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00:00:01
Synergy
6 Plays2 days ago
Hopefully this episode is on forgiveness so Brian will forgive me for being late with this upload
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Transcript
Introduction and Banter
00:00:22
David Isaacs
Welcome everyone. It is May 26th, 2026 at time of recording. I'm joined by Brian, our friend, our colleague, our guru.
00:00:36
The Big Dog
ah Thanks David, i appreciate all those kind words But I believe you are the We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you You're the the king of the boardroom and the bedroom freak on this in the sheets and on the streets So, you know, give yourself a much Exactly ah who There was great room great cheers Yay how's going today, my friend?
00:00:49
David Isaacs
Just here to increase shareholder value.
00:00:55
David Isaacs
shareholders are ecstatic.
00:01:08
David Isaacs
Good.
Health and Hydration Challenges
00:01:09
David Isaacs
I had urology appointment. I had some blood work that I was putting off for a while. So last night, realized it was at a hospital that also had a lab. So schedule an appointment to do my lab tests from our regular doctor. Once the urologists, um, still some like kidney stone stuff going on.
00:01:30
David Isaacs
So just spoke to them.
00:01:31
The Big Dog
Mm-hmm.
00:01:32
David Isaacs
They're like, it's not really a concern for longterm. They're like the main thing is just water intake. And i had already pretty much told them like, yeah, I don't really get the water that I need to drink every day.
00:01:44
David Isaacs
Like, yeah, that's kind of the biggest thing. So, um, looking to try to incorporate some more, hydration during the day.
00:01:55
David Isaacs
I've been, I've done it before in the past with like a gallon water jug. And, um, it's kind of cool because I can do it. You know I can just c chug on it for like five seconds every hour and I'm good for that hour.
00:02:11
David Isaacs
Um, the more I realized, like I've never really been good about, you know, drinking more water and the Kind of around, people say you should drink probably at least a half a gallon water a day. Some people say up to a gallon, an ounce for every two pounds of body weight.
00:02:31
David Isaacs
So I definitely think it would be better just kind of flush out some of the stuff that I am putting into my body. But yeah, it's just something I haven't been able to wrap my head around.
00:02:43
David Isaacs
And then I have my morning coffee, so when I try to hydrate, like all the productivity I get from the coffee and the caffeine and the stimulation is immediately taken up by bathroom breaks because it's just in and out.
00:02:54
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:02:56
David Isaacs
So it's really hard to try to find that balance. And I'm up from my desk a lot of the day anyways, just kind of fidgeting and messing around.
Work Processes and Productivity
00:03:05
David Isaacs
just give myself like some of these mental breaks because a lot of what i focus on is things that are like mentally dense or trying to find a way you know get tables to join together seeing trying to get visibility to something that we haven't seen before um so basically like the lay of the land and then as I go along like step by step trying to
00:03:31
David Isaacs
tone it down a little bit to get to, okay, well, what do we really care about? What should we, what should this report show? before that, I'm like, you know, folding some things in, taking some things out, like, and at the beginning, it's just, you know, large data set analysis as to, you know, what's going on with this.
00:03:54
David Isaacs
And it seems like every time I do that, I run into a lot of serendipity you know, not realizing this was happening. so then I got to add that to the list to make sure that's incorporated.
00:04:08
David Isaacs
so like anytime I do anything, I really, ah really make my life a lot harder, uh, especially because like I kind of set the guidelines and the requirements for something and I'm a stickler, with myself and as well as everyone else.
00:04:17
The Big Dog
Feel that?
00:04:25
David Isaacs
But,
00:04:28
David Isaacs
I really question, i question myself today as to why am I like this? Because, yeah, I just, it it's good that I am like that. But when you're in the moment, it's just like, why um why do I make my life so difficult?
00:04:43
The Big Dog
Yeah, and i I kind of feel you on that because like I'm kind of the same way, at least with like the fidgeting. Like I try to get up every I mean, try to get up every hour, at least for five minutes just to like walk around or go into our our warehouse and just cry to kick ah to a toilet, and toilet packaging.
00:05:00
The Big Dog
Just, you know, just random things like and I don't actually cry to kick. That'd be pretty fucking funny, though. Yeah. just get like negative energy out i really got into that like when i was um doing phone sales which i was absolutely fucking terrible at but um i just it helped me project like um especially i was communicating like all the nervous energy out um you know i wasn't didn't feel trapped like my chi or whatever my aura wasn't like trapped it just felt like it was like following along like a comet tail almost you know like it was like outside of me um i got i'm making most of this off but like um i think like it did help me feel like mentally just like to get the jitters out but um i i definitely like also feel like the
00:05:52
The Big Dog
you know, I guess maybe preparing, doing more prep work than maybe is required. I think if I understand what you were saying correctly and, you know, kind of just like psyching yourself to psych yourself out and maybe just like overthinking it more than it needs to be and just kind of get down to it. at least that's kind of was my takeaway from it.
00:06:12
The Big Dog
um I've i'm still been working on like taxonomy and I've been asking a lot of questions and just trying to get things done, but it's just like, I feel like don't know this. I feel stupid.
00:06:24
The Big Dog
You know, I don't know toilets or let alone a taxonomy that would revolve around said toilets well enough. So I just kind of like shut down and I feel like I'm just overthinking things on a level. So I kind of just like focus on coding or, you know, like little things that my boss sends me that needs to be updated for our other websites that I work on.
00:06:45
The Big Dog
um You know, cause that makes me feel better in the moment. So um you know, that's, maybe kind of how I, I've, I deal with things like that in that particular moment or how I deal with things kind of sometimes. So kind of go for the dopamine rush as opposed to actually maybe doing like the hard thing, I guess.
00:07:03
The Big Dog
Um, and really just putting the, the nail to the nail to the grindstone, whatever, uh, whatever that quote is with the grindstone, just put it and get down to work. So, um,
00:07:18
The Big Dog
I think if I understood what you were saying correctly.
00:07:22
David Isaacs
Uh, yeah, kind of, I think
00:07:26
David Isaacs
it basically starts out as like, I have a requirement. Okay. And the requirement comes from of an idea I had about way to look at something.
00:07:35
The Big Dog
Okay.
00:07:35
David Isaacs
So when I go through and you know, I'm most of the way done, something else pops up that I haven't noticed, or that wasn't part of my logic to be able to catch.
00:07:48
David Isaacs
So I'm like, OK, how does this work?
00:07:49
The Big Dog
Oh, gotcha.
00:07:50
David Isaacs
Oh, so this is what's happening. There's a lot of shenanigans when it comes to the data where I work. So I'm like, OK, this is why this is happening.
00:08:03
David Isaacs
So I try to, you know, I have to clean up my own mess, which is not it's not really a mess, but you get it.
00:08:10
The Big Dog
Right.
00:08:11
David Isaacs
It's not fun. um The only thing to be worse is like cleaning up someone else's mess. which sometimes I have to do, but it's typically around like someone challenging me.
00:08:18
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:08:22
David Isaacs
It's like, I'm not seeing the same thing you are. I'm like, show me your sequel.
00:08:28
The Big Dog
Yeah, that's usually what it comes down to.
00:08:31
David Isaacs
Yeah. um But yeah. So having to clean up after myself or to improve something. So it's like discovery work.
Collaboration and Project Management
00:08:39
The Big Dog
Okay, yeah, yeah.
00:08:39
David Isaacs
Like you're putting, I'm putting two and two together and somehow it makes five. And i have to figure out why it makes five. what's How is it getting to five? What's important that it does get to five? Why isn't it not getting to four?
00:08:55
David Isaacs
So then it becomes like, okay, well, we wanted additional visibility, but now I've just found something else that we're going to need to start tracking too.
00:09:06
David Isaacs
And then trying to figure out a way figure out if that's important or not. or like having that discussion on, you know, is this important? And i don't try to explain it.
00:09:20
David Isaacs
I have to understand it enough to be able to explain it. So that typically takes me, you know, a good amount of time with my manager to be able to explain it to him. And then, you know, us go forward with what, if it's relevant, if it's important, how we want to track it, what is the process for getting it resolved? Like, what is the signal or,
00:09:41
David Isaacs
Is this just noise? So there's a lot of like decisions where it comes to like the team that I support on whether or not like this, what I'm giving visibility to has to be changed as a business as usual. Like there's a lot of back and forth, like a lot inner team collaboration between like the different departments and that.
00:10:04
David Isaacs
So it's just kind of the the nature of the business and I can't get around it, unfortunately.
00:10:10
The Big Dog
Right.
00:10:12
David Isaacs
And it's you know kind of that choice between, should i just power through it or is this, you know it's a new discovery. So I wanna make sure I capture it. And it's not not like too hard to figure it out, but then you get into like, I do this join and I wanna return like one row per specific ID.
00:10:34
David Isaacs
And there's a lot of rows being returned and then trying to figure out like, okay, what's the, you know, kind of the structure of the data as you're putting it together. So, um, yeah, for all the folks at home that are not understanding any of this, it's basically, yeah, just trying to clean something up.
00:10:51
David Isaacs
and trying to show what you want to see, like what's relevant. But to get to what's relevant, it's like similar, like with anything with coding, there's a lot of work that becomes a web page or an app or something else, like a lot of tiny decisions that get made.
00:11:09
David Isaacs
so I'm kind of in the process of this step requires another decision, this step requires another decision. So it's like you're You're kind of hamstrung. You can't go as fast as you want. You're hitting speed bumps.
00:11:26
David Isaacs
And then you got to figure out like if the speed, this speed bump is different than that speed bump.
00:11:30
The Big Dog
Thank you.
00:11:32
David Isaacs
Or are they all just speed bumps and we need to be aware of them? Like it's probably not the best metaphor, but that's pretty much like what it is. You can't go as fast as you want because if you do you're going to ruin your car. You're going to ruin what you're working on.
00:11:49
David Isaacs
and you just kind of have to kind of have to go with it um and work at that pace because it it is going to require like a little bit more attention i mean you're not on the highway you're on a 25 mile an hour road with speed bumps that even if you're going 25 miles an hour still like shake the car so you got to slow down
00:12:13
The Big Dog
Right. Yeah. You're like, if this plot, uh, police or like military, you're not the, you're not the boots on the ground yet. And the truck convoy, you're up in the, the helicopter, like the gunner seat, you know, you gotta pay attention to all everything that's moving. Um, unfortunately, cause you're going to kind of scouting head in a way and maybe clearing out an area.
00:12:34
The Big Dog
so,
00:12:37
The Big Dog
And you may not know what's ahead. And, you know, it's like you kind have to like, you kind have to be the scout in this, you know, some scenarios. And you're, you know, Christopher Columbus almost discovering undiscovered land. And you're kind of just reporting back your findings. And sometimes you don't even know what you're seeing.
00:12:59
The Big Dog
You know, maybe looking for a fountain of youth and you just happen to find, you know, Aztec people. I don't know.
00:13:05
David Isaacs
Yeah, I thought I was going to India, and now I found this whole other continent.
00:13:09
The Big Dog
Exactly.
00:13:10
David Isaacs
So...
00:13:11
The Big Dog
um
00:13:13
The Big Dog
Well, I mean, there's a few luck in that. I'm kind of currently, I i do have a a meeting tomorrow with a business analyst who's working on a search engine who's kind of doing something similar for us where to fill out this discovery document. It's like a questionnaire about how our products need to be displayed and you know how sort our search results are going to work and all that. So had to ida some of Sometimes the questions were just like, I don't want to say so broad, but like, um you know, they i think they were just generic enough to where they maybe, obviously were they were intended to make the the person who's filling it out think and, you know, kind of collab with whoever. Like, and I had to talk to like six or seven different people just to get this form completed, so. I don't know if that would be something of helpful, if your company would have some sort of discovery checklist. I don't i don't know if that's even helpful, but, you know, something that you could kind of and come up with in even in your own workflow. Yeah.
00:14:16
David Isaacs
Yeah, potentially. i think for me, i the projects that I work on are not, they're not small, right?
00:14:27
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:14:28
David Isaacs
They're not small, but to me, it's like, well, I'd like to understand, you know, each and every piece is something that I put together and how it works and, you know, kind of do the discovery work myself.
00:14:35
The Big Dog
Yeah. Right.
00:14:38
David Isaacs
So, but it's different. I am a, you know, business analyst is my
Business Analysis and Leadership Expectations
00:14:44
David Isaacs
job title, but I don't, interface with different teams and track requirements and
00:14:52
David Isaacs
try to bridge that gap as much. Typically, I am the i am speaking for the end user and speaking for myself to set the requirements. So I'm kind of like you know learning as I go.
00:15:07
David Isaacs
what this is supposed to do. um But it is a good idea just to kind of sit and brainstorm. But for me, like how my mind works is to just kind of dig in and see what's going on.
00:15:20
David Isaacs
So today I've exported, i don't know, 20, 25 different queries to Excel.
00:15:28
The Big Dog
Hmph.
00:15:28
David Isaacs
to see. Um, and of those 20 to 25 might've made like three steps into 10 to 15 step process through. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's like a new way of looking at something, a different way of looking at something.
00:15:45
David Isaacs
I could have just set the requirements already and just, you know, kind of wipe my hands with it. But I don't, um, for me, I don't like leaving things kind of half, like I have so much that's half baked right now.
00:15:58
David Isaacs
I don't really like leaving anything else that way.
00:16:02
The Big Dog
Right.
00:16:03
David Isaacs
this So yeah, but I bounce around to different projects and different like meetings and things. So today I had a good flow and I feel good about the effort that I put in. It's just sometimes like trying to translate that to leadership and like, you know, how much this is making an impact.
00:16:26
David Isaacs
Because a lot of the stuff I do is more abstract. It's not, oh, we fixed this button on this specific page that increased our toilet sales 10% and increased the company money, this X amount of money.
00:16:40
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:16:43
David Isaacs
It's more so like we've increase the visibility to this so we're more accurate in driving material or something so a lot of stuff i do will actually cost us more money but it's money that we need to spend so that we are more accurate in our planning so sometimes it's like you save money other times it's like well we need to be spending more money to make sure that
00:17:06
The Big Dog
yeah
00:17:15
David Isaacs
things are working correctly that we're set up for success. So.
00:17:23
The Big Dog
Yeah, you're making sure like you're, even if you're not saving the company money, you're just making sure that they're the dollars are spent more effectively of thing.
00:17:31
David Isaacs
Yeah, and it's it's data quality stuff. Like no one wants to hear about it. They want to, um you know, they want pictures. They want visualizations. They want dashboards. Like reports are the,
00:17:45
David Isaacs
I've created so many reports and the coworkers love them. um don't even bother with senior leadership because I have to explain the what, when, who, why, and where, like, and they won't even let me get to the how they don't care.
00:18:01
The Big Dog
Right.
00:18:02
David Isaacs
Like, and they're like, Oh yeah, this was really difficult.
00:18:02
The Big Dog
Right.
00:18:05
David Isaacs
Huh? Yeah. You've said that three times. Like, yeah, good job. Like I, So to me, that's kind of demoralizing.
00:18:17
David Isaacs
um
00:18:17
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:18:18
David Isaacs
the same time, like I get it. They're senior leadership, you know, show me the shiny thing. Don't care about how it was made.
00:18:28
David Isaacs
And.
00:18:28
The Big Dog
added They don't care that it took you you know all day to put that together in BI. power bi
00:18:34
David Isaacs
Yeah. um So, I mean, my focus really is on just. trying to be is the best that I can be in terms of like data quality. Because no one's like, not say like no one's on my level, but I don't like putting things out there and then like somebody else come and question it.
00:18:55
David Isaacs
Or like why we're not catching this or why are we not catching that. I just like, I don't know. It's tough to navigate. So I've just switched to, you know, just work and like don't Just work until you have the chance to ask questions.
Quality and Reputation in Work
00:19:14
David Isaacs
If I get to a point where I really need some guidance, then I'll just stop. But until then, I'm just going to be export to CSV, analyze data, refactor query until I get to that point.
00:19:27
The Big Dog
written Right. ah There are times where, especially with like this line of work, where I do feel like Lucius Fox from was a Dark Knight. yeah dark knight when he was remodeling the bad suit he's like i just want you to know how hard i worked on this mr wayne like i'm just like straight up maybe it's because i'm maybe have a closer relationship with some of my bosses just because i've had personal any connections with them but i do sometimes just kind of say that and i'm like i'm like this sucked like working on this sucked um
00:20:02
The Big Dog
guess we kind of have that more interpersonal connection at our job. So it's not going to so luxury that I have that we're not, uh, maybe not present at all companies and that's fine. Like we're less professional. I mean, we're plumbing company. It's like deal with, uh, the public. So we're a little bit retail. We've got to have a little bit sassy side to you.
00:20:23
David Isaacs
Yeah. And I feel like, um, you know, sometimes it just being painted with a broad stroke. Um, maybe not, that's not the best way to put it, but you know, there's people out there that ruined it for everyone else.
00:20:36
David Isaacs
Like work from home thing, the thing was great.
00:20:36
The Big Dog
Oh yeah, 100%.
00:20:38
David Isaacs
It was all great. And then people were talking about, I got a job at, uh, they're paying me $160,000 a year and they still haven't even assigned me anything. i don't even log on or here I'm logged in, but I'm playing golf.
00:20:48
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:20:51
David Isaacs
Um, So similarly, it's probably like people like just trying to get attention for doing a lot of nothing or something that was pretty easy to put together and doesn't really make a difference versus I just, you know, I want to get it out.
00:20:58
The Big Dog
Yeah, that's fair.
00:21:09
David Isaacs
I want to like ship the vibe coded MVP. Um, no, I, added I have the the vibe code thing is funny, but, um, yeah, I feel like there has been like that air of, um, like we, we do a lot already. We try to validate as much as we can.
00:21:33
David Isaacs
there's really no true understanding of like, what's difficult, what's hard. Um, and, uh, Yeah, so I just grind away.
00:21:45
David Isaacs
If I had more visibility, if I had more of these conversations with kind of senior leadership, that'd be great. But in the meantime, I'm just going to, you know, focus on my work, you know, and let that show for itself.
00:22:00
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:22:01
David Isaacs
And outside of that, I really don't have anything else to prove. It's really just a... it's just a matter of, you know, gaining that trust.
00:22:13
David Isaacs
Um, and then kind of not only for the work that I do, but, um, in the future, having maybe more responsibility, bigger projects, more, um, or insight and more of that visibility just because, you know, I have that reputation of somebody that goes the extra mile. Someone that's curious, somebody that,
00:22:36
David Isaacs
finds a way to figure things out. And that doesn't need a lot of guidance because I'm sitting here banging my head against the table by myself. Like no one has to tell me to do that.
00:22:46
The Big Dog
Right.
00:22:50
The Big Dog
Yeah. um I mean, I definitely jealous that I sometimes don't always have the self-starter um quality that I lie about on my resume. But, you know, if there's sometimes a project,
00:23:05
The Big Dog
um
00:23:08
The Big Dog
you know, because they hire you to be the the subject matter expert. Right. And I'm not always that, but, um you know, you're I'm the guy on D-Day who's fresh out of boot camp, wondering why the hell he's attacking, you know, in the north, northern than shores of or northwestern shores of France. um It's kind of get i get up the hill. I kind of i just figure out on my way. i guess I'm a survivor aspect like that. So it doesn't if I don't come up with something like that at first.
00:23:40
The Big Dog
ah I just kind of use my resources and just make it to bo to the rally point. So I don't know why I have a lot of military references. I haven't even seen any movies lately, even though it was Memorial Day this past weekend.
00:23:53
The Big Dog
In fact, I actually watched Lord of the Rings all weekend. um
00:23:58
David Isaacs
Nice. So you did watch the movies. You lied.
00:24:00
The Big Dog
i Yeah, see, I'm a liar. Never believe me at anything they say at first. It's always a lie. Yeah.
Impact of Team Dynamics and Mistakes
00:24:09
The Big Dog
Yeah, uh, it's kind speaking of coworker or not really coworkers. I've just working. We had a, was just all, it was really weird. Like, so we had a coworker, I'll just cut to it. We had a coworker who was, who was fired today.
00:24:24
The Big Dog
and we don't really know what the circumstances that immediately led up to it. Cause he went, we have like four separate buildings within our, um, within our company um and they're all kind of within like a half mile so he may had just have to go back to like the main building every once in a while and meet with like leadership or just anybody else and or something like the showroom or whatever um he went over there i'm assuming they had some sort of i don't know if it's like his one-on-one or something but he kind of came back all huffy like sat down at his desk well then his manager came through the door and um
00:25:03
The Big Dog
to kind of tell you the best physical description of how the IT manager normally walks, it's kind of gleeful. It's almost like Jar Jar Binks, you know, like kind of just like happy-go-lucky.
00:25:15
The Big Dog
This one was more tense, and he was like hey he's like, hey, Tom, can I and i talk to you in... but was all like sad and kind of depressed. then they went into the conference room. Well, then time comes out and he was just like clearing all his stuff, did not say anything.
00:25:30
The Big Dog
ah and suspected was personal lungs just left. Like we're kind of all just like focused on our work, but I did hear like, I heard the shuffling of like personal belongings being thrown into like a box type thing. So I like kind of turn around, but I didn't see anything just more shuffling. And then he just walks out and says, see you later.
00:25:51
The Big Dog
um like we all we all kind of like huddled in the you know marketing gals kind of huddled in the kitchen i was like so like that really happened right like you guys got fired they're like i i think so and IT manager just kind of hanging out in that conference room he i was i didn't really know what was going on i was just kind asking him like hey how's your weekend he's like great it it was like um Hey, did you see a Mandalorian and Grogu? He's like, yeah, it was, it was good. It was, i mean, it was kind of just been like, you know, cut over eight episodes. I was like, same. i was like, it, you know, it sort of did it for me. Um, I won't, I probably won't see it again until it's on Disney plus, but you know, it was fine. You know, I'm not going to cut it apart or anything like that.
00:26:40
The Big Dog
Um, and then that was that. And then he kind of just left all sad. So, um, we're all kind of like shaken up. We're like, we thought that guy was like amazing at his job. Like he was kind of a I think he was like a high functioning autistic person because he was like, sometimes just wouldn't recognize like when he was like, like when he was saying like kind of uncomfortable things and like, I don't know. He just didn't pick up on social cues very well, man. I'm just kind of stretching on that.
00:27:10
The Big Dog
Um, He was always kind of like passive towards me because I think like I'd always get there to work. we we We started at the same time, like as far as in like the morning goes at 7, 730. And it was kind of always a toss up on who would get the first spot of whoever would get there first. But it just happens to me that was majority. Every time that I got the spot first, he'd always make some passive aggressive comment towards me. He's like, oh, Brian, I see that you got the Turbo Max Silverado. That's only a four cylinder. Those are horrible. And then you just like walk away. He's like, is this really over a parking spot?
00:27:48
The Big Dog
It's like, I mean, it's a lease like it's fine. Like, you know, it's the lowest payment I could get it at the time. um gets me an a to b it's good and gas it's like question life and there's other things but um apparently he made several missed um several mistakes in a row as far as pricing goes um and he was like just discontinuing lines that we so that we were making big money on like you just discounted or discontinued in our system um so he probably cost the company like
00:28:24
The Big Dog
um best estimate five figures in that four or five week stretch like that's a lot of money for wholesale and so i think he just i think they just kind of had enough and said uh pack your shit up in a more polite way obviously but uh it was the position he was in was a bit unique and they didn't really have it fully fleshed out. So I think that was also part of it too, but it just didn't seem like he really got the hang of it. And that was that, but you know, that was, he was gone by one o'clock. Uh, you know, I feel like having, it's like kind of like same mindset of having a doctor's appointment at one o'clock. Like the rest of your day is just gone. Like, you know, mentality was you're kind of like freaking out ah about everything and like, oh like who's next.
00:29:12
The Big Dog
But I think it was just kind of like a When I'm done, I'm pretty almost positive that they're going to be hiring position figure something out here in the next couple of weeks.
00:29:24
The Big Dog
So, but, you know, we all kind of shared our fun moments and i guess it was the talk shit, but I think we were all just kind of like, didn't know, really know what was going on fully. So we're just kind of like doing our best to figure it out.
00:29:43
The Big Dog
But, I don't think any of us are going to be touched, but i mean, we work on a website that makes millions of dollars each year. So, um, we're, we're good.
00:29:55
David Isaacs
Yeah. Yeah. Making stakes like that. i mean, sometimes it's like the process is really hard to be able to go in and like cross check.
00:30:06
David Isaacs
Um, but I mean, if there's a system in place or something that the price is out of whack, um, to just like check to make sure like you're selling a toilet for 50 cents and it should be like $500.
00:30:18
David Isaacs
Um, then yeah, I mean, that's a ah big problem.
00:30:20
The Big Dog
right
00:30:25
The Big Dog
yeah i'm not because that's like the wholesale side of it so i'm not exactly sure how the their pricing and it's pretty it's a pretty intricate like formulas and things that they use um i mean i'm I didn't do that side, so I'm not too familiar with how our our pricing. I know a lot of ah communication with all that stuff to to be done with leadership. But for him to, especially for him to just kind of discontinue a popular pump line that we had that I think we did like $200,000 on
00:30:57
The Big Dog
one of our channels yearly is um and it was offline for a while really no noticed um until couple weeks after it happened so um yeah i did it sucks for that guy and i hope he's hope he's doing well i hope he bounces back but he also did say that he's been like either fired or laid off from every job that he's worked so i think this kind of just like habitual pattern um again he was like a nice guy and like
00:31:26
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:31:29
The Big Dog
he had his quips about him. Um, but like I, cause I know that I've been in the position where I've been like a shitty coworker, especially my job before this, where I just like truly didn't know what I was doing and like, didn't know how to ask the right questions and all that. Like I,
00:31:45
The Big Dog
you know, and then kind of, I'm sure be perceived as a bad employee, um, you know, after kind of sucks, but you know, um, onto the next one, you know, uh, got this, this job and it was a perfect fit for me. So I'm, I'm very fortunate that that happened.
00:32:04
The Big Dog
Um, and I hope, I'm hoping he's as fortunate as well. So, but RIP, RIP to the big dog.
00:32:11
David Isaacs
Yeah, hopefully.
00:32:16
David Isaacs
I mean, it's hard to,
00:32:20
David Isaacs
companies like growing like that, it's kind of hard to get fired. So it must have been something. pretty bad. But I think sometimes too, it's just like kind of a process thing or like intricacies and like, it's really like not his fault. It's more of like a company fault.
00:32:38
David Isaacs
But other times it's like, no, it's happened again and again.
00:32:44
David Isaacs
yeah, they were just sick of putting up with it. But to that estimate, the minute it's kind of hard to flesh that out.
00:32:48
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:32:52
The Big Dog
Yeah, I think if it wasn't, you know, again, I don't know how many weeks and how many, you know, what the total dollar amount was, but, um you know, we're a company of 76 people, you know, it's going to kind of hurt our bottom line at some point. um You know, like I make a mistake, it's because you know, I didn't put a line of code in or, you know, I didn't make sure that our product was available for this customer.
00:33:18
The Big Dog
not a big deal. um but yeah, like our, our system's kind of whack is because we have an ERP. Um, so a lot of things have to kind of be done broad strokes with like things with like Excel. And then we have a SQL type, um, a SQL server type service, um, that we use. So it kind of just makes things a little bit easier on us, obviously. And it,
00:33:44
The Big Dog
don't necessarily have to have SQL knowledge to kind of use everything, but, um, obviously pretty Excel heavy house, um, business. So, you know, it's not a perfect system at all.
00:33:57
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:33:58
The Big Dog
Definitely room for mistakes. And, but you know, when you're hired to have attention to detail, um, you know, it is what it is.
00:34:08
The Big Dog
Um, but,
00:34:10
David Isaacs
Was it the guy that got hired over me?
00:34:13
The Big Dog
ah No, it's ah that was for Ecom. This was for Holoset. It was a different position. it was just, it got so overwhelming for the girl who does it. And kind of feel bad for her She's got to go back to doing that all on a weekly basis now.
00:34:29
The Big Dog
She's actually like, went from like, really like stressed out just because it's a lot. It is a lot for one person to do um
00:34:38
David Isaacs
Yeah. Nice.
00:34:39
The Big Dog
Maybe that just got to him too. I don't
Personal Health and Lifestyle Changes
00:34:41
The Big Dog
know. You know,
00:34:44
The Big Dog
um well on that note um but yeah i'm i'm ah kind of trying switch gears here i mean i'm doing well not to brag over poor uh co-worker you know i'm down 26 pounds now um my shirts are and i i wear a 3x normally and my shirts are super loose um i'm um almost ah comfortably fitting back into a 2X. I might have to do a little stretching, you know, with the old elbows and and arms, but I'm getting there. So um more exercise, I'm going for more walks, using my walking pad, hitting that 10,000 steps. um
00:35:29
The Big Dog
You know, as we call this a synergy, it's just kind of starting all build up. But, um you know, we've had
00:35:41
The Big Dog
I've had a pretty good stretch of a couple weeks, you know, and it's like I'm still trying to keep a stay ahead of myself sabotaged because I'm like, I'm already kind of starting to think I'm like, okay, it's been pretty good for like a few weeks now what's going to happen and I can't think like that. um I have noticed at least partially again anecdotal that though i'm kind of of losing weight i i have less negative thoughts um so i'm hoping you know keep this going to kind of like i don't think it's going to cure my depression i don't you know i'm not going to be one of those people but i think it has gone a long way to improve my mood
00:36:21
The Big Dog
um And I'm also taking things like ashwagandha, elthinine. Yeah, I'm doing a lot of things to improve like my cognitive cognitive and behavior and like overall health. So, um and like, I finally started seeing a primary care doctor that I really like. And um surprisingly, all of my blood work, except for my A1C is still elevated. But again, that's just because over 300 pounds a little bit still. So that's going to, it's,
00:36:52
The Big Dog
It's dropped since the last time I had it, but I hadn't had a physical in five years, so it's hard to tell. It's probably been all over the place. um But it's it's going down um like since the last time I had it, so that's all that matters.
00:37:06
The Big Dog
that I'm showing progress.
00:37:09
David Isaacs
Yeah, just trying to be better each day and then focusing on what you're doing that day, what do you want to do the next day, get to the end of today and what did I do today and just filling in your mental space with, yeah, more gratitude and more looking forward rather than kind of having some of those negative thoughts.
00:37:31
David Isaacs
I will say, yeah, depression is something you have to manage constantly. It's not anything that's ever, like, pure purely cured.
00:37:36
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:37:39
David Isaacs
um And, yeah, it can creep up on you at, you know, kind of the most inopportune times. But it sounds like you're doing well and sticking to things.
00:37:45
The Big Dog
Oh, yeah, 100%.
00:37:51
David Isaacs
So that's good to hear, especially with, like, the L-theanine. I took ashwagandha for a while. Stopped taking it. didn't really feel like I needed to get back on it, but, uh,
00:38:05
David Isaacs
Yeah, supplementation, at least for me, kind of the holy trinity between vitamin D3, magnesium glycinate, and algae oil, since fish oil is mostly rancid.
00:38:18
The Big Dog
yeah
00:38:18
David Isaacs
Fun fact. But yeah, the L-theanine, it's working for you. It's supposed to help as kind of like a a calming and also like to help you stay in more of like a flow state and not be as jittery like when you or having your morning coffee.
00:38:37
The Big Dog
yeah there's like so i'm still kind of struggling with like healthy amount of sleep i've just been like um I just like, I slept wrong and maybe it's more of just like a constant thing, but like my,
00:38:52
The Big Dog
um So my hip flexor, is that what it's called? um i think I just like slept on that one because it's been like really painful and I can't even really sleep on that side umm slide sleeper. um so But every time I like transition to that, I i like wake up in pain um and just with like allergies. So I've been taking like the prescription-grade allergy, which is just an additional allergy pill at night. And i' I've been starting to sleep better.
00:39:21
The Big Dog
um little bit more but anyway i find myself drinking more coffee because i've been more tired um but i've been also taking l-theanine help counteract that so i don't i don't feel as degree like i don't feel as like bouncing off the walls i don't feel like my heart rate is you know racing so i don't know if the the heart racing probably doesn't really necessarily have to do with l-theanine but it i don't you know i don't feel like the um
00:39:41
David Isaacs
Nice.
00:39:52
The Big Dog
super, uh, like the pretty much.
00:39:54
David Isaacs
you're getting nowhere fast.
00:39:56
The Big Dog
Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm like a hamster in a wheel and I'm just really just laying there. Um, so yeah. Um, I'm still doing good. um mentally and fit and, you know, physically, i I'm getting there, you know, I, I,
00:40:15
The Big Dog
My boss is, ah she's kind of been an inspiration for me, so at least as far as weight loss is concerned, maybe not necessarily the mentality. She's like, I just want to lose all the pounds right now. And like, you know, I was like, well, you need to like also look at it like that. You've lost 120 pounds and you're not diabetic. Like you're not, diet type two diabetes is not a concern right now.
00:40:36
The Big Dog
um That's one of the reasons why she lost weight is because she was diagnosed with type two diabetes. Um, and so, yeah, showing from like 300 pounds, like 180 something like that. um so, but yeah, I mean, that's how I'm kind of looking at it. I've, I look at it like I've lost 26 pounds, not that I have a hundred and, uh, I think 114 goal. 114 more pounds for my goal.
00:41:06
The Big Dog
um
00:41:10
The Big Dog
Cause I started at three 30. I'm looking to be a one 90. But i'm not, I'm not, again, I'm not like looking at it like, well, if I eat less calories this week, you know, I'll, I'll lose more weight and I'll just be faster. Like it really is only kind of weekly basis of like, am I hungrier or am I, or am I able to kind of sustain, you know, eating glass?
00:41:34
The Big Dog
Like, is it, is that sustainable? And um for the most part, eating, you know, on the lower side of my calories has been attainable. I'm, you know, I'm in, I think I'm in usually in between like a, for the week, like a 5,000 calorie deficit. So it's like, I think like a pound and a half almost. most Um,
00:41:57
The Big Dog
But there's there's weeks where I'm only twenty five or thirty five hundred and that's a pound and a pound or less. You know, I'm I'm OK with that. I know that I'm like eating way healthier than I was. can still eat some of the things that I like.
00:42:09
The Big Dog
know, obviously have to make some healthy substitutes, but, you know, and just keep keep clinging and banging the onion, baby. Like it's we're going to get there eventually. It's all about the journey, not the destination.
00:42:18
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:42:22
David Isaacs
Yeah, exactly. you know, focus and like you'd said, drinking more water, getting better sleep, um, walking more, exercising more, um, eating better.
00:42:36
David Isaacs
Like those are the, you know, the parts of the journey and the directions that you take to get to where you want to be. Um, cause yeah, I mean, if you, spun me around in a field and told me to walk to California.
00:42:50
David Isaacs
Like I can't walk in a straight line and you're not going able to get there fast. So it's really about trying to find things that work. And yeah, maybe like a weekly reset or recount of, you know, how did I do this week compared to last week? Or were just specifically focused on the future of like sometimes your mind is like, well, I know I can fit in, you know, some more steps here. or I can make this change here.
00:43:15
David Isaacs
I, you know, had a cheat meal two times this week. Let's cut that down to one. Or what caused me to, you know, crave that food or give into that craving? oh I didn't sleep as well the night before. Okay, well, let's focus more on sleep hygiene this week.
00:43:35
David Isaacs
Or some way to deal with, you know, your hip flexor or something. I mean, like that's going to drag on you. So, you know, you're going to drink more coffee and Maybe that's like drinking more water or maybe some stretches or something else to figure out like, okay, well, what can i do about this hip flexor to, you know, work to get this better? so I don't have to deal with it.
00:43:59
David Isaacs
Maybe not in a couple, maybe it'll take a couple weeks or something, but yeah. So just like some examples of thinking out loud of, you know, what, at least for me, like,
00:44:11
David Isaacs
what has helped me in the past to focus on. Because I think like looking back in the past and like trying to try to do better like the next week or have like that goal or um if you're pretty good at maintaining like certain amount of calories a week, certain amount of steps a week, certain amount of sleep each week and identifying like, you know, well I could throw this in here easily and I'm going to do that this week, you know, instead of whatever it would be like 12,000 steps, I can get 13 or maybe I'll throw in before bed.
00:44:47
David Isaacs
I'm going to, you know, dedicated stretch time or something, you know, just something small to throw in.
00:44:51
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:44:55
David Isaacs
And then maybe a week after that, it's like, all right, well, I did pretty well with that, but I fell back on this, this
Reflections on Personal Growth
00:45:04
David Isaacs
and this. So maybe I'll just maintain that for now and then reevaluate the week after.
00:45:12
The Big Dog
Yeah. Yeah. i um, been doing kind of combination of, uh, there's a couple stretches that i you know, found on YouTube and just Google, um, there's a couple of PT stretches and then we have like one of those, um, not a massage wand, I guess would be, it's not a gun, but you know, I kind of stretching that out just because I have tight hips in general. And, um, part of my hip is actually like, um, twisted upward at, going to into a chiropractor to kind of get that fixed again. It's not something that I'm going to be able to fix overnight. So there's kind of no point in stressing about it until, unless it gets a point where I i need to, um, not stress, but actually do something about it. So, you know, just measurable, attainable goals. Um, I'm doing, you know, stretches, massage gun, walking more just to kind of loosen the hips up and
00:46:11
The Big Dog
doing all the things that I can do within my power, you know, if it pain, uh, it gets in, you know, intolerable, I'll take some, ah you know, ibuprofen if I really need it.
00:46:23
The Big Dog
You know, there's lot of different levels of ways to kind of, uh, attack something and, you know, not have to go all in to check get it fixed right here. Now. i mean, you know, it's dieting has kind of taught me that of, um, you're going to probably be You might lose a lot of your weight at the beginning and then it kind of you may plateau, but you know, it's, you just have to switch things up a little bit.
00:46:49
The Big Dog
Um, it's, you know, it's like, it's like fighting the Borg in Star Trek. Like, um, eventually they'll pick up on your your harmonic frequencies from your laser beams. and then you're going to have to just kind of do rotating frequencies to eventually destroy them. Like we all have a Borg, in the Borg in our life. We just need to find a way to, to get around it.
00:47:08
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:47:11
David Isaacs
All right. Um, think that's about it for me. I've got some food waiting for me.
00:47:18
The Big Dog
Yeah, yeah. um think I'm good.
00:47:19
David Isaacs
Any other closing?
00:47:20
The Big Dog
I don't have anything else.
00:47:21
David Isaacs
Okay. Well, thank you, Brian, for sharing. Uh, glad to hear that you're doing well. Um, for all listening, I hope you're all doing well and finding ways to succeed.
00:47:33
David Isaacs
Um, you know, take, uh, I know what the small victories, you know, be proud of yourself about.
00:47:42
The Big Dog
Yeah, yeah, just keep fighting the good fight brothers and sisters, whatever. That was kind of a weird way to start that. um But um just know that um the small measurable goals are, even if you don't necessarily have a plan, just start slow.
00:48:02
The Big Dog
um You're not to be able to defeat whatever you're fighting in in one night, so just pace yourself.
00:48:11
David Isaacs
Yeah. Alrighty. Thanks everyone.
00:48:16
The Big Dog
Yeah. Thank you.
00:48:16
David Isaacs
Thanks Brian.