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Testing Your Tips
98 Plays5 days ago
Jeff and Jon sit down to discuss the video they just shot testing viewer tips and discuss an upcoming video shoot at Maker Camp. Thanks for listening.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:01
todays_craftsmen
The American Craftsman Podcast is sponsored by Hayfla. Hayfla offers a wide range of products and solutions for the woodworking and furniture-making industries, from hinges and drawer slides to connectors and dowels, sandpaper, wood glue, shop carts, and everything in between. Exclusive product lines such as Lux LED lighting and Slido door hardware ensure that every project you create is built to last. Learn more at hayfla.com.
00:00:25
todays_craftsmen
Additional sponsorship provided by Ridge Carbide. When you need the right saw blade for the job, put your trust in Ridge Carbide tools. For over 50 years, Ridge Carbide has been producing industrial saw blades designed with the exact specifications for the cutting results you expect. Before you buy, call us and we'll help you determine the right tool that meets your needs and your budget. After the sale, Ridge Carbide provides sharpening services for all your saw blades, dado sets, router bits, and jointer planer knives.
00:00:51
todays_craftsmen
Located in Kansas, rich carbide tools provides high quality products with outstanding customer service at a fair price. What are you cutting? Enjoy the show. change
00:01:06
todays_craftsmen
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show. I'm getting pretty good at nailing.
00:01:12
todays_craftsmen
the height on these faders. Yeah, and you're doing a few other things, lighting candles and working the switchboard. Yes, the new Baloo candle. I don't know how new it is. The newest one I have, Yuzud. Yeah, they're good. I have one. We really like it. The official candle of the American Crossing podcast. Can you buy Brian's candles online?
00:01:38
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, yep. Does he have a website? What's the name of it? ah I'm pretty sure it's Baloo Candle B-H-A-A-L-O-O-C-A-N-D-L-E dot com. Nice. if or If you Google that, you'll find it. Yeah, and you can find them on Instagram. Really nice guy. Yeah. And the candles are really nice. They just got a really nice smell to them and they burn great.
00:02:00
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, and he uses, you know, um, like American made cotton wicks. It's all, all the fragrances are from a reputable source. Like my wife just brought home some candles from like Joanne fabric or something. She went over there to pick up. yeah She's like, Oh, candles were on sale. And they're like, you know, they're a little bit foul. Save them for a storm. Yeah. Yeah.
Fitness and Health Discussion
00:02:23
todays_craftsmen
Well, I thought the episode that Brian was on way, you know, a couple months ago now ah was fascinating. Yeah, the whole just the whole process of making the candles. And actually, I want to want to see if if he'll give me a wick or two because I want to play around with making a candle with some of the beeswax I have. Yeah, that'd be cool. I have the wax. so I just want to maybe even pull pour it into an empty honey jar. You know what I mean? That's a good idea. Just put the the wick down there, pour the to deal in, and it should be a candle, I guess. Yeah. I don't know how it'll burn. I don't think it's going to burn as good as brines do, but... Yeah, these are coconut and soy. Yeah, they're nice. Really nice. I don't really know how it works. Apparently, it's like the wax is what is creating the flame. Yeah, the wick the wick doesn't burn. The wax is the fuel. Yeah.
00:03:13
todays_craftsmen
Sometimes if you're trying to if you're trying to like a birthday cake, if your match burns out or before it gets close to your fingers, you can blow it out and then just tip dip the head of the match in one of the candle wax that you lit already. Kind of just use that fuel to work your way around the cake. yeah yeah sir comes with you know comes Wisdom comes with age. yeah Back when you used to actually use the number of candles, like if you were turning 10, you'd have 10 candles. Now you have a candle shaped like a 10. Yeah, there you go. Everything changes. Yeah. I don't like those those ah number candles. so I don't either. I like the challenge of it and I like the challenge of of blowing them out. Yeah. Although I don't want 57 candles on my next birthday. Yeah. Birthday cake. 36 for me. Yeah, it's amazing.
00:04:04
todays_craftsmen
Go quick. Yeah. Got to enjoy the moments. I saw a thing like anybody in there, you know, 55 or whatever, you basically have 20 years, you know, give or take. Yeah. And ah I look at it as like, maybe I've got 10 good years if I stay in shape and exercise. So my wife is always like, well, what do you what do you need to do that now for or whatever? And I'm like, because there's no time like the present, you know,
00:04:31
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, and i I feel like there's like a ceiling, you know, like, like whenever you start, there's a ceiling and the ceiling gets lower and lower, you know, so like if you start trying to get in shape at 65, you can only get so in shape, you know, but if you start at 55, you can get up to here and so and stay sort of at a I totally agree with that. And I think that everyone should lift weights at least like 10 or 15 minutes a day. Just I mean, because yeah everybody will say I don't have the time for that, including myself. And I mentioned I think like nine months ago, I got on a good kick.
00:05:10
todays_craftsmen
And I wasn't going to have time today because I just had a crazy day. And I just worked out for 15 minutes. You can find 50. So instead of looking at your phone for 15 minutes instead, just just lift a few weights.
00:05:23
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, or you could wake up 15 minutes earlier. 15 minutes of sleep isn't going to kill you. Yeah. Well, usually I try to get my workout in very early in the morning, but I went right out to the barn because I had all this ah veneering that I wanted to do. the I'm using contact cement, so it's sort of like you just want to get that done yeah because it's so it's so toxic.
00:05:45
todays_craftsmen
And so ah I'm trying to get the contact cement on like each piece and by the time I get to the last I think I had like 10 pieces total you know between the parts and then the veneer.
00:05:58
todays_craftsmen
By the time I got to the 10th piece, I was able to go back and put the second coat on. I always use two coats of contact cement. I feel like the first coat just sort of sucks right into the the paper on the back of the veneer and also the substrate. So for me, it's just like a peace of mind to use two
Veneering with Contact Cement
00:06:16
todays_craftsmen
coats.
00:06:16
todays_craftsmen
And then I'll go in after that second coat, maybe ah have a, you know, eat something, and everything will be dry in 15 minutes, then I can go and put the veneer back on. So it's kind of like rushing in to do that and then get over here. And then I had just a little bit of time. I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna lift weights for a little bit. And it helps me like it opened up my it opens up my mind and my breathing.
00:06:42
todays_craftsmen
like I can breathe so much better after just doing a little bit of bench press and a couple of pull-ups, things like that. Nothing crazy. Yeah, there's something to be said about that like capillary dilation that you get when you're lifting weights, your veins are all opening up. and Yeah, and like I hear people working out for two hours, I'm like, oh my gosh, that sounds incredibly boring.
00:07:04
todays_craftsmen
But 15, 30 minutes is really long. If you're listening for two hours, you know, I think you're socializing. Yeah. Like, I think we were talking about it when I was in high school, like lifting weights for football. We worked out for two hours, but you're working out with a group. So you're doing bench, I'm spotting you and then somebody else and then somebody else, you know, you're working working out with like three or four people. It could take two hours.
00:07:28
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, yeah, we're with me after 20 minutes. I'm like, Okay, this is like sometimes I'll do a half hour, half hours is the most I work out. Just just out of sheer boredom. And I'm listening to podcasts and trying to make time go by.
00:07:43
todays_craftsmen
ah But I feel like 15 or 20 minutes is all you. And really, even five minutes, like I follow this guy called sober fitness on Instagram. And he has um like, I think he calls them dailies, something whatever it is, where he'll just do like 100 curls with just a 10 pound weight, you know, just 100 curl in each arm. And that'll just give you a just kind of a little it's almost like an adrenaline shot. So yeah you don't have to work out to be ah
00:08:14
todays_craftsmen
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, that's the other thing too. It's like, what are we working out? Are we working out to feel good? Are we working out to to compete in something? And I'm not competing in anything. I just want to feel good. Yeah.
Biking Routines and Equipment
00:08:26
todays_craftsmen
Yeah. I've been doing 30 minutes on the bike in the morning. Do you love it or what? Friday I did it. I rode for an hour. Nice. Where'd you go Friday? Friday I went all the way up to Thompson Avenue. Nice. And then back.
00:08:39
todays_craftsmen
So do you have a water bottle on your bike? I don't, I was looking at them online, but I didn't really see anything that piqued my interest. Because you need a little water bottle cage. Yeah, so I was looking for i was looking for something that came with a cage and a bottle. Amazon, it doesn't seem, they have some, but they're like clearly very cheaply made, like, you know, just like generic, you know, when it's just like some weird generic name, like this water bottle.
00:09:08
todays_craftsmen
Fanhaw. Yeah. I know that this is just some bullshit, you know, it's not a camelback or a hydro flask or, you know, I want to buy something that's like halfway decent. I'd probably just go to a bike shop. It's not a big purchase. And that way you can touch and feel it before you buy it. Yeah. I just don't like going places. Yeah. But you you're you can go there on your bike ride. Stop there on your bike ride on a weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I try and get done before people come out. That's true.
00:09:38
todays_craftsmen
I rode by, I was telling you, rode by Highlander this morning at, it was probably 5.15. That's dark. out Was it pretty cold or what? It was a little chilly. Yeah. Did you warm up? Yeah, I wasn't cold by any means because so to go that way, I have to, um where did I go? Did I cross? So I crossed at Leonard and then I went down the path.
00:10:04
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, crossed. Did I? I can't remember which way I went this morning. i So I went north, went west one street, crossed the highway and then went east. Are you using a light on the bike? Yeah. Did you mount it to the handlebar or something? Yeah, it's got like a little strap. Nice. It's like a headlight made for a bike and then I have a little tail light. Cool. Because it's you know, it's dark. Yeah, the way people drive is crazy. Yeah.
00:10:31
todays_craftsmen
um But down there, like the the trail going to Highlands, the wheat the like the sea grass is really tall. It didn't used to be that way. um So you're kind of like in this tunnel of grass. you know It's pretty cool. Yeah, that's the thing. I think you experience the world differently on on two wheels, whether that's a bicycle or a motorcycle. And I mean, it is a sense of kind of floating.
00:10:58
todays_craftsmen
And you do see the environment like you wouldn't if you were driving. Yeah, you know. And that's one of those situations where with the toll grass, you're like, wow, I didn't I didn't even notice this before. And here it is. Yeah, one thing I am noticing is that ah and we're not going to turn this into the. The American bicycle bicycle podcast. um But I think, I don't know if my handlebars are too wide,
Managing Screen Time
00:11:27
todays_craftsmen
or they don't have enough rise, or it's just because I'm riding a mountain bike in sort of a way that you don't ride a mountain bike. So you're leaning forward a little bit more? Yeah, I feel like there's too much pressure on my hands. I don't know. But the bike is made to be ridden aggressively in the woods, not on a path.
00:11:48
todays_craftsmen
So I could see where you would want to be more over top of the bike if you were riding up hills and stuff like that, but I don't know. Yeah, you'll see when you get, when you get it into the woods, I was thinking about taking it ah to Highlander or somewhere just to have them like double check that everything is set up and assemble correctly. And then maybe do like a little bit of like fit fitment.
00:12:11
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, they're nice people over there. I like Mike and Patrick. They're the main mechanics. um Yeah, I don't know. I think it sounds like your bike's running pretty good. If you're not having any issues, I won't even worry about it. And you're, I'm sure you're a decent enough mechanic anyway. Yeah, it's just, you know, there's so much and, you know, you get into the weeds with this kind of stuff, but like,
00:12:32
todays_craftsmen
the optimal saddle height, the front to back, the this and that, you know, and you could go crazy over that stuff. But again, I'm not training for the Tour de France. Yeah, that's how you have to think about it. Otherwise you can go crazy. Yeah. But it is nice just to ride a bike that's not making weird noises. That's just, you know, the the discs aren't rubbing against the the brake shoes. ah Shifts nice. Yeah. That's you know, a quiet bike is a is a nice experience.
00:13:00
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, it is nice to be able to to just shift like that. And it ah just shifts real quick, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you, man. I'm glad you got a bike. Yeah, it's fun. um So we just shot a tip video. Yeah, I think those are some pretty good tips. I think they were better than the first tip video that we did. These tips I think are um better.
00:13:26
todays_craftsmen
I was thinking about how am I going to edit this one with the iron because it could be almost a 10 minute video on how to get a dent out of the wood with the iron. You have to put it at like six times speed. oh it'll It'll work out. Yeah. I think, I don't know, it seemed like the iron was turning off.
00:13:43
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, that it's a weird iron. It's an old black and Decker. And it's from my shop. I i just use it for edge banding. I can't think of anything else that I use it for. um Sometimes I'll use it to glue canvas to a stretcher. But that's a bar like a ah brace panel, but that's up in the art studio, right?
00:14:05
todays_craftsmen
o Um, I think the short that we shot might do well. Yeah. This tip video might
YouTube Shorts Strategies
00:14:13
todays_craftsmen
do well. I don't know. Yeah. The last one did, uh, over 5,000 views. The last tip video. Yeah. I shot a tip video yesterday, which like just, um, I had to cross cut a piece of plywood that was a 15 inches.
00:14:31
todays_craftsmen
I saw that. I was wondering if you had just shot that or because i I thought I had seen you talk about that before at some point. Well, this was kind of funny because I would always just cut through the plywood at the end and then lift up the front. But then the piece that you're not supporting with your hand that you lift the plywood up with would fall and inevitably give you tear out, right? Yep.
00:14:55
todays_craftsmen
So these pieces were pretty close to their finished length, so I didn't want to i didn't want to so ah risk any tearout. So I thought, this is kind of weird. Why don't I just make the the end cut first, the far cut? So I came out, plunged down, lifted the board up, and then finished the cut. I don't know if I've ever seen that. I haven't seen it done before. I'm sure it has been done, just like anything.
00:15:17
todays_craftsmen
Uh, and then I just, you know, literally shot that. I think it was 27 seconds and the video's done really well. I think, I think on, um, Instagram, it's, it might be like 30,000 views. It's got 500 likes. So if you get 500 likes, you usually get a lot of views. Yeah. The, uh, the confirm at screw short that we did is doing really well now. That's up over 50,000 views on Instagram. Yeah. Did we put that on YouTube yet?
00:15:46
todays_craftsmen
Not sure. See, this YouTube shorts sometimes really take off. That's the only reason why my channel hit a million subscribers this weekend is because that viral bicycle video caught caught some wind again. it Blew up. Yeah. Yeah, we did. Okay. Got 14,000 on on YouTube. See what it's got on.
00:16:12
todays_craftsmen
About two years ago, when I would put a short on on YouTube, it would just blow up. I would get like 20,000 views in the first hour. And then then they would continue up to 60, 70,000 views. wow Now, it seems like they're dying at 3,000 and 4,000 views, except for this ply one plywood one that I put up yesterday. I think it's at 17,000.
00:16:36
todays_craftsmen
And it got a few negative comments, which is always a good sign that it might do better. Yeah. R seemed to consistently hit 10,000. I noticed some of them go a little bit further. ah We have 57,000 on Instagram, which is pretty good. Yeah. I pinned our top three, 3.1 million on the pocket screw one.
00:16:56
todays_craftsmen
That's crazy. yeah I got to congratulate you on a million subscribers, by the way. Yeah, yeah thanks. That's pretty cool. It is pretty cool. it's I wish I could say that, yeah, I get a million subscribers and every view every video gets 150,000 views, but that's not the case at all. um Basically, I had one viral video from about two years ago that has gained the channel about 240,000 subscribers.
00:17:22
todays_craftsmen
So 750,000 still pretty damn good. so um But it's wild because that video just all of a sudden, I think on Thursday, I started to notice that I was getting a lot of negative comments on that bicycle rack video. I said, Oh, that video must be gaining ground again. And I think all during Saturday, it was getting more than 100,000 views an hour. Wow. So like sometimes 130,000 views an hour. Right now it's getting about 60 to 70,000. So it's still catching.
00:17:56
todays_craftsmen
And like, ah yeah, it bought the channel over a million. So that's kind of a cool thing. um But like we said last week, I wish it was like a 20 minute long video because that would actually mean some real revenue. Yeah, yeah. That just just so you know how the revenue works on shorts, you don't get a lot of revenue for shorts. So this is this is made about $6,600. So still, you know, it's kind of like, I would equate making shorts to maybe playing in the lottery, right, without risking anything. So you if you're making a short, more than likely you already have the content. It's like the tickets are really cheap, but you don't win a lot. Yeah, yeah. But it's sort of like, and it's kind of fun though. It's sort of like, it definitely gives you a little bit of a ah little bit of a an endorphin rush when one of your videos is blowing up.
00:18:52
todays_craftsmen
And also you can use shorts as a related video to feed another video. Yep. So that's something that I want to think about. To help advertise some of my long format project videos to try to get to some more plans is going back to some of my 30 and 40 minute long videos and just dissecting like a certain area.
00:19:17
todays_craftsmen
and Turning that into a short and then making the related video The video that people hopefully go back and click on. Yeah, it's funny some of the shorts that we posted like about say like the square bearing router bit people are like Well, you didn't show the full process like the it says related video right here Like I'm guilty of that too though. Like I I don't think I've ever clicked on a related video when I'm sure I don't really watch shorts.
00:19:43
todays_craftsmen
I'll find myself going down that hole sometimes. So all of a sudden, I'm like, oh my gosh, I just wasted 20 minutes looking at. I have to see like a good thumbnail. That's what will draw me in to click a short. But other than that, I'm i'm kind of like purposely staying away.
00:19:58
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, I can see that smart. I mean, I think I I think I lost probably a good 40 minutes last and night. I was like, oh I'm gonna go to bed early. And then like before, like, just like kind of getting up and going, I said, I'll check my phone. And next thing you know, I'm like, 20 or 30 minutes, 40 minutes, like, Oh, my gosh, I should have been in bed at, you know, an hour ago. Yeah, Instagram reels get me um and just not the shorts.
00:20:25
todays_craftsmen
But yeah, it's, you know, you get that screen time report and you're like, what the hell? It's really terrible. I mean, yeah it's pretty, pretty, pretty bad. Yeah, and I, I like to think that I'm, I'm not really that bad. But the world is just glued to the phone. I mean, and I am. But i' I'm not, I'm not as good. I feel like I'm not as glued to my phone as a lot of people are.
00:20:51
todays_craftsmen
ah Some people can't like they have a compulsion where they couldn't sit here with their phone right here and not look at their phone. Oh, yeah. You know, for sure. Like if I'm like, ah say at dinner, like with my family, I won't look at my phone.
00:21:06
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, we don't we don't have dinner. We don't have phones at the dinner table. And we always eat dinner. We always eat dinner at the table. And it's funny because my two oldest sons are still living home. And it's it's actually really great because they're living at home, living at home and they're like kicking ass. They're not like, what are they going to do? and I mean, they're living home to like save up and free loading. Yeah, so and you know, I'm old enough to know like, wow, this isn't going to be this is going to be like this forever. So I really enjoy having them around. And yeah, and it's not like when they're young, like me half the time, it's a battle with hundred six. It's like.
00:21:47
todays_craftsmen
You know, stop being with your hands. You know, it's like, man, all the time, I just feel like I just got a nag and nag and nag there at the age where you don't have to do that. You can just enjoy dinner as a family, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I said to my wife, I said, it seems like you're working more in the kitchen now than you did when the kids were little because they they eat a lot. I mean, Walter and Michael, big appetites, that's for sure.
00:22:10
todays_craftsmen
um But nobody brings their phone to the table. you know that's ah And like I said, everybody, ah we have an actual dinner time. or when you know Dinner's ready when Laurel says it's ready. ah But everybody comes and eats dinner. And it's ah it's a nice thing. And actually, Laurel, we we almost never do takeout. When we do, it's very rare. It's a treat because we do it so seldom. Yeah, we're we're sort of the same way.
00:22:38
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, I can't get over. So I think Laurel did do takeout Friday night and she did Chinese food. I couldn't get over how expensive it was. Oh, I can only imagine. There's what, six of you? Five? Six? Five. Five. It was $90. Yeah. Now, I have to say, though, that was dinner and lunch the next day. Yeah. And more snacks. But if you cooked dinner, it would have been the same, you know. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah, there's always leftovers.
00:23:08
todays_craftsmen
That's true. That's true. But so we don't do take out for for basically, it's just Laurel loves to cook and she's really good at it. And ah she's also really good at shopping. hu So you know, she knows where to shop because I'll go in the store and buy a couple of items and it's 50 or 60 bucks. She'll spend, you know, 50 or 60 bucks and have like a full car because she knows how to and maybe I got the numbers wrong there. But you you get the point.
00:23:38
todays_craftsmen
So anyway, yeah, it's healthier and less expensive to make your own food. Oh, yeah, it's crazy. Like people who tradesmen or trades people who buy their lunch every day, you're out of your goddamn mind, the amount of money that you're spending. And then you also don't know what you're eating. I'm not saying I'm you know the ah poster child for good eating, but you know you're eating from some random ah Worst case, you're eating from Dunkin' Donuts and
Eating Habits: Home Cooking vs Eating Out
00:24:09
todays_craftsmen
McDonald's and 7-Eleven. And best case scenario, you're eating from a place who's buying everything from U.S. foods. It's all, you know, highly processed. It all comes on an 18-wheeler. Yeah. I mean, that's just how it is. We went to... ah We stopped... I guess Laurel and I were in Vermont maybe a month ago now. And on the way back, we stopped at Chick-fil-A. Or maybe the way there. I feel like Chick-fil-A is the biggest rip-off going.
00:24:36
todays_craftsmen
ah Well, I've only been there I think twice. Yeah, me too. I have to say the holy cow. I got one sandwich and one thing of fries. I could have eaten three. I i just I don't know. I feel like it's just not that good. I don't know. I liked it. Yeah. And that's why I was like, wow, I can't come here again. This is like, it's too good. Like, well if you want to go around here, you got to wait in that line over there that wraps around the thing.
00:25:04
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, we went to Costco last night because my wife needed glasses and ah i i I have to get a new ID. You can't really get in there. They've really made it very strict lately. Oh yeah, they have like a scanner or something now, right? I saw like an Instagram reel about that. Yeah, because Michael went to get his glasses and he had ah yeah Laurel's ID and he ended up kind of saying, all right, well, I'm blowing past you because I'm getting my glasses.
00:25:30
todays_craftsmen
Oh, wow. So they won't let you in with somebody else's. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Meanwhile, you can order ah like Uber Eats from Costco on your phone. That's another thing like the whole Uber Eats thing. I don't I'm not into that. Yeah. I do it like if I go go away and I'm in a hotel, I'll I'll order Uber Eats from like, say Target and get like a case of water and some snacks. And that way, you know, you have it at the hotel room. I didn't think that. But I would never order it like. For delivery to my house, you know. Well, that's like my daughter's um age bracket, you know, like her and her friends order this stuff and I'm like, what are you doing? You know? Yeah. And like, if you want to order pizza, just call the pizza place. Yeah. Because you know, Uber Eats is beating them up and taking 20 percent or whatever.
00:26:25
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, i't I didn't even think of that. i I'm just so on tech savvy, I just wouldn't even think about that. like I've never even used an Uber. i've been in oh yeah yeah I've been in an Uber once with someone else, but I don't even have the... ah I wouldn't even know what to do. Uber is super convenient. like if you're yeah like When we went to Atlanta, we took probably 20 Ubers. Okay. Yeah, I guess so, right? Because yeah you don't have a car, so... Yeah, you're like I want to go to the zoo. Is it extremely expensive?
00:26:53
todays_craftsmen
ah No, it depends. But the prices fluctuate depending on where you're going and when. That's what my kids will say like during like, you know, certain holidays or whatever or times of night, you know, they're trying to get back from like Asbury Park or something. Oh, yeah, you'll pay through the nose. Yeah. um Yeah, like, I want to say from the hotel to the airport, we paid like maybe like 20 bucks and then you tip the guy. Yeah.
00:27:19
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, that I guess that's good. Yeah, it's not too bad. I used to take cabs all the time when I was in the city a lot. I mean, I would take cabs for certain place. I used to take the subway everywhere. This is going back a long time ago. cabs actually weren't really that much money back then. And I was taking cabs when you had those big yellow cabs. Yeah, those things were like, Have you ever been in a big yellow cab? Oh, yeah, I used to drive a Crown Vic.
00:27:41
todays_craftsmen
No, not a Crown Vic. Oh, like when it was like a 57 Chevy, a Bel Air. yeah no i They had them. I mean, I was taking cabs. It was like in the late 80s, late 80s, early 90s, and occasionally you would get a cab. So Jack, my oldest was born in New York City. Actually, all three of my kids were born in New York City except for Michael. Michael was born out here because I didn't want to drive in.
00:28:10
todays_craftsmen
but anyway yeah I remember the cab ride uptown to Mount Sinai in the back. It was like we we were hitting every bump. My wife was like dying in the cab. It's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy to have like ah one of those pregnancies or one of those like deliveries where it's like an urgent rush to get to the hospital. It was so weird because when when Jack was born,
00:28:35
todays_craftsmen
We called the doctor and and ah he was like, oh, now you're fine. stay Stay where you are, whatever. And then I don't know how long it was. Let's just say four hours later, we call again. We're like, what are you doing? You you got to get here. you know It was one of those deals. That's the thing with doctors, man. It's like there's so much opinion in a lot of it where it's like, oh, you're fine. They'll be like, what the hell? You need to get in here now. Yeah.
00:29:01
todays_craftsmen
And he ended up having to go into the NICU for, I think, about four or five days. Wow. He was a really long delivery. And so he ended up having to go and you know it was one of those whole things where we left the hospital before he did. Yeah. But you know he's good. It was just, I guess, a long pregnancy. I don't know. Yeah. Hunter was in the NICU for um only, like I forget, less than 12 hours. It was like sort of a um ah Formality, Ali got a fever during delivery and they, I guess that's like they have to take him to the NICU. Sure. Yeah. so
00:29:41
todays_craftsmen
where ah What hospital did you guys use? Monmouth. Okay, yeah. that's where That's where Michael was born. Yeah, we were just at Riverview. um I don't think we talked about it on the podcast, but I told you my wife was in a car accident two weeks ago um and went to the hospital just precautionary. She, you know, her shoulder and back were bothering her. um And now it's bothering her more than it was then. So, yeah, we're dealing with that. um But we went to Riverview. Man, that place sucks. Yeah.
00:30:10
todays_craftsmen
What a horrible hospital. Well, I've known a lot of people who have died there. Yeah, I've heard a lot of stories about, you know, horror stories. I had a friend. They lost my mother-in-law's like blood, blood, all of her blood work when she was there. No, I would, we always should never go there. Yeah. We had a friend who went in there for hernia and ended up dying. I mean, it was like, like his wife,
00:30:35
todays_craftsmen
you know, had dinner with him, he was fine. She says, Okay, I'll be back, you know, see you tomorrow. And something got screwed up. And then I had another my neighbor actually, she got the wrong medication and it ended up screwing up her. She it ended up screwing up her hands about that they had to amputate a few of her fingers. Yeah, it was like, it was a disaster. So yeah, we always go to mama's.
00:30:59
todays_craftsmen
yeah Yeah, so the ambulance um in that situation with like a car accident will only take you to the closest hospital, apparently. So now you're you're getting all this done on the person who hit your wife's car insurance. Yeah, which is the same insurance that we have. Okay. we go and I don't think Bode's very well for us, if anything.
00:31:26
todays_craftsmen
you know, if there needs to be any sort of litigation or anything because you have a good attorney. ah Not really the attorney I use for everything here sucked. But Ali has a client whose is it her brother or husband or something is a like a Personal injury kind of I have I have a friend who who's like that's what he does. Yeah So yeah, I'll take the info. Yeah. Yeah, he's that's what they do and when I tell you um You'll probably recognize his name so Jacobian Myers. No My brother-in-law he the the thing is you have to deal with it You're like a lot of times like especially being a guy you're like, I can tough it out. umll I'll be fine Give it a week or two
00:32:14
todays_craftsmen
My brother-in-law got rear-ended, just a busy guy, owns his own business. He's like, no, I'm fine. I don't need to deal with anything. And then about three months later, like his arm started bothering him. Anyway, he's he really got screwed up where he had to get major surgery. Never went to never got a police report on the injury. oh never got Never went to the hospital or the doctor. And meanwhile,
00:32:39
todays_craftsmen
everything that all these injuries that he got, he had to pay for because he's in his own business. So he buys his own insurance. Yeah, yeah. That's all the time you lose all the time. And now he doesn't have he doesn't have full mobility in his right arm. So the the moral of the story is you go to the doctor, you do all this stuff. That's kind of a pain in the ass because, like, in your case, it sounds like Ali's not getting better. Yeah. You know, you you don't you don't want this thing to be like 10 years from now. She's totally screwed up because she didn't get treatment when you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And you know, she's like, um you know, like, I feel bad because this guy it was just an accident. I'm like, Yeah, but
00:33:22
todays_craftsmen
Why should we have to deal, you know, that's what insurance is for. Yeah. And screw the insurance companies. Yeah. And there's nothing
Car Troubles and Preferences
00:33:29
todays_craftsmen
personal about it. So ironically, I haven't been driving my truck now for about six weeks because my wife got rear ended when she was driving my truck.
00:33:39
todays_craftsmen
And um I felt terrible for the girl. So my wife calls me up, she goes, like she was so shooken up. She calls me tells me where she is, she just got in an accident. And I go down there, she is in the the ambulance and they're giving her the check over. And then I see the girl who hit her who looks like she's ah only a few years older than my daughter. So I feel terrible for her.
00:34:03
todays_craftsmen
But distracted driver. yeah She said she was looking at the radio station or the heater or something. I don't know. Probably a good chance she was looking at her phone. Yeah. um But right over where the the train station is, there's a crosswalk there. So everybody's slowing down for all the commuters. And this young girl just plowed right into my wife.
00:34:25
todays_craftsmen
And my wife is fine. She did have a concussion, but she seems fine. And she did all because of the story with my brother-in-law, she went through all the right things. But six weeks later, we still don't have the truck because there was so much going back and forth with insurance. It's, I think, a minimum of $7,500 worth of damage on the truck, which to me, looked like it only needed a new bumper, but it needed under undercarriage work and camera work and things like that.
00:34:55
todays_craftsmen
And we've had this loaner now, which I'll probably have up at Maker Camp because maybe. my truck will get finished by Friday. But I'm not gonna wait around Friday wondering if my truck's gonna get done because Walter and I are getting on the road to ah to go to Maker Camp. which So I'm gonna look at the bright side of it. Since this has happened, we had already had a ah ah trip scheduled to Vermont, my wife and I. So we've been to Vermont and back. Walter and I are gonna go to Maker Camp and back. we've been I don't know, we for some reason we did a lot of driving.
00:35:31
todays_craftsmen
And ah now all those miles aren't on my truck. Yeah. So that's the plus. Seems like a nice car, too. You know, it's a Ford Explorer. i I feel like it's kind of tinny. Oh, really? Do they make an expedition anymore? I don't know. I don't know. I was saying to my wife yesterday, we were driving to Costco and I said,
00:35:49
todays_craftsmen
I don't like the way the motor sounds, ah compared to my pickup truck. So I have a Ford F-150, and I'm not a truck guy. I don't really care if it's a... I'm not one of these guys who's like, it's gotta be a Chevy or it's gotta be a Ford. I just like... That's such a weird ah the fabricated animosity there are between Ford guys and Chevy guys. and Yeah, I don't get it. I mean, I just... I'm not a car guy. I really am not. ah And I'm not a bicycle guy either. like If I, if it works good, you know, like there's a bunch of different bikes that I like, but I like them because of the components that are on the bike. So like with this Ford F 150, the thing I like about it is it's a, it's got the eco boost engine. So it's fast.
00:36:32
todays_craftsmen
And I would have liked to have the six and a half bed. couldn't Couldn't find one. My first truck was a six and a half foot bed. Since then it's almost been impossible to get one. They're all five and a halfs. I've learned that I can get away with a five and a half foot bed. I can fit a you know four by eight sheet of plywood in there and I can rig it or whatever if I have to. um But the cab,
00:36:59
todays_craftsmen
in this truck is just really roomy. So I can that's what I miss about having a full size. Yeah, because you had the Dodge. Yeah, I had two of them. I love them. And so when you went to go get the Dodge, it just went way up in price. Yeah, yeah it was like gonna be 6, 7, 800 bucks a month. That's crazy. Yeah, I'm not paying that. I'm paying 500 for the Tacoma. That's about what I'm paying for the Ford. Yeah. I got a good deal on it. Yeah. I i don't know. It's so funny because when I went in there, the ah they were just lightnings, you know, Ford lightnings.
00:37:35
todays_craftsmen
everywhere. And I'm walking around with the salesman. I said, boy, you got a lot of lightnings on the on the lot. And he's like, Yeah, you don't want one of those. Yeah, they're having a lot of problems, aren't they? I wouldn't buy a I wouldn't buy an electric pickup truck. No, I would buy a ah Tesla. What about a Rivian? Oh, I've heard good things about them just recently. Yeah. I don't know anything about what tell me something about him.
00:37:58
todays_craftsmen
I don't really know it much about them, but I did see, so everybody knows that the Cybertruck, it's like if it gets wet, it's like destroyed. I didn't know that. Yeah. um Like if you take it through a car wash, apparently avoid your warranty. Really? Yeah. um But the Rivian.
00:38:12
todays_craftsmen
A guy down in North Carolina with the hurricanes that just went through, his truck literally got picked up and moved like 150 feet or something. Whole thing caked in mud, the bed full of mud, totally fine. Apparently they have this like something with the bottom, they make it, it's totally waterproof.
00:38:30
todays_craftsmen
And Rivian is its own company. That's the name of the... Yeah. It's not... You ever seen the Amazon delivery vans, the electric ones? Yeah. Those are made by Rivian. Okay, wow. Yeah. It's funny because I was on that fishing trip with Peter this weekend and he he bought that up. He goes, boy, these four... Not these four, these Rivians.
00:38:50
todays_craftsmen
are really nice. And he was telling me that a friend of his had one and they have some compartment that you can fit like all kinds of luggage in. He happened to be putting golf clubs in there. And, and so of course he tells me about this truck, which I've never even noticed. And then yesterday I was on a bike ride and I saw one and I said, yeah, it looks pretty nice. That's how it works. And when you're shopping for a car,
00:39:15
todays_craftsmen
You're like, Oh, I'm looking for a Tacoma. You see two comas everywhere. Yeah, it's just like it turns this switch on in your brain. You start to notice. Yeah, for sure. um Maybe that's like people talking about like manifesting. Maybe that's the reality of it. Would you think about one of those for your what are they priced at? They're pretty expensive. Okay, I think they're like 80 grand. Oh, wow. Yeah, I don't want to. I don't want to make that kind of an investment in anything that I'm trying. Yeah, every In my view, every vehicle is a liability. It's not an asset. oh no you know I don't want to spend that kind of money on that. yeah and um you know I'm all for like alternative ah energy, finding things other than fossil fuel. like im I'm all for electric cars, hydrogen cars, whatever.
00:40:03
todays_craftsmen
I think there's a lot of progress that needs to be made, but you kind of have to start somewhere. But for me to go from a gas vehicle to an electric, I'm not making a dent. I drive 10 miles a day. It's not like I'm commuting. you know So the the environmental impact that it it'll make for me to switch to an electric at this point, the investment's not worth it because the price is only going to start to come down. Well, in your situation, see, your situation is pretty unique because you have a really high-quality work van.
00:40:33
todays_craftsmen
And you're only driving 10 minutes to to work. So you don't have to really depend on a battery's life, you're always going to be able to you can charge it here at work, you can charge it. So I think that Tesla now has a really nice car for like 30 grand. Oh, yeah. So that's what we're thinking about. Because right now, since Laurel and I both work from home, we just have the one vehicle. Now we have We have two other vehicles in the house that Walter and Michael use or anybody can use. They're just sort of vehicles that have been paid off for a long time. And and they go because they're Japanese. Yep. You know, sorry for it guys, but I would never buy a Ford. I lease a Ford. Yeah, I don't think I would buy anything, you know.
00:41:20
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, well, these Japanese cars go like we have this yeah we have this Honda Pilot. I think it's never gonna die. And you could say the same thing. Like, I have a Briggs and Stratton generator, and it works pretty good.
00:41:34
todays_craftsmen
But my brother Jim has a Yamaha. And in my view, it's just worlds above it. Yeah. You know, it's like the Yamaha is above the Briggs and Stradner vice versa. so Yeah, I think Yamaha is better. Yamaha makes everything. Yeah, Yamaha is good. ah So I have a ah little Kawasaki four wheeler that I bought in 2006. All I do is change the oil in the air filter occasionally.
00:41:59
todays_craftsmen
It's so funny. I'm going to say it always starts. Except for the other day. Except for the other day. Because the battery's going. And so it's kind of a weird thing. you have to You almost need two people to start it when you use the pull start. Because it starts when you give it a little gas. okay So you can't. And it it's one of these things. When you pull it, if it if it pulls back on you, it it could hurt your shoulder.
00:42:25
todays_craftsmen
Like, so you kind of got to put everything into it when you give it a pole, you got to be ready for that thing to like kind of kick back. You can't put ah an electric start on it. It has an electric start, but the battery is dead. ah And so I have a trickle charge, it was hooked up to the trickle charge. But I think at this point, it's not it's easy so and either my trickle charge is not working or my battery just needs to be replaced.
00:42:46
todays_craftsmen
So the way I got it started was I took a rubber glove, tied it around my handlebar like a rubber band to hold the throttle on. Well, I pulled it and that started it. So got it started. yeah But literally, i was i if you don't want follow me on Instagram, this was like Saturday, I'm trying to get all these things done. And like Jeff, let me borrow. I'm still saying borrow this ladder. It's a 12 foot step ladder. It's heavy, right? I saw you when you picked it up. It's no fun. I'm like that ladder's heavy. That ladder will break your arm. yeah If you don't think about what you're doing, oh yeah if it starts to twist on you. You just got to chuck it. You got to chuck it or um be able to fight it, but it'll screw you up.
00:43:33
todays_craftsmen
So I decided to clean my chimney because I cleaned my barn roof and it turned out so nice. So I'm like, well, I don't want to carry this ladder over to the all the way over to the front of the house there.
00:43:47
todays_craftsmen
so the trick the idea was to put the ladder in the trailer and so this this is like 10 o'clock in the morning i'm going to put the ladder and i'm going to be cleaning the chimney by like 10 oh five it's now like almost quarter to 11 and i'm still trying to start the four-wheeler now i'm thinking i'll take the the ball off of the hitch of the four-wheeler and put that on the lawnmower Then I realized that the ah hole for the hitch on the lawn mower is half inch when I need three-quarter inch. So now I'm looking for a three-quarter inch metal drill bit. And and then I decided, OK, let me try the four-wheeler again. And then I had the the brainstorm of like just ah wrapping the throttle so it was on. Because that's how I started. like Sometimes you'll say to one of the kids, hey, can you come out to the barn like if the battery's dead and hit the throttle while I pull this?
00:44:37
todays_craftsmen
And it's a neutral, so it doesn't. No, no. Yeah. It just rate. So with with the the rubber band concept, as soon as you start, it's like a race. Yeah, but that's OK. Yeah. Because, i you know, I put the choke on. Long story short, it's a Kawasaki. The thing just goes forever. I don't know if I could say the same thing about something that was made in the USA. Yeah. Polaris or something. Although those might be Canadian. I think they are. Yeah. Are there aren't they made by ah but Bombardier?
00:45:07
todays_craftsmen
I don't know. I think so. I think it's the same company. I think that's like the American, you know, you try and sell a Bombardier in America. People are like, what the hell is this? Well, did we talk about gas going bad on this podcast? I think we might have. ah Yeah. Yeah. OK.
00:45:23
todays_craftsmen
Actually, so get this, my brother-in-law's parents got gas at the Senoko over here on 36, J&R, whatever it's called, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. That's actually who towed our forklift over here when we bought it. First Avenue, right on the corner? No, no, no. 36 by, like, right before East Road. Okay. Not on this side, on the other side. Apparently, the gas that they got was full of water and it, like, ruined the car.
00:45:53
todays_craftsmen
Terrible. Yeah. So what's the recourse? ah They got to get an attorney, I guess. Wow. Yeah, that's terrible. Yeah, they had them like pump, you know, pump out the gas tank or whatever. And and it's like water. That's terrible. Yeah. There's got to be other people who had that same situation.
00:46:11
todays_craftsmen
That's what I'm thinking. I mean, it couldn't be a one. How would that happen one time? It must have gotten into the underground tanks or something, you know? Yeah, but it's getting in. I mean, you couldn't do that purposely. You'd have to be an idiot. Well, so that could be a complete environmental problem for that place. That means I've got a leaky ah ah like ah leaky gas tank, which is a nightmare.
00:46:36
todays_craftsmen
and's ah That's a problem. That's when New Jersey needs another super fun site. Yeah. We don't have enough. I want to bring something up before. I can't remember what it was. We're going to shoot a video in Maker Camp. Anything about that? No, that wasn't it. But Maker Camp is in ah what? Two days now. Yeah. So we're going to shoot a video for today's craftsman. So if you've ever ah Thought about going to maker camp or wondered what it was all about ah The plan is to mic up Jeff and whoever we interview ah Put a mic on them and probably start the video the same way on the first one. You know what I mean? and um That'll be a fun video to edit. Yeah, we should probably interview Austin first Okay, right says his gig Sounds good to me. I don't even know
00:47:32
todays_craftsmen
He's a good guy. Yeah, so if you're there and you want to be in the video, it's $50 cash. $75 Venmo. And a free beer. Yeah. Although Jeff and I were saying maybe we're not going to drink. Yeah. I'm probably going to have at least one or two.
Maker Camp Plans and Experiences
00:47:50
todays_craftsmen
I think I'm not going to drink beer. Really? What are you going to drink? I'm going to drink tequila. Really? Yeah, I think that's what I'm leaning towards. Does that mean you're going to bring like high nunes or something? Are those tequila?
00:48:02
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, my my sons will say like yeah tequila high noons or something like that. I never had that. That might be an easier way to go. Yeah. I was going to do like a bottle of tequila and then just like mix it with... A lot of people will say that's like the purest way to drink. like you'll You won't get a hangover supposedly. Yeah. Well, for me, it's like because i don't I don't consume a bunch of sugar or cars carbohydrates ever.
00:48:26
todays_craftsmen
it's a real shock to my system. if you know um I'm gonna end up eating stuff that I don't normally eat and if I drink beer on top of it, I love beer. um you know i I could drink 10 beers if i'm if I'm really staying up and hanging out and um without even blinking an eye and i and like that'll mess me up yeah physically the next day.
00:48:51
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, I can drink a few beers, but I'm just, and you know, I'm definitely going to have a few beers, but I'm also driving. We're three miles away. yeah I don't care if you're three or 30 miles away. I'm not going to have anything and then drive. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'll probably have two or three beers early on and then just hang out. They are going to have like a shuttle or something this year that'll just drive you. I think wherever you want to go. Really? Yeah. That sounds good until you can't get a shuttle home. Yeah.
00:49:20
todays_craftsmen
But we're only three miles away. I don't know, Walter walter picked out an Airbnb. So I'm looking forward to that. Last year, we had a nice Airbnb, but I think this one looks nicer, or at least from the pictures. You guys were kind of far. We were kind of far, but I tell you what, the weather was rough last year. this This year looks good. Yeah, it looks like it's going to be perfect, like mid 60s.
00:49:43
todays_craftsmen
mid-60s and sunny every day. Last year was rough. ah okay It was an actual river going through like the food, if you want to call that a food court. Yeah, the ah pavilion. The pavilion. I mean, three inches deep. I mean, they had to shut down tents because it was so... And then then the next day it was pretty muddy and... People falling, trying to go up like the little hills, slipping in the mud.
00:50:09
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, so it's it's going to be nice because ah I think it's going to be peak foliage and and sunny. Can't ask for more. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, like I want to go up there and wear a sweatshirt. You know, I don't want it to be. Originally, I looked at the forecast like weeks ago, a long range forecast, which is super inaccurate anyway. But it said it was going to be in the 80s every day. I was like, oh, my God. I'm like, that's the opposite of what I wore.
00:50:32
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, it's nice to be able to wear a sweatshirt and- At night it gets cold, you can stand by the fire. Stand by the fire. Boy. So I've talked before where, I think I've mentioned on this podcast that I am allergic to pine wood. And not last year, but the year before, it was freezing. You remember how cold it was? Oh, yeah.
00:50:55
todays_craftsmen
And we're hanging out by the fire, which was like nothing. There was like, if you want to fire, you got to feed the fire. Oh yeah. I think I'm going to bring scrap wood. Yeah. Might as well. I got to get rid of it. Why not?
00:51:08
todays_craftsmen
And so I made that my mission and I had that fire roasting. And then i I think a lot of that wood must have been pine because not the next day, but the following day, like my whole face was just totally beet red. Yeah. Just, just from picking it up, you know, and I guess the sap gets on your hand and you touch your, you know, you touch your face all the time. That's just how it is in life. Uh, um, I'm surprised I didn't realize that, but it probably was pine.
00:51:35
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, yeah, it was just like, yeah, fresh cut wood to like unseason kind of green wood will burn yeah if it's hot enough. Yeah, well, they have that big fire ring now that they made. Well, that's the other thing. So this fire ring is it's cool looking thing. It's like a wrought iron kind of deal that. Is one of the most dangerous things going yeah like you could stab yourself in multiple places at multiple levels. Yeah, there's all these like ah like like fern or kind of things, you know, like these like leaves that come up. Yeah. And they're all sharp. Everything is sharp. Everything is sharp. And so like to feed the fire, you kind of have to reach over them. It's it's pretty funny. You know, it sketches me out as they play that game with the nails and the hammer where yeah I don't want any part of that. You ever seen a ah nail go flying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's I played it and I realized I'm really bad at that game.
00:52:32
todays_craftsmen
So um mean they're playing with like a lump hammer. Yeah, and everybody's like three sheets to the wind. Yeah. Yeah, you know, you you glance off the edge of the nail and like that 10 penny nail or 16 penny nail, whatever it is, it will become a projectile. Oh, 100%. And I don't want to stand anywhere near it, let alone play because then it's going to hit me in the eye.
00:52:51
todays_craftsmen
Yeah. Well, that's good to know because, or not good to know, but good to think about because I did play last year. It's terrible. Uh, and it is fun, but it's pretty much common sense that, yeah, that, that nail is going to fly. Yeah. I mean, I've had it happen to me many times framing, you know, when you're trying to hand bang nails and you just hear it ping and it goes flying. You're going to do the karaoke. No.
00:53:18
todays_craftsmen
That's not my scene. Yeah, me neither. um I used to do karaoke a lot. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. who did you Who would you pick? like What would be one of your... I used to sing Country Roads by John Denver a lot. Oh, my God. Yeah, well, I went to West Virginia, so that's like... you know Yeah, I like John Denver. Yeah. What else? That's a freaking long song, though, that a lot of people had to suffer through. Yeah. Were you good at it?
00:53:44
todays_craftsmen
I got a pretty good voice. You ever heard the song Conte Partiro by Andrea Bocelli? No. ah Have you seen Step Brothers? Oh, that's. Yeah. say that Yeah. Me and my buddy i would sing that. ah What else? I think I used to do um ah Bob Seager. What's that song? I can't think of the name.
00:54:11
todays_craftsmen
One of Bob Seger's big songs. Yeah. and I think I know what you're talking about, but I can't name it. Yeah. On a lonely, lonesome highway. Okay. East of Omaha. There you go. Yeah. What's the name of that song? Sounds like you're already. It's like where, you know, it's like about a roadie. Yeah. Or about a musician. Yeah. Metallica did a remake of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:32
todays_craftsmen
um Yeah, so the bar that, you know, when I was working in in restaurants, I would go out to the bar, you know, whenever, basically every night, you know, when you're 22, 23, and ah the one bar, the Clada, that I used to go to. What town? Highlands. It's gone now, they knocked it down. That's actually where I met my wife, but they had karaoke on Wednesdays and Sundays.
00:54:59
todays_craftsmen
And it was just a thing, you know, you went to karaoke on Wednesday and Sunday. That's cool. It was a good time. The guy who did it was great. This guy, Ziggy, you know, he had like the reverb and everything. He made everybody sound good, you know. Nice. And he was like he was a real quirky kind of guy. What do you think of the chubby pickle? I like it. I haven't been there in a long time, but I know. Oh, shit, I can't remember his name.
00:55:25
todays_craftsmen
craig Craig is the owner, Craig and Adam. I've only been there once or twice to see my kids play, but that's the only bar I can think of and in Highlands. Yeah, so Claddow is on the complete opposite side of town. okay You know where Cranky's is? Yeah. Sort of right by Cranky's. All right, cool. Yeah.
00:55:43
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, my kids ah will occasionally rent bikes from crankies, because so my bikes are sort of tall. So they like my boys can ride them, but their girlfriends can't. So they go to crankies occasionally, and they'll rent bikes. And there's a nice little restaurant now at the end of Sandy Hook.
00:56:04
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, the mule barn, is that what it's called? Yeah, so it's like kind of a fun day off thing where I think Walter and Jen rode their bikes to their, maybe last week even, it was a beautiful day. Yeah, I saw Walter had posted that story and I said, is that bike from Cranky's?
00:56:23
todays_craftsmen
I remember driving by and seeing him. He's got a pretty cool thing where I think you just like order it online and he gives you the code and you can just unlock the bike and take it. Yeah, it's all done with your phone. Garrett's a nice guy. Yeah, he is a nice guy. I think he made a good decision basically turning his business into a fleet of electric bikes as opposed to being a bike shop. Yeah.
00:56:45
todays_craftsmen
um I years ago I dropped a bike off to get fixed by him and it took maybe like three months. Yeah, I think yeah, that's where I bought my twerker was from Garrett. Okay, and ah You know, so I would go in there all the time because I used to go to the coffee shop right next door So I'd ride my bike in the morning and then I would go and I get a coffee and sit outside ah back when I didn't have so much to do. And so I would you know go in there and shoot the shit, and it would be the same bike up on the stand for days and days at a time. Yeah, I didn't really care at the time, but then I was like, wow, this is like really taken forever. And I haven't been in there in ages because his the bikes that you rent from him are completely different than my bike.
00:57:26
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, it's so it's not like a mountain bike. It's like a cruiser kind of thing. Yeah, his bikes actually have like a throttle. It might be a thumb throttle like ah like an ATV. um So you don't have to pedal at all. and They're really just for sightseeing and cruising around and just being outside. They're fun. Do you know what it costs?
00:57:46
todays_craftsmen
I don't, but you can get a decent bike for like a thousand bucks, I think, a electric bike. I mean, I'm I used to have people offer to give me them all the time. But like i I've said it before, there's no such thing as somebody giving you something. It's an obligation. Yeah. And and also because bulls have let me borrow this bike, like this long term borrow. I don't think it would be like nice for me to be using other bikes all the time. Yeah. You think they'll take it back?
00:58:14
todays_craftsmen
I don't know if they'll take it back or not. I don't care. Because if they take it back, that means I can reach out to other brands. Yeah. And if they don't take it back, then I've got the bike. But it you know, we talked about this earlier, because we were talking to a potential sponsor who, in my mind, it sounded like they just wanted to give us some product. And I thought, you know, that's kind of like,
00:58:39
todays_craftsmen
It's kind of like they're asking a lot. Okay, they're going to give us product that we already have in return for a shooting location, on-screen talent, a camera person, an editor, and a platform.
00:58:54
todays_craftsmen
And even if you just had to pay somebody to you made a video and you had to pay somebody to put it out there that cost money. Yeah, so it's really funny. So I don't I I really like my contacts the guy I know at Bulls really nice guy. ah So if they want the bike back.
00:59:11
todays_craftsmen
fine, I don't care. But if they want to give it to me, cool. You know, but after a year, I won't feel like I have enough. I have any more commitment to them. Yeah, I don't feel like I have any more commitment to them as is.
Exploring Bicycle Brands
00:59:23
todays_craftsmen
Now I if I'm on a ride, I will. ah I'll just tag them because I like I like Brandon over at Bulls, you know. um So we'll see what happens. It's It's a good bike, but it's like anything. i there's some Now it's you know a year later, and I'm looking at other bikes on the market, and I'm like, wow, I really like that Santa Cruz. i love you know Who knows? That DJI looks pretty cool that you sent me. That DJI is a sweet looking bike. the The only thing is it's a new bike, so I don't know what's its what's its track record going to be. Yeah. How much does your bike weigh? My bike is heavy. It's 56 pounds. Wow. Yeah.
01:00:04
todays_craftsmen
So that must be hard to like, you know, if you got to like pick it up and like turn it around, not hard, but it's you feel it. So I think mine is 38 pounds. Just because I'm a pro rider. I do like a thing where I pop a wheelie. You step on the pedal, you pop a wheelie and you kind of spin it around.
01:00:22
todays_craftsmen
um getting it in and out of the truck is a little bit of, it's not work, it's just awkward, it's awkward weight. So the newer ones are closer to 40 pounds. well Not not to all the newer ones, but the newer like more high-end ones. yeah You don't notice the difference so when you're riding like my bike, because yeah and you're getting help from the from the motor.
01:00:48
todays_craftsmen
and like you know I so now I'm getting fed all kinds of bike content, obviously, actually, check it out. I got these. ah These are mountain biking shoes. We'll need those. I didn't buy them for mountain biking. I just bought them because I like the way they looked. I was looking for I needed shoes that I could wear with pants as the as the weather's getting colder, but I'm getting fed all of this stuff on YouTube and all these ads for all kinds of stuff. And, you know, you start watching these videos and they're talking about like, oh, you know, you could save some weight by going to bliss. And this I'm like, really, you're going to notice the difference.
01:01:22
todays_craftsmen
going from tube tires to tubeless. Is it 18 ounces that you're saving? Yeah, people get crazy. I mean, I'm not there. I'm not competing. It's just sort of like... Yeah. The only reason why I would like my bike to be 15, 16 pounds lighter is lifting it into my truck, which I rarely do. But when you have to lift that into your truck, because my truck, it's got a five and a half foot bed. So I have to put it in a certain way for it to fit and be able to close the you know, without taking the front wheel off. Oh, you don't do that cool thing where you hang the tire out of the bag. Okay, so you can do that. That's pretty hard to do with a heavy bike. Oh, yeah. ah Because you have to close the kind have to lift it over. You have to lift it over the tailgate. how are going to How are people going to know that you're going to ride your bike if you don't have it hanging on the back? I know. How are they going to know if I'm driving my truck around that they don't know that I'm like a mountain biker? You got to wear the sunglasses as well. That's my next step. I got to get a pair of those big glasses.
01:02:22
todays_craftsmen
If you get glasses, get the kind that ah turn with the darkness so they're... i don't Yeah, I'm going to ask for those. Yeah, they're really good. So my son Walter got me a very inexpensive pair because when you get in the woods, it's dark in the woods. and But you I don't always wear glasses, but sometimes you know you'll get hit in the eye with a whatever, a stick or something. Oh, yeah. It seems like if you're going to ride in the woods that you definitely should wear them. I don't always wear them because sometimes they fog up. Yeah. um But they are are kind of nice. Yeah.
01:02:51
todays_craftsmen
You know where I'm riding. There's I there on Lenerville Road. There's a tree that I have to duck under, but that's about it. Cool. Well, ah that's all we got for you this week, I guess. ah Tune in for our tip video and then maker camp videos are going to come out next week. Yeah. So a week from Saturday will be the maker camp video. Cool. And probably get some shorts up. And if you're at maker camp, say hi. yeah like We'd really like to meet you.
01:03:18
todays_craftsmen
Yeah, again, if you want to be in the video, I'm just kidding. Yeah, thanks for listening. And if you do listen and you enjoy, tell a friend, leave a review that would help out the podcast. Do we want to discuss the idea of having the video on the main channel? Do you think that's a plus or a minus for subscriber growth? Yeah, we could put out the question.
01:03:44
todays_craftsmen
Yeah. If you're, if you're watching this, just because my opinion is maybe we're feeding a, you know, something on Friday, which could take away from Saturday interest. Yeah. Something to think about. We could always put this on the green street channel now. Yeah. So we'll think of whatever. All right. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
01:04:10
todays_craftsmen
If you enjoyed this episode, please tell a friend or share it on social media. You can leave a review of this podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. And don't forget today's Craftsman YouTube channel has an upload every Saturday morning at 8.30 AM m Eastern. We'll see you next week.
01:04:44
todays_craftsmen
I call his name Sunday. Ain't no shame, but there's been a change.