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Episode 5 - Bucket List Pt. 2
14 Plays3 years ago
In this episode, Ross and Gregg continue their discussion on bucket lists and other musing adventures.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Unmotivated and Unprepared'
00:00:11
Speaker
You're listening to Unmotivated and Unprepared, a podcast where we take a break from the everyday hustle and bustle to muse about life, liberty, and the pursuit of randomness. Now here's Greg and Ross.
Celebrating Episode Five
00:00:35
Speaker
Welcome back, everybody. I'm Ross.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hey, it's Greg. And this is unmotivated and unprepared episode five. Greg, episode five. Episode five. That's awesome. We made it. We made it. We made it past what we thought might happen with three episodes. Yeah, we're in the big time now. And this is the fifth episode. And
00:00:58
Speaker
or as I would say it in my native tongue, five. So it's a bit, it's a big deal for me. And I feel Greg, I feel like we need to give, we need to give all the listeners what I know they've been waiting for.
Bucket List Part Two Discussion Begins
00:01:13
Speaker
You know what that is? You're going to tell me.
00:01:17
Speaker
That's bucket list part two. Bucket list part two. Yeah. Now we might not fill up the whole time because, but I did do some, I did do some homework. So I've got a couple of things that I want to run by you. Maybe you might write some things down for your bucket list, but few things I've bucketed.
00:01:36
Speaker
this out into three things, people, places, and experiences. Always to organize, Russ. Always to organize. Hey, you know, we're not even two minutes in and I've already got categories. Your bucket list is chevrons. It's chevrons. Yeah, I've got a slide deck I can send you afterwards if you'd like, even though
00:02:00
Speaker
The two people on this podcast there's one of us who's the slide deck king so and it's not the man talking right now, so I know Well after we'll have to unpack Greg's slide deck abilities at some point in time All right, so
Exploring Introversion and Meeting Famous People
00:02:21
Speaker
I was thinking about this, Greg, and I need your opinion. You know I'm an introvert, and you probably have a pretty good read on Ross, don't put that on your bucket list, you're gonna be sorely disappointed, or I wanna be there when that happens, type of thing. So, let's start in the people category.
00:02:43
Speaker
First off, I just want to start with ones that I know are not going to happen because rest in peace, Mr. Rogers. I think it would be awesome to meet Mr. Rogers. I think he's the ultimate good person. Thankfully, no news articles have come out. He's an awesome dude. And he's got the Pittsburgh ties, which is I married into a Pittsburgh family. So I think it'd be really cool to meet Mr. Rogers.
00:03:09
Speaker
But that can't happen, Ross. That's for the game we play, which is if you could invite anybody to dinner, who'd you invite? You can't meet us, Rogers. I know. But I was going greenfield. If time, money, and sci-fi was real. Yes, sci-fi. Hey, wait. It's not? Oh, man. All right. Scratch those are too off. OK. So my people list is pretty short, honestly. I mean, I think it would be cool to meet the members of Metallica, because I am a Metallica fan. That would be cool.
00:03:39
Speaker
I don't know. And then I've got some sports figures. We talked about tennis before. I'd like to meet Roger Federer. It's like my total bro crush. I think he's a great tennis athlete. I think he's a great dude. And then Tim Duncan from the Spurs because his nickname is big fundamental and I think fundamentals are key. But I was thinking about this, Greg,
00:04:03
Speaker
I don't know if I, I don't know what I would say to these people. That's the problem. I feel like I would meet them and feel obligated to say something profound. Yeah. And I think that if you met Tim Duncan, I think it would be a very awkward exchange because he's an introvert just like you are. Yeah. Between me and his belly button. Yeah. He would just be like, uh, and you'd be like, uh, and that would be, that would kind of be the, I mean, you warm up after a bit.
00:04:32
Speaker
I'll be like defense wins championships, right? Yes. Yeah. And you're very good at asking questions, but if the person itself isn't good and you've watched him, Duncan interviews, uh, he's just not the best interviewer. I think you'd be stalled out. You'd be like, you know, one of these days I went on a while, a little while back where you just, you kind of struggle to have a conversation after you're just like, I learned nothing.
00:04:54
Speaker
No, it's like I didn't get anything. You seem like a great person, but this just isn't this vibe. Yeah, this isn't the vibe. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I mean, I think it would be good. I would probably come up with some teaser questions, you know, some random stuff to ask them, you know, when's the last time you, you know, you pet a reptile just to really throw them off, you know, but something, something interesting. So no, no kidding.
Dream Destinations: Ministry of Sound and More
00:05:22
Speaker
I,
00:05:23
Speaker
My wife and I are watching this masterclass by David Sedaris on storytelling. And he talks about like having these odd questions to ask people. And I've done it at work recently and people are so confused. So confused. I asked someone the other day if they've ever built a tree house.
00:05:42
Speaker
They look at me like, why? I'm like, I don't know. I'm just curious. I'm just curious if you built a tree house. And then some girl went on this long thing about how she didn't like playing in tree houses because she got splinters. How would you have ever talked to somebody at work about getting splinters without having a question like that? So it's actually very interesting.
00:06:00
Speaker
But people's not the fun part. It's when you start getting to the places that I want to go because One maybe you've been to some of these places. Maybe maybe you can help me out here. So The first thing on my list is the ministry of sound Now for our listeners who might be only interested in spoken word Can you inform everyone what the ministry of sound is Greg? the ministry of sound is the
00:06:32
Speaker
the Electronic Music Mecca of London, of England, actually of a lot of places. I mean, there's the Gate Crasher and Gate Crasher 2 and Ibiza. There's all these places where people, these legendary nightclubs, but of the nightclubs that are left, Ministry of Sound is one of those that has maintained
00:06:56
Speaker
for a very long time. And I think mostly because the guys who started it were obsessed with making the music sound the way that it sounds. And again, they just went into another deal to reinvent the ministry of sound with better speakers with spatial audio. This idea of building sound to make it sound bigger and larger than it is. And it's an amazing nightclub. If you have an opportunity to go there, it is an amazing experience.
00:07:24
Speaker
What about me? What about me going there, Greg? Unless there was ecstasy involved, I'm not sure Ross, you would be a hundred percent comfortable with the environment. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm not, I'm not a drug user. So that's, that's, that's off the list. I do like, I do like lollipops though. So, um, have it, you haven't used a pacifier in many, many years, but, um,
00:07:50
Speaker
Ring pops. Go with ring pops. Ring pop ring pop. Gotcha. Two and one. Yeah. I see what you mean. But like, that's so fascinating to me how they keep, like you said, they keep reinventing it. It's not just the music coming out of the speakers, but the overall, the overall experience of it.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, completely. And for a great deal of time, the best DJ records were the Ministry of Sound Compilations. They would capture the zeitgeist of the music at the time and they would deliver you, with the best DJs, the sounds. And I thought the better DJs because...
00:08:29
Speaker
I mean, I knew some of them. So they were just the best at their skill set, and the Ministry of Sound would love to release something from them. There would be special promo nights, and of course, they would record not often live, but it was the same DJs that would play the same set they played at the ministry. But again, I don't know, Ross, if the Ministry of Sound
00:08:50
Speaker
as cool as it is, you wish they would give day tours. But I'm not sure you can get the same experience from a Ministry of Sound day tour. I'm a day tour type of guy. I'm a total day tour type of guy. You know, load you on a bus, pick you up at 7am, chauffeur you around, give you a little history tour. Day tours and Ministry of Sound is when they're like cleaning up. Yeah, it's not it.
00:09:13
Speaker
It wouldn't be a good vibe at the daytime. You'd actually see it without people in it. Like, bop in your head, like, where's the tunes, man? Where's the tunes? Like, sir, the tunes start at 8 p.m., not 8 a.m. 10. But yeah, geriatric ravers. They rave at the senior citizen home at 4 a.m.
00:09:33
Speaker
Hey, that might be a thing in 20 years from now. Hold on to that idea. NDA's all around. You never know. Bumpin' some EDM at the senior center. Extra loud for the hearing loss. That's right. Just put the head photo. Just crank it into ... I mean, the hearing aid's already jammed in there anyway, so just pump it through the hearing aid. Okay, so maybe not ministry of sound.
00:10:00
Speaker
Maybe the facade, maybe the front of it, I'll say check. We should walk by it. Yeah, walk walk by it. Let's go far other end of the spectrum. Okay.
Natural Wonders: Volcanoes and the Taj Mahal
00:10:10
Speaker
When I I told my wife this, I was coming up with this list. She like you talking to Greg today. I'm like, Yeah, I'm coming up with my bucket list. She goes, Oh, let's hear it. I said I want to see a volcano.
00:10:26
Speaker
I'm like, this, Greg's laughing. I was like from a distance and she goes, like erupting. I'm like, well, I don't want it.
00:10:38
Speaker
Maybe if it was the last thing on my bucket list, you know, like check. And then the last one is become ash or become covered in ash, you know, but no, I just like, I just want to see a doorman or whatever, you know, maybe, I don't know if I want to see flowing lava, but I think that would be kind of cool. Hilo Hawaii. And you guys are this type of people. So I don't think it's bad. You guys are outdoorsy, high key type of people.
00:11:03
Speaker
if it's within reason and it's comfortable. Yeah, your wife is a comfortable person. I think- Do they make bougie volcano excursions? Yeah, they do. In Hilo, Hawaii, you can go, same thing, pick you up in a bus and drive you to the lava flows at night to see the lava come down the mountain and you can actually see the fire as the lava flows into the ocean.
00:11:29
Speaker
I think that's probably as close as you want to be. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And maybe not even that close, but yeah, I think that would be, that would be pretty rad. Like that would be, that would be a fun experience. And that would be something that like back to these bucket list things, you know, people taking a bunch of photos. I wouldn't even take photos of that because there's plenty of,
00:11:50
Speaker
videos and photos of lava going into the water, just soaking it in, just like watching it and seeing all that stuff happen. So I think I can, I'm leaving that one on my list as much as I thought that was the first one that was going to get crossed off the list. Well, if you add on it, you can add other bucket list items to it too, right? For instance,
00:12:10
Speaker
the idea that you could take a short hop flight from Oahu to Hilo. You could do a helicopter ride all the way across. You could do a ferry, or you could do a ferry from Oahu to Hilo. So there's plenty of cool things you could do. And you can see where Jurassic Park was filmed. So all those things kind of play into a one big giant Great Ross vacation. Yeah, yeah. And it's just a bunch of bucket list things. I'm not sure, like,
00:12:37
Speaker
I don't know about a helicopter ride. Like some people be like, it's just, I'm not a huge fan of flying. I don't like the turbulence piece of it. Take the ferry Ross. Take the ferry from Oahu to Hilo. We talked about the time I attempted to go snorkeling off of Molokini. Like the one time I did go to Hawaii. Yeah. We'll save that one for next time. Ferry Ross might not be a very pleasurable experience either.
00:13:05
Speaker
So you just want to, you want a volcano to just show up outside your door so you can see it once. That would be nice. That would be nice. Just, you know, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm from a small town that does have a, uh, what's the, what's the big land mass formations that I mean, like the bubble ones. Uh, I don't know. I'm not a geologist.
00:13:24
Speaker
What the geysers or I don't know, look up and looking, look up enchanted rock, Fredericksburg, Texas. I don't know. It's, it's, it's the type of formation it is. It's one of the largest ever. But anyways, you can, you can Google that. You can do some crack research while I'm going to my next item, which is yeah. The Taj Mahal. Okay. It's a batholith by the way. Okay. Okay.
00:13:49
Speaker
I don't know what that means, but that's what it's known. Yeah. So technically I have seen, I have seen a volcano, just not erupting or lava flow. So maybe I need to tighten it and say, I want to see lava flow. It's a very specific, it's a very specific bucket list item. What do you want to see? Lava flowing. Okay. All right. Fair enough. So anyways, um, not a volcano, Taj Mahal.
00:14:16
Speaker
Taj Mahal. So the Taj Mahal, I've been to the Taj Mahal. It is hot, sticky, and it's crowded. Sounds like Houston. Keep going. Yes, and it's crowded. And you have to be okay with very tight quarters to go inside of it. I would have skipped that. Actually, I don't even think anybody should go inside of it. Just stand outside and take pictures. Just see it.
00:14:43
Speaker
Because once you get inside, I mean, look, we know that there's natural smells that people emit. And in different places, there's more natural emission of those smells dependent. Like in Europe, people just have a kind of a natural BO that's, you know, European.
00:14:59
Speaker
And if you happen to be in India, there's a natural bio that it also happens to smell like something's a lot closer to what they eat. So you add lots and lots of people that have that natural emission and then put them in a very crowded space. And that's kind of what I remember most about the Taj Mahal.
00:15:22
Speaker
Mm, see, yeah, I think outside of the Taj Mahal sounds good to me based off of that assessment. It's very pretty, it's very pretty. Yeah, and I'm not a crowded, tight spaces type of person. Like I'm not ghost speedlunking, that's not anywhere on my bucket list, very, very far away. You know, I don't like, you know, if you turn sideways, you can get through this part of the cavern. No, that's not my type of jam. I mean, it's not that type, but I see what you mean, it's just very crowded.
00:15:50
Speaker
Yeah, very crowded What about oh and on a side note? I'm surprised when I sweat it doesn't smell like mac and cheese since I eat so much mac and cheese Yeah, I always wonder about that why we don't admit the smell like I like yeah, but
00:16:07
Speaker
I think we probably do. You just don't notice it because you're around it all the time. One more place and then we'll go to things and experiences because that's always fun.
Iconic Architecture: Sydney Opera House
00:16:19
Speaker
Sydney Opera House.
00:16:21
Speaker
I've never been there. I think that'd be cool. I mean, but again, it's one of those places where do you really need to go to it or like, I mean, by going to it, does it, is it going to make it different than if you just watch a video about a drone flying over it? Yeah. And I mean, is it, and also it's kind of like the ministry of sound though. Is it the acoustics inside? Is it the
00:16:43
Speaker
architecture inside like what you see there is of higher quality or what you hear there you know or is it just another opera house because i mean i went to the houston grand opera fantastic it's very well done i don't know i mean the met going the met opera is one of those things where you should do it once you go get a tuxedo and you dress up for the metropolitan opera those are on my list but the sydney opera house i
00:17:09
Speaker
I mean, if you happen to already be in Australia, then don't miss it. But I think I'm starting to get that feeling about things like the Mona Lisa. Right. At this point, I can see the Mona Lisa better on the Internet than I've seen it the five other times I actually went to the Louvre and actually saw the thing. Yeah. Like it's behind glass. You have to fight through people to see it. Looking at it on the Internet has just as much power and prominence than seeing it in person. Wait a minute. You've seen you've seen the Mona Lisa five times. Five times.
00:17:39
Speaker
Quick, everybody. Tell me you're a world traveler without telling me you're a world traveler. Well, you know, the five times I've seen the Louvre. I didn't mean it like that. By the fourth time I passed by, just messing with you, Craig. Oh, it's funny. Like, yeah, me and Pablo, we go way back, you know, the Picasso guy?
00:18:02
Speaker
You know, I just call them poms and I just shorten it up. Okay. Well, okay. Good. Good to know.
Culinary Experiences: Chef's Table Aspirations
00:18:11
Speaker
All right. So things and experiences. Now some of these I could, I could do right now. One of them I would like to, I just mentioned that I eat a lot of Mac and cheese. So this is going to be an interesting one because I am a fairly picky eater, even though I've gotten better.
00:18:29
Speaker
I'd like to participate in one of the, uh, the whole chef's table type of experiences. Um, okay. Okay. So being an introvert, right? Like typically I'm a, you know, tonight's date night. So I'm going to a nice, nice restaurant and I don't want the waiter to be too friendly.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah, too into my experience. I, you know, like, be courteous, be nice, and I'll tip you very well. But is a chef's table like my worst nightmare? Or is it really just a matter of you're just amongst all the things and they just bring you a lot of tasty stuff? No, I so
00:19:10
Speaker
And speaking of offline, we'll figure out a way for you to come visit me in Charlotte. We'll go on one of the days that they have it at where I go, right? They have it once a month. Sometimes it's brunch. Sometimes there was one today. I didn't go, but there was brunch today. But anyways, that's not for our podcast. This is like, what are they even talking about? Anyways, the chef's table is not usually that. The chef is going to come explain the dish, explain what they did, explain why they came up with it, and they'll give you. It's like storytelling with an executive chef is what it is. Oh, OK.
00:19:40
Speaker
They don't ask you questions about your personal life. They don't give them. They don't care. They're not going to interrupt you. They also know you're there to eat and talk to who you're with. So they're just there to really invite your palette to explore what they've created with extra pieces. And I'm the biggest one to believe that
00:20:00
Speaker
Like, I love scotch whiskey, but let's be honest, at the end of the day, at a bottle of whiskey, most of it is all the same stuff. It's all the story that goes along with it that makes it so much more fabulous. The things that you've shared or whatever is what makes scotch special. Yes, there's different flavors, but for the most part, if you break it down, you're not a connoisseur, it's the story. And so a chef is providing you story for every plate. And that's so exciting. I mean, that's so much fun. It's why you do it.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah. And I've, and I've experienced that in kind of a, in a micro form on like walking tours where you go like a walking food tour, but like not, not like streets of new Orleans walking through tour where like here, here's a, you know, here's a cup of gumbo, which is super good.
00:20:44
Speaker
but like when we went to Portland, Maine and we did a walking tour and it was like in these really, really nice restaurants and they were like, here's how I prepared this. Here's where we source our food from. Here's how I came up with this. I was at a pesto competition and that's, that's the other. So, all right, I think I would, I think I would enjoy that. And there's a couple in San Antonio area. There's one, you know, there's, there's a couple that I think would be, would be good, but yeah, I'll have to hit up the,
00:21:10
Speaker
the Charlotte one. I just keep imagining in Portland they come by your table like that joke about so I purposely picked out Frank today for you. Frank was a six month old rooster. He got a little ornery, but we believe that his spiciness is actually going to translate into the dish. Yes, and it does so very nicely. Truly chef's kiss. Yeah, I think food tours are another example of where
00:21:39
Speaker
I've done food tours where they feel like they've done this a million times. The same restaurants, the same people, the restaurants themselves are just putting food in front of you. And then you'll have those special curated ones. Like I did the North End in Boston. I did one in Thailand.
00:21:55
Speaker
And each time you do them, you almost feel connected to the food that's being made and who's making it and what's happening. But you never lose sight that you're still on with the other person. You're not absorbed by the waitstaff or the tour guide.
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, and that's what I told when I told my I told my family who you know, like I said from a very small town that I went on this food tour and I told them what I ate. It was very other than my mom who eats all kinds of stuff. My brother and my dad are very meat and potatoes. They were like, Oh, you ate that and I realized what
00:22:31
Speaker
When I go onto a food tour, what kind of changes my mind, I'm not there to fill up on food or for sustenance. To your point, I'm there for the experience and like the different flavor combinations and what they could do with it. Cause I would never eat a beet salad. That beet salad was incredible that I had. But beet salads are fantastic. It's really good. Well, I'm, I'm a picky eater and, but I went to that and I'm like, I wouldn't order a beet salad typically. But I turned to my wife and I'm like,
00:23:00
Speaker
I don't eat beets, but what they did with this was pretty impressive. But it's so good, beets. Yeah, beets are delicious. You heard it here first.
00:23:12
Speaker
Nobody that knows me would believe me when I say it. All right. So a couple more, because I do want to, I do want to wrap up this episode with you mentioned Scotch and we've talked about Scotch broking in the past.
The Desire to Publish
00:23:29
Speaker
Um, and I'm, I'm curious what a Scotch broker does for you and how he enhances your life experiences. But the last one is,
00:23:38
Speaker
I wrote, I came up with this one yesterday, Greg. I want to publish something. Not to be famous, not because it's any good, but just to say I've published something. Now you, you've published something, correct? Have you published anything like written works?
00:23:59
Speaker
I'm working on an article right now, but no, my dissertation and my thesis are both bound. So technically, they've been published, but not distributed at mass. Yeah, not distributed. And for me, it's not even from a distribution, literally just like, hey, on the free Bexar County Digital Library, you can go get this thing I published.
00:24:22
Speaker
I don't know. I think it's partially because I want to know what it takes. You know, I want to know the level of effort and I did everything. I was like, is that really a bucket list item? But I guess to know what it takes to do something or to accomplish something, I guess in its way could be. But I don't know. Well, there's independent publishing. I mean, Ross, you could you could there's plenty of sites out there that will publish your book for you. Sure. And you can load it on Amazon and sell it yourself. The
00:24:54
Speaker
reality is that as long as you want to pay to put something on print, someone will take your money. I don't know if you know how I write, Greg. I might have to pay them.
00:25:12
Speaker
Yes, you will pay them money. A lot of money. To print it. Oh, no, no. To buy it from me. Oh, to buy it from you? Please buy this book. I'm like, when you do that slow shipping on Amazon, they give you the dollar credit. It'll be like, buy this and get $2 credit.
00:25:31
Speaker
I don't even want it to be paid. Even independently publishing is interesting to me because I think it's a whole gig economy thing to me. I'm not cut out for the gig economy at all, but I think it would be interesting to see the process it takes. I guess it's kind of like building empathy.
00:25:53
Speaker
I don't know. Well, that's, I mean, that's where I'm, you know, I started on this book, right? I started on this book about, you know, AML and Winnie the Pooh and Teen building and all that kind of stuff. I like, you know, I've got three chapters done. And I think about it and go if you and a reason that motivates me to do it is because I would really like to quit my job.
00:26:13
Speaker
Good motivation. And not do this anymore. I've realized data analytics, as exciting as it is, isn't exactly a life passion. But you also have to be willing to do the TED talk circuit. You have to be willing to do the sales thing. And in some ways, depending on what book you're going to write, if it's fiction or it's nonfiction, I mean, I know how many people are like, hey, I want to write an autobiography of my life. Here's the thing.
00:26:38
Speaker
Most autobiographies are terrible. Who wants to read about, I mean, I got one on Shelley Winters, which I really kind of liked because she had lots and lots of men. And so it was lots of stories about the famous men that she slept with. But but that was the exciting part of Shelley Winters biography. It wasn't about the life on the like her previous life and how she moved on. And and I think autobiographies are much more interesting when their autobiographies are very interesting people. And I know not that you're not interesting. It's just as you think about what you're going to write on, it's who's your audience?
00:27:07
Speaker
And why would they want to read it? Yeah. And so I'll just publish one thing. I'll read it.
00:27:14
Speaker
Oh, thank you, Greg. You're the best. You're the best. I mean, it's not going to be long. I'm not talking book form. You should write a children's book, Ross. I think you'd be fabulous at writing a children's book. So my mom was in the education system. So I do have a lot of background in like education type of stuff. And I think I could, I think I could narrow that down. See, I think the niche now is how to write a book that gets banned from elementary schools because then kids want to read it.
00:27:39
Speaker
Then it gets super popular. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The LGBT I grew up transgendered book is like selling crazy right now. Like hotcakes because because it can't be because it got banned. That's it's the whole it's the whole people wanting what they can't have. That's right. Type of thing. Yeah. OK. So Ross's children's book is based on obscure finishes like. Oh, God. Be like, I'm just trying to prepare what they're going to hear about middle school.
00:28:11
Speaker
because you know that's what's going to happen.
00:28:15
Speaker
You wanna have the South Park guys starting out as being like, let's make a children's cartoon, and then, yeah. Yes, and then they're like, oh, I think we're gonna have to up it on the content rating here. I don't know. I don't think I'm that, I don't think I'm creative enough for any of that stuff. I think you're incredibly creative. I think you just, yeah, you haven't found your niche for the creativity. Yeah. Maybe I'll start with like just,
00:28:43
Speaker
Throw the structure out the window, get rid of the sevrons, and just go for it. Just put it all out there. I'm going to make a book about coloring books. I don't know what it's going to be yet, but it's going to be very interesting. All right.
Understanding Scotch Brokerage
00:28:58
Speaker
Scotch Broker. To make a hard turn from children's books to Scotch.
00:29:04
Speaker
So last time, we talked about Scotch brokers. I mentioned Scotch brokers because you had said you had one. Help me and the audience understand in a minute or less what a Scotch broker is and does for you. So you're familiar with buying stocks, right? Oh, yes. And a stock broker.
00:29:29
Speaker
Right, so a stockbroker sells you pieces of paper of a company that supposedly have value, right, and you purchase it. Now there's commodities dealers that sell you either shares of a commodity during the day that you might think that orange juice is gonna go up, orange juice is gonna go down, whatever. And then you can actually buy that commodity. So you can actually buy physical items. You can buy art.
00:29:55
Speaker
You can buy and you can buy liquor. You can buy scotch barrels.
00:30:01
Speaker
like I did, that are 12 years old, that the distiller doesn't want to hold in their shed. So here's the thing, this is what blows people's minds about single malt scotch. Single malt scotch, even though it's called single malt, it just means it's from the same distillery. It doesn't mean it's from the same barrel. That's what cask strength means. So what happens is these scotch dealer, these scotch distilleries, they have so much of their product, they no longer need this product for their,
00:30:29
Speaker
for their blends, they don't need this product or they're not going to bottle that many because they don't have enough demand. So they off sell it to the market. And so I could bought, I bought a barrel of scotch. I'm planning to buy two more barrels of scotch. And I will sell them to independent dealers, independent bottlers for distribution later.
00:30:50
Speaker
And so I'm taking the risk because that scotch may turn and the company that bought it from the distiller doesn't want any, they weren't going to bottle that 12. I bought it at 12 years. They weren't going to bottle that 12. And they don't have a 15 or an 18 product. So they're not going to keep it. So they don't know what to do with it. And they don't want to spend the time to hold on to it to age it past the 12 years. So they sold it to me at a discount. And then I can sell it later. Interesting. So yeah.
00:31:21
Speaker
Who keeps the bear? I mean, I don't see any barrels behind you. No, it's actually in a warehouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. So it's sitting in a warehouse. I would do a really poor impression, but I'm very bad at impressions of a Scottish person. And I don't want to offend anybody who in the future may be Scottish.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah, so it's in a warehouse, it's bonded and insured. This is wild. And actually every couple years they send me a sample. So we happen to be going, we're traveling abroad this year. And the offices of my particular Scotch dealer are in the area we're traveling to. So rather than them mail me a sample of what my barrel is doing, they'll prepare a sample for me and have it waiting for me.
00:32:08
Speaker
And so me and a licensed investment manager are going to sit down, we're going to try it, we're going to see where it is and how long we think we can hold out before we sell it.
00:32:18
Speaker
So basically, this started when a couple of stockbrokers decided they want to drink on the job. And they were like, hey, let's do this with liquor. And then we could quote, try it. Yeah, that's pretty much. That's awesome. That's pretty much what it is. Yeah. So now, oh man, my mind's, this is a whole nother episode of things.
00:32:39
Speaker
Commodities that you could buy and sell that would be a very good idea or a very bad idea so that's that's a whole nother thing the the final topic because In the pre-show you'd mentioned going by a cigar shop
The Cigar Shop Experience
00:32:56
Speaker
and buying some cigars. And this isn't going to be a lecture on bad habits, Greg, because I'm not going to do that to you right now. But when you go buy cigars, is it like a fireworks store? Like buy one, get 12 free type of thing? Is that how it is? Or is it like, do you just kind of roll in and it's just kind of kind of smoky in there?
00:33:22
Speaker
the dudes smoking the cigar. Exactly what it kind of is like. Yeah, you walk in. It's a lot. It's a very dude thing, right? Even though there are females that smoke and there was there was females at the cigar shop yesterday. It's still a very dude ish kind of thing leather chairs darkened wood. I mean, wooden shades, that kind of look right.
00:33:45
Speaker
And in the humidor and on the sides of the wall, there are cigars in cases in glass that are humidified and maintained.
00:33:56
Speaker
And you go in and you purchase cigars. And depending on what specials they have, it could be, hey, if you buy 20 cigars, we'll give you four for free. But most of the time, you're paying by the stick. Most people don't buy that many. I happened to go because it was a special on a brand that I like, that they make several different kinds. And so I bought a variety, about a variety pack, basically.
00:34:19
Speaker
of different cigars. But yeah. That's what my wife does with chocolate. Yeah. But it was, but I'm part of a cigar club in a cigar and whiskey club. And I joined mainly for the whiskey in Charlotte and I needed to fill my locker up. I have a locker that keeps my cigars in it. So I need to fill my locker up. So I had some cause I was running low on my department. And so yeah. So you got, so you got some cigars now, now is there, is there like a,
00:34:49
Speaker
Like with craft beers, there's definitely like a community and like a trade, like, you know, Oh, this one's really good. I recommend this like that type of thing. Is it, is it, I mean, I'm sure it probably not quite as popular as the craft beer community just because craft beer is extremely popular at least in the States right now. But is that, is it, is there a similar vibe?
00:35:11
Speaker
I think if you get any man who likes something has an obsession about it. I don't know what it is about dudes and being obsessed about things. But whatever we're into, we become obsessed about it. Some people are really obsessed about sports. Some people are really obsessed about music and so on and so forth. And they know everything there is to know about it. Cigar is the same thing. I am not. I don't have an obsession with cigars. But yes, there are a lot of guys. I was talking to a guy today. I went to brunch and the guy was talking about
00:35:39
Speaker
He's dry age. He's aging cigars. He's aging them not dry aging them. That's what you do to me. He's aging them. So he's got them in these coolers and things. He's aging them out in these kind of environments that allow them to age over time. So they so it's got a different flavor like different so they have different profiles to them and he can test them out and see what he likes most and
00:35:58
Speaker
And he's just, it's an art to him, right? It's an obsession. I don't think I'm that way. I just wanted to film a box out with sticks. But whiskey is much more that way, right? Whiskey is much more that way. So I know a lot about different kinds of whiskeys, where whiskeys are, where whiskeys come from, what the different flavor profiles are of each whiskey, and what those regions are known for.
Appreciating Whiskey as a Tasting Experience
00:36:18
Speaker
And I'm really into trying different kinds of whiskey. It's not to get drunk, it's just to taste.
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's truly, it's truly like a wine tasting type of thing. It's just with whiskey, just like a fascinating as someone who doesn't drink. I wish, I wish I did. Um, not because of work, but because I think the history and how things are done are very interesting to me. You know, like how, how they're made and everything. So then we'll go visit a distillery together, Ross, and we won't drink it. You can, you can have, you can have my, you can have my samples.
00:36:52
Speaker
They'll be like, sir, why are you here then? Well, you see, it's a long story. You're making me go to Harry Potter. I should make you guys go to a distillery. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, I'll go with you to your scotch broker. I want to observe this. I'm going to, I'll be taking notes. That's podcast gold. That'll be part of my book that I publish.
00:37:14
Speaker
We'll do it before we go to T. I think that'll be good. I'll make appointments before we go to T. Roll into the Scotch broker and then be like, uh, I do need to finish this up because I got high T. So we gotta, we gotta, we gotta get a move on with this. Are we, are we buy or sell? Like we got options trading on this bad boy. Can I put this barrel on somebody? You can buy options. Yeah. Yeah. Put some calls on barrels of Scotch. Yes.
00:37:44
Speaker
I think I just invented a whole new market. I'm going to sell it short. No, you've got to drink it next year. You must. The crazy part is one interesting thing as a loophole with buying scotch is that you don't have to pay taxes on the money you make on it. Interesting.
00:38:03
Speaker
So it's a very interesting market because it's a commodity, just like if you were to buy pigs, you don't have to, you have to pay tax on the final product. So you pay tax on, if you sell pigs, the tax gets pushed off onto the consumer. Yep. So there's no tax on any gains I make off the barrel, the consumer is going to pay those taxes in the bottle.
00:38:26
Speaker
That's awesome. It's weird, right? Another pro tip here, folks. Get into the Scotch world. But not Greg's part of town. He's got that. Greg's got that part of town cornered. Don't take Greg's Scotch. Got those barrels on lock. All right, Greg, this is good. I think I've got some good things on my bucket list. I think I know what to knock off first. And I think I've got some, I think Chef's Table is gonna be something
00:38:53
Speaker
that definitely do that happening soon. And I can, I can report back. I like bucket list report. That's what's going to happen. We're going to have a bucket list report and then we'll, we'll go into and you'll be like, well,
00:39:06
Speaker
Ross, there's no such thing as a chef's table at Peter Piper Pizza. That's not a thing. You totally got fooled on that one. But they told me. Anyways. All right, Greg. As always, it was great talking to you. Listeners, we will be back soon at some random time, just like your favorite artists. We drop things and you never know when. We're just going to drop some new stuff.
00:39:35
Speaker
All right. Take care everybody. Talk to you soon. Bye. Thanks for listening to unmotivated and unprepared. Join us again next time as we continue to meander through random topics at a pace defined by our mood, the weather, and what happened five minutes earlier.