because they want to go, oh, shit, we can't, you know, we can't let that happen. You know, again, yeah, it causes some issues, but it just feel like everybody knew everybody knows they have to get better on the D line. They have to get more pressure on the quarterback. And they haven't done anything to address that yet. Right. It's hopefully coming in the draft. It has to. And the odds of a, what are they picking like 25th like the end of the

47:48first round? Yeah, the odds of getting an impact starter at that, at that weight in the draft, at that position is extremely unlikely. Yeah, I agree. So here we are again with theoretically another year where we can't get to the quarterback. Right. And it's not like our secondary got better. It's theoretically on paper. I think it's just a swap. It got different. It got different. Right. But it's not like, oh, shit, now we've got two lockdown corners and a safety. Right. They're going to throw. And I like Jalen Johnson, but he got beat last year, a bunch of times. I still wonder if he came back too early. Maybe. But he was out there. And if you're out there, he gets judged by the results of the play. And he got burned a few times. Oh, 100%. 100%. And but I, I, I think, you know, people were like, well, nation right, you know, he had all the, what he had like five picks on that. But it covered. He was shit. He sucked in coverage. I'm trying to be lucky. Then good. Right. That's that's why that's part of the reason why you don't let

48:50those people go. Because they're familiar with the, you know, they're just familiar with the gameplay and their role in the defense. And so now we, again, we've got to teach it to like six new guys that are probably starting on defense. But if they can't fill the role, the way you want it to, then I'm okay with getting another shot. I'm sorry. It's their, their window of real opportunity is Caleb's rookie contract. And he's that one is third year. So you basically have two more years before you've got to start paying Caleb Williams and Roman Dunes ate some money. Um, so you've got two years to basically figure this out. And there's your window. And then after that, we'll see. Um, you also have to figure out, okay, you let DJ more go. And I think I was okay with that. And I don't remember if you were or not. But yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. You know, they still, they've got, you know, with Loveland and a Dunezay and burden. And I'm sure they'll probably

49:53grab another receiver, maybe middle rounds of draft or whatever. But DJ, he's pretty decent. So there's some production to replace there. But I think that you have a chance for Loveland and maybe a Dunezay to go over a thousand yards this year, which would be awesome. Yeah, that's what we talked about last year was there a lot of miles to feed. And I think we saw that bear out in the stats was a lot of people with like six and 100 yards. And like, you know, some between 40 and 60 catches because there's so many different people. Um, right that are, you know, open, which, you know, that's tough to game plan against as well. When you've got five, six quality receivers, are you going to kind of throw two? Now they've got one list. And Rome is now their, their number one, right? Right. So let's see if he steps up. There's a lot of number two's who think they're number one that aren't. Yeah. I mean, we tend to forget that, you know, he said, he said number nine overall picks. So it's like, he's got to play like a number nine overall. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think they're better now than they were last year on paper?

50:59Or is it the same team? I'm going to say, I'm just on paper. It's, I think at best, it's the same team. Yeah, I think it's a wash. Like I don't, I didn't see anything that was like, oh, they're significantly better now because of this. No, I think at best, it's a watch because I think you haven't replaced DJ yet. If you're going to do that, or if you're just going to send his production somewhere else in the offense, which is fine. We don't know if the, if the replacement for Dolman is going to be as good. Right. We don't know who's going to play left tackle, still. I mean, you know, it sucks that Aussie's injured and is going to miss all of next year, but left tackle is a big deal, you know, and there's a big question last year. And now here we just like the defensive line edge rusher left tackle is a question again, center is a question again. So, you know, and then you, you know, like you said, you've swapped names out in the

52:00secondary. So I think at the very best, they're the same look to see. And now you're playing a much tougher schedule. So you could, I mean, I mean, they had hard schedule last year too, didn't they? They did, but not not like it is this year. I mean, you could see regression record wise, and them being a quote unquote better looking team, but the competition they're playing, they don't play Cleveland, they don't play Cincinnati, they don't play, you know, the giants this year, they play Yaddle, they play, um, you know, playoff teams that are going to give them fits. And again, Caleb has to keep ascending to what the QB needs to be for them to be successful. So we'll see. Yeah. So, so what did we get done this off season so far?

53:03Nothing or just state neutral. And we plugged an emergency hole because of the dormant retiring. That's pretty much it. Yeah, I think you've kind of put some band aids on. And you hope that those band aids heal and become better than what you had, but there's nothing guaranteed. That's for sure. You didn't necessarily upgrade anything. Yeah, the only thing you may have upgraded. Actually, that's not true. The only thing you, it's your line is your, yeah, your linebacker with Devon Bush, but that's really it. And that was not a ground breaking move that was like, shook the NFL. No, I mean, that's a guy who's a good smart move, but yeah, that's a guy who had a really good year in Cleveland trying to resurrect his career. I mean, he was a top draft pick when he came out of college. And you know, you're hoping to find kind of lightning in a bottle with him. And hey, he had a really good year with Cleveland. Hopefully, it turned into something long term for the bears. So yeah, my just, all right, here we go again.

54:10Yeah. And now, you know, you're, you're playing against Jared Goff again. You're playing against Jordan Love again. And now you're probably having to deal with Kyler Murray with a real quarterback coach. So it would be interesting to see what that team looks like. I think Kyler Murray and Minnesota is going to be significantly better than Kyler Murray and Aaron. Oh, I'm personal. Yeah, I can see that. So, you know, I mean, he's got Jefferson and Addison and Hockinson and, you know, all those guys and plus he's got a real coach, you know, he's got a coach quarterbacks, although, you know, JJ didn't really benefit from that, but I don't know, I never thought much of JJ to begin with, but that's just me. JJ Dunn. In Minnesota. Do you think he'll, do you think he starts? No, no, Kyler to be the starter. Yeah, absolutely. I think so. I mean, I think so too, but you know, I will see what happens in the preseason, but I'm assuming Kyler went there

55:14with sort of the wink wink nod nod that he would be the starter. Yeah, I think JJ, I don't know, I, he might have a decent career in the NFL. I think JJ could be honest to God on a Mitchell Turbisky type career. Sure, sure, trajectory. Yeah. Yeah, you know, he might be, and it might happen. I mean, beat the Bears last year. So that's right. And it might happen for JJ earlier than it did for Mitch, because Mitch obviously started in Chicago and then moved on, but to be a backup, but I think JJ, he'd probably be a backup in the NFL for good 10, 12 years. Sure. Why not? Not bad for a first round pick, right? Yeah, I mean, the bus if he's a backup, he's a bust. Yeah, yeah, I agree, but he could be a Chase Daniel Hall of Famer at the bank. Who knows? He could be Tasekina making $48 million or 24 millions or whatever he got signed up for this year. You know, I was going to say, you know, backup to bees make pretty good money. And I really have to be good as good at his reading.

56:21Yeah, exactly. And talking up the starter, when he gets out of himself, that's really it. Guys like Chase Daniel and Carson Wentz and, you know, Cousins, guys like them, have it pretty good. Not to change gears, but I'm going to. Yeah, what's up? I'm polymarket, Chicago Bears predictions and odds. So polymarket is similar to Colchey, right? Same type of deal. You can better anything. And the top prediction and odd right now is, will the Chicago Bears leave Illinois by December 31st? I'm going to say no. You say no. Well, the market has 67% is that they will that they want us. I got to make sure I read this right. And it's changing like literally about a second. Yeah, right. 47% chance that they leave. So it's 50-50. I think the whole Indiana thing is leverage and a play. I think they wind up in Arlington

57:29Heights. And that's the end of it. And I think they'll have a deal in place probably before the season begins. I would hope. Here's another prediction market. Pro football, 2027 NFC champion will be. They have the Rams at 17%. Seattle Seahawks at 16%. The Niners at 9. Green Bay at 9. A bunch of eights. The Bears at 7% chance. So right now, the favors are the Rams and Seahawks to win the NFC again. That's fair. Cardinals 1%. That's fair. Let me think what else. Prediction Tyree Kill. They think they ends up in Kansas City. The Packers as the NFC North Champion.

58:32Okay. Packers right now are sitting at 42%. The Bears are at 22%. Interesting. Okay. So outside of the home and homes with the division guys, here's who they play. They they had to play at Miami. They played Jacksonville at home. Seattle at Seattle. At Atlanta. At Buffalo. At Carolina. Patriots at home. Jets at home. Eagles at home. And Bucks. Bucking is at home. Yeah. They got some they got playoff teams. I play them. Yeah. No doubt. And I think one of those games is actually international. I'm not mistaken. But I just looked up their opponent. I didn't look up the actual schedule. But I don't think the schedule is posted yet. Because I don't think it's just deposited. It probably isn't. But yeah, I think you know, I think a nine and eight eight nine is possible. So if you go by polymarket, the Bears and the Vikings will be battling for the last place in the division. I don't think that's that far off.

59:35Personally, I mean, look at that. Do you think Caleb's going to bring him back seven times again this year? Ozard, that doesn't happen. Right. You know, there was a lot of as good as they as well as they played. And as well as things went, there was a lot of luck in the exterior season. It was all the games that they've lost historically. Yeah. They won those. And, you know, the law of averages will come back. Exactly. So they've lost them all. Now they've won them all. And then they'll probably end up somewhere in the middle again, you know, where it's like some of those games they'll pick up some they'll lose. And that's it. Well, I mean, Ben Johnson said it best. He said, Hey, this group is special. And will this group will never be together again? Yeah. And he was right. Well, we traded half that defense too. That's right. We're not trading. But we have to do is walk off the door. Yeah. I just feel like we haven't done like we've been in neutral all season. Yeah. You know, they've kind of spin in their wheels. I hear you. I hear you.

1:00:38But I mean, it'll be interesting to see, okay, free agency is basically over. Now let's see what they pick up in the draft. And then, and then you could really try and piece it together and see what we got. So, yeah, I think the draft is what late April. Yeah, something like that. Something like that. So we've got a couple weeks. We lost Chuck Norris. Yeah, I had no idea that he was ill. I don't, I didn't. I haven't heard of him in a long time. I frankly was shocked. He was still alive. But 86. I just, I remember him, obviously, from what is it Delta Force? I remember him from the TV show he was on. Walker Texas Ranger. Walker Texas Ranger. And I remember the total gym commercials with him and Christie Brinkley. I mostly remember those for Christie Brinkley, but I do know that he was the other celebrity in those. So yeah, 86 years old.

1:01:42What do he pass from? I'm not sure. I just, I just, I saw the headline that he passed away. I got a text yesterday from a coworker. Oh, sudden passing is what he was listed as. So, what else? Oh, wow. Well, so, I mean, obviously the guy was in tremendous shape. So, oh, you're 86. Yeah, it was a pretty good light. Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah, following, he passed away in Hawaii following a sudden medical emergency. So maybe a heart attack or stroke or something? Maybe. There's a 10th degree black belt. Wow. Yeah, and he founded his own version of some martial art, Korean martial art. I don't know if it was Taekwondo or something else, but it was his flavor that he brought to the US and customized. Yeah, seem like pretty down to earth, easygoing guy. So, Rest in peace, Chuck Doris.

1:02:45All right, well, you have a baseball game to go to, don't you? I do. We're playing at nine o'clock at night. Yeah, it's our last tune up. This is the adult league that I coach with tune up at nine o'clock tonight. And opening day is April 12th. Yeah, we're trying to get one more now. Tonight's game is inside. As we played a couple of games, I think I told you that's coming to go. And it was was freezing, huh? For freezing. So tonight will be inside. So that'll be fun. I practiced with the kids earlier today. And I practiced with the kids again tomorrow. And ironically, their opening day is at saying weekend on April 10th, which is a Friday. So we play a tournament there for those guys. So they start pretty much at the same time. I spent my day to day kind of putting motion sensor lights all around my back yard. So when we let the dogs out,

1:03:45we can see them. I had a couple out there before, but the yard just needs more. They need more, you know, and you buy them cheap at minars or whatever. So I put up like there's two that are sitting on a porch. I put two in the back and then two on each, uh, on post side yard. So I've got total motion sensor solar powered lights out there. So hopefully that's going to, um, you know, make sure dogs are behaving and stuff. They like, they love to bark at everything. So run in with the neighbor. No, not not at all. Okay. Hopefully that's behind us, which is good. Yeah. Um, but it's funny. So Jeremy and his girlfriend, uh, tried to take all three of them for a walk at the same time. And they're not small dogs. No, no, they're roughly about 60 pounds a piece.

1:04:47And they can be pretty active. So Morgan, who is Jerry's girlfriend, um, took Peppy, and Jeremy had the other two talks in Charlie. So I was, I was home at the time. So I called Jeremy while they were out in the walk. I'm like, hey, if he fed them, because if not, I was going to, you know, make them dinner and all that stuff and have it ready for them when they got home. And he said, nope, have it fed up. We'll be home in a minute. I'm never doing this again. Whoa. So I'm like, okay. So about four minutes later, they walk in the door. And apparently if they just were pulling and tugging and winding and getting tangled, and then they would bark at people and, you know, bark at people in their own garages and all kind of stuff. Oh my god. So apparently Peppy was fine. Peppy was fine. It's the boys. The boys are the culprits here, which doesn't shock me at all. So yesterday, Josh was said, all right,

1:05:50I'm going to take them all on a walk, but I'm going to take them one at a time. Take them each around the block, but by themselves. So I was here when he did it. First off, whenever he would take one, the other two were like, what in the world is going on? Where did that dog go? What's going on? Why didn't I go with just a total out of sorts? It was just like, you know, their worlds were completely messed up. But he ranked in order. Charlie was the best. Peppy was second and Tux is just apparently a nightmare to walk because he barks at everything. He pulls, he tugs. He just does like he needs some training. He does. He does. And Michelle and I were talking about it the other night. We're like, you know, it's not that he's a bad dog. He's not bad. The dog is just, he's just super excited. I mean, I know he, you know, kind of gave you the business when you were here. He just is into everything. He barks. He just, everything catches his attention. But

1:06:55he loves to tackle you, but he loves to come up on you. And it's because he's just happy to see you and all that stuff. We just got to find a way to get that dog as sedative because he needs to calm down, you know, but yeah, so we got to work with them on that. But, um, you're seeing what I get in the trainer. Or doing some actual like training. Sorry, I mean, go on YouTube and find some stuff, but like, yeah, training and sort of obedience training and trying to, I mean, it takes a lot of work, but you know, the quality of life down the road will be better. We need to do something. So I think that we'll figure out what to do and definitely incorporate something. But obviously what we do for him, we probably need to do for all three, because I think it'd just be easier. I could be wrong on that. I don't know. But, um, would definitely need to do something for him. Um, you got to, you know, pretty good, but, uh, you know, when toxins around that needs to all a little bit wild and out of sorts and stuff. So

1:07:58but what's good is they don't, it felt like they chew shoes, they don't chew stuff. They don't, they don't do any of that. They just are very, they like to run around and then they hear, like they'll be, they'll be sleeping in our family amount of couches and they, one little thing, boom, up and screaming, barking loud. They run to the front door. Nobody's there. I don't know what that they heard, but they just go bananas over the littlest stop, which is, I don't want to say bad. It's, it's annoying. If anything, because then they'll see nothing and then they'll come trotting back into the living room, back up on the couch and then they're asleep in like the next 30 seconds, but, you know, they're, you know, they're still the dogs, whatever. Well, ours are, ours are going to be doing good. She's getting bigger and she's still daddy's girl. So very excited, very clingy. We've got a, we've got a stage four clinger, likes to, you know, it doesn't like it when we leave. And so we've got to first come in to stay

1:08:59overnight with them here in kind of next couple days, but I expect a shit show when we leave and when we arrive. Yeah. Of her just, you know, being crazy. Yeah. Now, do you, when you guys leave, like if you're both gone during the day, do you lock them up? Only pepper. Pepper needs to be in the crate still because she's still too young. Don't trust her to be out, but the other two are fine by themselves. They just kind of sleep for the most part. We, for a while, we did the cages and we still have them, but now we relegate the three of them to the kitchen. We've got gates and that way they can walk around. We actually have two of the cages we put in the kitchen. So if they want, they can go lay down. We actually have a dog bed that we'll put in there that they can lay down on and stuff. So we've kind of graduated from the cages a little bit to just the kitchen and they seem to be okay with that. Yeah. And they're probably not doing a whole lot of stuff while you're gone. So no, we haven't. So she's got, so she bought a

1:10:05camera that she actually, you know, can watch while she's at work and, you know, it just shoots in the kitchen. So she does that and really all they do, a lot of what they do is just look out the back door. Yeah. Probably watching for squirrels or birds or just motion. Yeah. Yeah. Or they'll go into one of the cages and leave. Yeah. Or on the dog bed. Yeah. That's cool. That's pretty much how it goes here too. It's, you know, they're excited and trying to figure something out for the first couple of minutes and then they just kind of settle down and do whatever. Yeah. And we have a camera too that points it like peppers great. We're gone and, you know, she hauls and lines and stuff like that and then you know, she'll pack in a couple of minutes and, you know, she's sleeping, you know, or create or just chilling. We give her toys to play with too. So that's cool. You know, that kind of stuff. Nice. All right. Well, let's get you to your baseball game. Yeah. Nine o'clock game. I wish it wasn't so late, but still be fun. Yeah. Hey, it beats, it beats a few weeks ago when we

1:11:08played it like 11 and that was that was 11 o'clock at night. 11 o'clock at night. I think the last one we did, I got home after closing down the dome and all that stuff. I think I got home at like 230 and I'm late. That is late. My my body doesn't do that anymore. Yeah. I don't know about you, but usually I know I'm usually in bed by 10. And then I'm, you know, far around my phone for a little bit, but I'm usually asleep by 10, 30, 10, 45. I don't usually somewhere around 11, 30. Okay. 11, 30 midnight, but I also don't have a community or anything. So it's like, if I'm, unless I'm traveling and then it's like, then your schedule just goes crazy. But if I'm home, it's sometimes you don't have it in 12th and then, you know, up at seven or eight. Yeah. I got, I got to go to Wisconsin next week for two days. So that'll be an overnight. That'll be interesting. I gotta go to Madison. And then Madison is a cool town. And then I got to go to the military base

1:12:15just north of Baraboo on Wednesday for a military audit of our warehouse. Yeah. Good luck. That's going to be interesting. Luckily, it's not on me. But I do have to be there. It's a three-day deal. I'll have to be there for one of the days. But yeah, it's going to be going to be interesting to watch this because the government is super anal about the food they buy and the food they serve as soldiers, which they should be. I totally understand it. I totally get it. But yeah, so this will be, this will be interesting. Well, good luck with that. Appreciate it. That's all this week. That's, uh, yeah, I gotta go, I go to Madison on Tuesday. I'm probably gonna stay overnight. And then I'm gonna drive to Baraboo Tuesday night, stay overnight there. And then I'll be in the Baraboo warehouse all day Wednesday and come home once a night. Well, good luck. Thanks, man. Have fun with that. Yeah. Well, it's my first one. So it's gonna be cool. It's the first time

1:13:20that warehouse has been audited. I think since like 2017. So yeah, it could be interesting. Well, look up some, uh, some local joints. See what you can find on the culinary side. Um, try to get Madison. It's not in Madison, but there was a sushi place. Where was it? Appleton, I think. I'm not sure where that how close that is to Madison. I want to say it's probably not super close, but there was a really good sushi place. Um, that was in that area. No, not Appleton. Steven's point. Let's see. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah, that's side to close. That's, yeah, Madison. It's not close. Steven's point is the home, the former home of Rusty's road night amber, brood for chilies. Is it? Steven's point, Wisconsin. Yes. Well, it's also the home of century insurance, which was a client of mine a long time ago. And also a sushi place that we discovered in a strip mall. Uh, that was fantastic. Well, I'll be visiting on Tuesday. I gotta go to the owners of a new restaurant opening called original steak and hogees. So I'm

1:14:22going to check that out for sure. Okay. Well, if you're ever in Steven's point, Wisconsin, go check out Matt Suya. It's a really good little sushi place in a strip mall. It was fantastic. Matt Suya. All right. There you go. Yep. Nice. All right, man. Well, uh, enjoy the game. Good luck with the travels. Yeah, safe travels to you and all the best to barben her family. I'm sorry for why you're going, but I'm sure it'll be really good to see everyone. So yeah, try to try to enjoy a little bit in a way. Yeah. Just why those things. Everybody has to go through it. I know. I know. But all right, man. I will talk to you in a few days. I'll talk to you later. All right. See you. See you.