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Sore Legs
8 Plays10 days ago
Sore and steady, keep the momentum, a little bit better each day is all we're looking for
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Wedding Plans
00:00:24
David Isaacs
Welcome everyone. is June 24th, 2026 at time of recording. As always, I'm joined by our friend, Brian. Brian, how are we doing?
00:00:36
The Big Dog
Good. I don't know if I'm going able to type your intro there, popping the top like Stone Cold Steve Austin, but doing okay. Looking forward to chatting with my good friend David about all of our adventures in between recordings. So let's get into it.
00:00:51
David Isaacs
Yeah. And, uh, pop in the top on a Sprite zero folks. Um, this episode brought to you by poisonous, uh, sugar drinks.
00:01:04
The Big Dog
yeah This is brought to you Aspartame.
00:01:07
David Isaacs
Yeah. Um, But yeah, I mean, a lot of stuff going on. It's been a little while since we hopped on and we talked about the goings on. um You know, I got a couple of weddings here coming up. So trying to plan around those 200 bucks shelled out to run a tuxedo the other day. So not very fun.
00:01:29
David Isaacs
And then I am in the other wedding. So I have to go and I think we're buying our suits. Pretty sure we're buying our suits, which. It sounds like they're not going to be too expensive. Um, but then i have to get fitted, which is another cost on top of it. But at the end I'll have a suit that I'll probably never wear. i have two of them right now and they're yeah. Good for,
00:01:52
David Isaacs
Weddings and funerals, not really much use in using them outside of those two
Office and Appearance Experiments
00:02:00
David Isaacs
things. I was thinking, you know, with how casual the office have gotten, maybe instead of, you know, casual Friday, maybe it's a ah monthly, like, like dress up day or something.
00:02:01
The Big Dog
yeah
00:02:15
David Isaacs
don't think it'd be cool.
00:02:15
The Big Dog
yeah yeah there yeah just
00:02:17
David Isaacs
That'd be one of those things I sent out a memo and no one else does it. So I'm like the only one in a Halloween costume, but instead I'm just wearing a suit. Everyone's like, look at this fucking guy.
00:02:27
The Big Dog
yeah
00:02:27
David Isaacs
you think who does he think he is?
00:02:29
The Big Dog
Yeah, fucking go-getter over here. should... It's really just a power move at that point, you know? They're like, David, why you wearing a suit? I don't know. They'll like it. and they're like, man, I can respect that.
00:02:40
The Big Dog
i like that. This guy knows how to party. But yeah, you're...
00:02:45
David Isaacs
I doubt that'll be the response I get, but yeah, I mean, in my mind, I'm thinking everyone's gonna be turning heads.
00:02:52
The Big Dog
Yeah, maybe maybe for the right reasons. Maybe... um Who knows? You know, maybe... you dress in tune press and your boss gives you promotion on the spot. You know, i don't know. I have a lot of wishful thinking, so it's probably not best to take my advice.
00:03:10
David Isaacs
Yeah, I mean, sorry. Hopefully. you know, something good to come out of it, but sometimes too, I mean, I did Movember and, um, you know, grew the mustache out and, um, you know, the last few months I had a beard going and then my barber, I wanted him to trim it up a little bit and he, yeah, kind of cut off too much on the side. So it kind of looked like a goat with a long beard in the middle and kind of nothing on the side. So I just shave it down, but Yeah, sometimes it's nice to just kind of change your look up a little bit.
00:03:48
David Isaacs
You know, a pair of shoes I hadn't worn at work before, and I wore them the other day. and yeah, it felt kind of nice. Small little things to change things up a little bit. But yeah, for guys like, well, guys with beards, different beard styles or mustaches or whatever, it's kind of like, you know, for women changing their hairstyles.
00:04:13
David Isaacs
Um, I don't know if it's that, i don't know if it's exactly one-to-one, but in my mind, it's always like, yeah, this is kind of like my version of changing my hairstyle.
00:04:23
The Big Dog
yeah right just comb it a different way or yeah moose whatever just just just throw just throw a curveball ill just be like you know i'm gonna be different today but also i don't i don't know alignment that would fall in for dnd maybe chaotic neutral but um yeah do it just do something to fuck with somebody i'm always down for that like I don't really just wear like graphic tees or, you know, like for instance, right now I'm wearing SpongeBob t-shirt for chum bucket and,
00:04:57
The Big Dog
that's chum not the other one so you know you didn't mishear me perverts but nor i think yesterday i wore polo and i think everyone thought i was like going through a midlife crisis or something like that like that's that's how casual our office is and they like kind of like stare at me i'm like it's not even a nice polo it's like one that i've had for like 10 years it's kind of raggedy looking too but you know because i'm I'm down over 30 pounds now.
00:05:23
The Big Dog
think people are finally starting notice, you know, or the, the physical changes and, uh, sorry, I didn't really mean to transition from me trying to be funny to being serious, but it's like, if people were getting second and third looks from people, like there's something different about this
Personal Growth and Reflection
00:05:39
The Big Dog
guy. Maybe that, maybe that's really, really wasn't, wasn't the polo, but, um, you know, I, I don't know. Maybe I'm just a guy who likes attention for all the wrong reasons. Who knows?
00:05:50
The Big Dog
Um, that's for me to work out in therapy, which, um, I got an appointment this Friday. so um, I'm going to dig in that to little deeper now that I've kind of thought about it.
00:06:01
David Isaacs
Yeah, I mean, I always kind of come across a some of these things we weren't thinking about and try to think about it in a different way. Like, oh, OK, yeah, no. um this is, this is not swag.
00:06:15
The Big Dog
Yeah, yeah, yeah, This is not hip.
00:06:18
David Isaacs
right. Um, yeah, which, I mean, I, I've been dealing with kind of the, the same, the same thoughts, the same feelings. Uh, one of the things I've been working on this week of, um, getting up early just to go running, I don't know, like, kind of like how much effort and how much time things take me. And that was, uh,
00:06:41
David Isaacs
kind of my focus over the last few weeks of, you know, trying not to talk myself out of things if I think I don't have time or if I don't have the energy. So really just trying to capture some of that data to understand like, okay, this doesn't take me that much time or, you know, I actually really enjoy doing this.
00:07:00
David Isaacs
And yeah, just trying to like kind of keep that mindset and staying within my, well, going a little bit outside of my energy envelope, but then really understanding, you know, what is conceivable for me to do right now.
00:07:17
David Isaacs
And then once I know that, then I know kind of how far to push, you know, i don't want to push too far. Um, and I want to, you know, kind of maintain my semblance of,
00:07:29
David Isaacs
patience where I'm at right now and, you know, getting back to journaling and, you know, just trying to be present and, you know, how am I feeling? What do I think about this or what have you? So yeah, I think in any direction that you go, i think just some of that discovery work and things that you haven't thought about before is like, oh, okay, yeah, this isn't very cash money of me.
00:07:57
The Big Dog
Hmph.
00:07:57
David Isaacs
And, um, yeah, it just kind of leads you to, new thoughts and those thoughts can lead you to new solutions. Uh, if you let them and further experimentation, which, um, is kind of scary, but also, you know, very, uh, exciting time in life. If you allow it to, if you allow yourself to feel that way.
00:08:21
David Isaacs
of like, hey, I found this out. Cool. like let's What do we do about it? And then go and go and test some stuff out.
00:08:28
The Big Dog
Right.
00:08:33
The Big Dog
Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's kind of sometimes what life is all about, you know, we're not all born with these, um, with all of the answers. So sometimes it just takes, um, a little bit of trial and error.
00:08:47
The Big Dog
Um, kind of what I've been doing this, this week at, at work. Um, you know, not my, main site that I work on is kind of in the hands of other developers and you know I don't have much to do day to day because we're not not even really into the the redesign phase or so very much in the early part of this process and know I've kind of just lost a lot of things to work on so I've been working on our um direct to consumer site and uh you know kind of get kind of putting the reins back or uh getting back in the
00:09:25
The Big Dog
on the, uh, the horse, so to speak of, you know, coding and problem solving. And, know, I've kind of had to dig around a lot to figure out which components do you, what in the code and, you know, a lot of backtracing.
00:09:38
The Big Dog
Um, cause you know, we, and I've talked about it before we launched this relaunched the site on Shopify a few months ago and, you know, I, starting to learn that all most developer agencies suck and they over promise and under deliver lot of the times. And sometimes they just run over on the budget. And so some things are kind of just have to be half assed. So I'm working on a lot of different UI tools.
00:10:04
The Big Dog
or user interface changes and trying to figure out, put myself in the brain of of other developers. And, um you know, it's been a challenge. um You know, a lot of the coding that I've done kind of just HTML and CSS, which is kind of just basic level,
00:10:21
The Big Dog
ah you know, scripts and there basic level kind of, know, best place, best way to put it is like code that you would write on my space back in the day, you know, nothing really too crazy, but, Now I'm kind of getting into like the Shopify language and JavaScript again. So kind of having to retrain my brain a bit to, you know, scope out the pattern and all that. So, but the the good news I've made a lot of progress. um None of, I don't have any solutions, but I've made a lot of progress on how all of these things work and um getting, getting down that funnel. So definitely um been a lot of trial and error on my end. So, um you know, I,
00:11:06
The Big Dog
stressing out a bit, you know, just because, uh, I feel like I should maybe be faster than what I'm doing now, but, um, you know, practicing my self-forgiveness of you haven't done this in a while. So let's, um, let's figure this out. And yeah the joke is using AI is makes you a 10 a developer or 10 times yeah 10x developer 10 10 extra skills right um i would say it's definitely a good consultant to have especially how i'm really the only one who knows how uh code works above anything other than like a div um it's been wrong maybe 50 of the time but it's probably also my prompting but um
00:11:55
The Big Dog
You know, we're bothre both trying to trying to work out our communication skills, right? So, um you know, I think we're getting there. both getting there. I'm getting there on two
Family and Health Challenges
00:12:07
The Big Dog
fronts. So, progress is, ah I guess, my my theme for this episode.
00:12:13
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:12:16
David Isaacs
And I think, you know, an idea that I have and well, not really an idea, but what I've been telling myself and a lot of these things is like I have no business trying to run five miles.
00:12:30
David Isaacs
Like, let's start small.
00:12:32
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:12:33
David Isaacs
And even in work, like using AI or some of these processes and things that I might not know.
00:12:43
David Isaacs
very much on. I'm like, well, I have no business in trying to use AI to try create something. So yeah, I mean, that's kind of where my head's been at. Like, I have no business in doing this.
00:12:59
David Isaacs
I need to start small. Or, you know, a co-worker of mine is leaving for a different job. And congrats to her. she's um, seems to have been looking for a while and trying to find something different. She finally did. Um, but I'll be taking over some of her responsibilities and some of the things that she does like take quite a bit of time.
00:13:24
David Isaacs
And, um, you know, even in my mind, like, yeah, I mean, there could be, I could automate some of this ah you know wait a while until i understand like ah to be able to check and make sure that it doesn't look right.
00:13:39
David Isaacs
So as I'm going through the steps to try to automate some of the the generation, then I know what to look for.
00:13:51
David Isaacs
But it's really that tuition that you have to pay to know like what looks right, what doesn't look right. And yeah, really just kind of where my mind has been at.
00:14:06
David Isaacs
helped me you know kind of start small and be patient. Just, you know, that voice in my head that's always thinking like, hey, you know, we got to be patient because we don't know much about this. We're not at a point health wise to try to take on too much at once.
00:14:25
David Isaacs
And yeah, just kind of focusing on trying to figure out what works and learning as I go.
00:14:33
The Big Dog
Yeah, for sure. That's a skill I think we can all, um you know, build is just being patient with ourselves, right? So think if we're patient with ourselves, we can be patient for others. um I find this last week has been, like, family time has been stressful just because, like, I haven't felt well.
00:14:58
The Big Dog
um Then my son went from... like coughing kind of have a fever, possible, you know, sinuses or some sort of infection.
00:15:12
The Big Dog
and then, you know, he's, uh, all of a sudden like having, uh, gastrointestinal, intestinal stomach issues. Like he literally was like vomited and he, I don't know if he was asleep or if he was awake, but he puked all over himself in bed and,
00:15:30
The Big Dog
And then the next day it was, you know, diarrhea. So, you know, he's battling something. My wife is also, had like a fever, she was, you know, coughing, shakes, negative for flu. they didn't, and she went to the doctor and they gave him like a whole just,
00:15:53
The Big Dog
litany of drugs you know coughs cough medicine steroid so um all of us to kind of say like like you know i've if we were patient with ourselves that means we can can be patient for others that also leads to sort of empathy right so um i know obviously what they're going through i mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that somebody does not feel good we should probably be be kind to them but you know we've had goals this week for like my son was supposed to go to ah summer camp and obviously that's not going to happen with the way he's feeling you know we had to put him back into a ah ah pull-up that's just because like but just of the randomness of his his stomach issues so you know we we didn't want to put that burden but
00:16:44
The Big Dog
we just ended up pulling them out and, you know, we've been just kind of having to figure out a lot of things on on the, on the fly with this week as far as schedule. And it's literally the first week of, of summer. So, um, you know, it's, we've had to be patient and trying to figure out, um how can i be supportive to them, but also accomplish what I want to get done. And, you know,
00:17:09
The Big Dog
obviously yeah tending to their needs is well as well as mine, right? Like we were just a household that's not feeling well, but now we're on the up and up. So, um you know, and to kind of measure my progress, I know when we've had weeks like this, you know, it's like, we're both not feeling well and, you know, it's a lot of finger pointing, a lot of arguments. So, you know, as silly as it sounds, um you know, we've made a lot of progress on that front of AS being,
00:17:39
The Big Dog
there for each other and just kind of, um not, you know, blaming each other for just stupid things that really don't even matter. um so, and it's, you know, obviously it's going to be exacerbated cause we were all not feeling well. So was just trying to navigate through that. And, um, lot of,
00:18:02
The Big Dog
you know, new, new tutorial, I guess, so to speak, even though it's really just kind of rehashing over things, but just tacking it from a different angle.
00:18:14
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:18:16
David Isaacs
No, that sucks. I have to be going through that.
00:18:23
David Isaacs
Trying to find a way that works, yeah. But ah trying to remain positive and try to find a solution sometimes the best that you can do.
00:18:34
David Isaacs
Right? Yeah.
00:18:35
The Big Dog
Yeah.
00:18:38
David Isaacs
So it's good to still remain positive about it.
00:18:45
The Big Dog
Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the hardest thing. It's like, you know, they were both pulling a fever of like, you know, somewhere between 99 and one-on-one, which isn't that bad necessarily. i you know, in the grand scheme of things, but still adding on a factor, it's like, um,
00:19:06
The Big Dog
you know, be trying to navigate, um, you know, go into this camp work. Um, I've coming off of a pretty busy weekend, just spending a lot of time on family.
00:19:19
The Big Dog
um you know, it's, that's already exhausting as it is. So, um, just trying to find, uh, not being overwhelmed, but also not feeling well is certainly a challenge. So, um,
00:19:35
The Big Dog
yeah, is it's, it's not been fun, but you know, you can kind of see sunny skies, uh, so to speak now. I mean, obviously we're only halfway through this, this week, but you know, we're, we're getting through it and we we've got some plans coming up that we're still trying to navigate if we can even make. And, um, yeah, it's just,
00:20:01
The Big Dog
Heading on top of an already busy week and you know, it's like everyone's not feeling good. It's not not where we want to be, but we make the best of the situation that we have.
00:20:12
David Isaacs
Yeah, definitely.
00:20:16
David Isaacs
You got travel plans coming up?
Travel Plans and Financial Constraints
00:20:21
The Big Dog
um yeah we're we're gonna go i mean i guess it's not this weekend i always get a confusers coming up for the fourth so gonna go up north as we say in michigan to the to the thumb as for a couple of days um But again, we're still trying to figure out if we can make that work. Plus, like when the for restaurants, because my wife is a restaurant owner. It's a very slow season coming up because a lot of families go on vacation in July just before, you know, kids go off to college, kids go back to school.
00:20:56
The Big Dog
You know, when I was in school, we didn't even start. our first semester until after New Year's. Now it's, I'm sorry, not New Year's, um Labor Day.
00:21:06
The Big Dog
So now I think they start the week of, and you know, it's just, ah and my son's going into kindergarten. So it's lot of, things that are going to kind of come up quickly and, you know, we want to, money has been kind of an issue lately. So we're just trying to find time to get away without, um, you know, having to to spend a lot. My in-laws were kind enough to pay for some summer camps just for my son to be able to get away and so or socialize. And obviously the burden of our childcare is not on us all summer. um
00:21:42
The Big Dog
but with, Him not feeling well. You know, again, just just pivoting. lot of lot of pivoting this summer is what we're going be doing. So we have to be okay with plans not working out the first time. Obviously, we try to do the best with to make those happen. But, you know, life's exhausting as it is. And, you know, why I put the added pressure of trying to please other people or things, you know, when we don't really...
00:22:14
The Big Dog
have to, like it's not a big deal. All
00:22:20
David Isaacs
Yeah. Um, I think too, just like, um, you know, I, I drove, drove up North and looked at that house, but just kind of being in a different place in a new place.
00:22:32
David Isaacs
Um, even for the day, you know, go to a restaurant, go to a park or something. Like it doesn't have to be too far away. Um, you know, and Taylor by me, I passed by a petting zoo.
00:22:41
The Big Dog
right.
00:22:45
David Isaacs
I'm like, Oh, that'd be pretty sweet. Or, um, in Ypsilanti they have like a small water park and it has a disc golf course as well so like yeah that'd be kind of cool it's not too far away from the house so yeah you don't have to go too far you don't have to spend a bunch of money you know talking to the listeners and whatnot to you know kind of have like a new experience and try some different things so that's definitely
00:23:15
The Big Dog
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:18
David Isaacs
you know, kind of like a sensible type vacation or a trip or just something to do You know, it doesn't have to be going to Vegas or, um, going to a different state or something. i mean, just like trying to realize, uh, my, ah from my own realization, like there is definitely a lot more out there, like pretty close, uh, a lot closer than you would think.
00:23:41
The Big Dog
oh yeah yeah i mean detroit river walk is is a good time for you know always lot of they have the uh what do you call that the uh they have like a splash pad right there and there's a park and you know all sorts of like dia i don't think that's too expensive although it's been a couple of years since i've been there But yeah, there's, I mean, there's a lot of different activities, especially for families and that's really no low cost. It's kind of i have to find those and, you know, make, make the best of it and make a good time.
00:24:22
The Big Dog
Make sure gonna be hard to obviously make sure that everyone's happy and pleased, but you know, you kind of just got to find that middle ground sometimes when other people involved and I'm,
00:24:35
The Big Dog
learning that even at almost 37 going on, uh, 38, um, you know, that sometimes, my feelings aren't always, and I shouldn't say like that, you know, that there are are other people and we have to kind of be mindful of that. Like, just because I don't want to go somewhere doesn't mean we, you know, that, that plan doesn't have to fall through. Right. So, um, as much as I'm a fan alone time and,
00:25:04
The Big Dog
you know, just time evolve. You I'm just kind of being more comfortable with my, I, myself, I guess, and
00:25:15
The Big Dog
kind of going and get it else, but also on the other side, getting out of my comfort zone of just wanting to be a homebody. And, you know, my, my son's five, right. He's got to experience things and got to build core memories.
00:25:31
David Isaacs
Yeah.
00:25:32
The Big Dog
So, um and but you know, those core memories don't have to to break the bank. So it's a fine balance. It's a weird, ah weird feeling for me, I guess. So it's all new, but it's kind of, it's going to trial and error of what everyone likes and, you know, build it until it's a comfort zone. Then we we move on because we're staying in our comfort zone. We're not changing and,
00:26:00
The Big Dog
while we don't always have to make it a constant change, it should always be an effort towards to kind of better ourselves in some way. um You know, my, my focus has been just being a better developer at work, but also, you know, just a better dad.
00:26:16
The Big Dog
know, I've come a long way since I was in bootcamp and effectively, and I still feel guilty about
Forgiving Past Decisions
00:26:23
The Big Dog
that. know, I've, I've also forgiven myself a long time ago of just having to spend,
00:26:28
The Big Dog
you know, every day of six months of trying to pass that bootcamp. And, know, I, it was a time when he was, ah going on three,
00:26:40
The Big Dog
20, I know. He's one to two. So, I mean, it was a pretty important time of development and, you know, we're still getting in process of getting tested for autism and all that. And it's like, but I can't help but feel sometime somehow responsible for that, even though,
00:26:55
The Big Dog
there's no way of even knowing that for sure. But you know, sometimes you put that on your back and you also got to, also got to talk myself off of like, I make more money. We're a better so financial situation. Had I not done in any of that? And, um,
00:27:15
The Big Dog
even though I understand I said money was tight a little while ago, but you know, it would have been way tighter had I not. So, you know, silver lining and everything, right? Like, always a lesson to be learned.
00:27:28
The Big Dog
And that's, again, that's part, just part of our growth cycle.
00:27:32
David Isaacs
Yeah, ebbs and flows. And, um, yeah, sometimes looking back is not such a bad thing when you, um, kind of make that comparison to where you are now versus where you were.
00:27:44
David Isaacs
Um, you know, my therapist always has to remind me of, you know, kind of the, the way that I talked and the things that I was, um, you know, focused on versus, you know, kind of where I'm at now and how much it's different, even though to me, I mean, it just kind of seems like, uh,
00:28:03
David Isaacs
The days kind of wash over you, but you know, some journal entries or some conversations or some things that you can look back on and decisions that you've made and how they've worked out for the better compared to what could have been.
00:28:23
David Isaacs
It's a yeah, pretty eye opening just to you know allow yourself to sit and think and you know, not everything like You have to kind of approach it from a good mindset, though, because sometimes you might think like you made the the wrong decision when you had a choice or or something.
00:28:48
David Isaacs
But even if you get to be around there, yeah, just think about the future, like maybe if you did make a mistake or made the wrong choice. Maybe it wasn't exactly a mistake, but I started to think about how if you would have done things differently or done something differently, then you might be in a better spot. But, you know, going back to the past is only as good as, you know, thinking about it and trying to set yourself up more for the future since, you know, it was in the past. There's not much you can do about it now.
00:29:24
The Big Dog
Yeah. I mean, uh, man, I, so I still am one of those type of people who dwell too much on the past, like things that have been said to me are you know, things that I've done, I've, you know, things that I can't, I'm not going be able to go back and change, but yeah, I mean, it's always the, uh, the meme of, you know, I, I still,
00:29:49
The Big Dog
still remember the girl, um when I was at AMC, AMC theater and she was clearly hitting on me.
Humorous Memories and Life Lessons
00:29:56
The Big Dog
and I just like, she's like, what movie are you seeing? I was like, Oh, I'm seeing, ah I don't even remember the movie, actually. She's like, oh, I love that movie. And then I was like, OK, cool. And then I just went and get put my butter in my popcorn. My friends were like, she was very clearly hitting on you. I know.
00:30:17
The Big Dog
I just froze. Right. Like, I also think about that. And like, to me now, it's it's just more funny than anything. And, you know, obviously, I'm very happily married. But, you know, it it it was just one of those moments.
00:30:30
The Big Dog
if anything, I look back, it's a growth moment of like just recognizing that that actually was happening. That was just like how clueless I was or how, you know, not even clueless, just like how unresponsive I was, you know, like I just kind of froze and i was like, I've never, that never had happened to me up to that point.
00:30:53
The Big Dog
You know, it's like, again, it's just a a growing period, jumping off point, whatever you want to call it of, Hey, that happened to me if i see something like that now i'm going to be able to to react better you know it's like first experiences for me are usually kind of a rough go like i'm usually especially when it comes like a video game um you know, sometimes like mechanics are slightly different. And, um like if you go from like call of duty, battlefield or vice versa, right? Like there's common traits that you can have for both and still succeed. But, you know, there is going to be somewhat of a learning curve to, to, to both.
00:31:33
The Big Dog
Um, that's kind of where I, I fall in line. Like I'm kind of a slow starter, but then I eventually will, we'll get there. It's just trying to find my own path, uh, so to speak.
00:31:45
The Big Dog
Um, You know, and then you got your teammates, you got your your friends, we'll call them, or your, you know, your family, right? Like, you got your support and, you know, you grow together and i sometimes it's crying about it because you didn't get to the objective on time and other times you're just laughing as you have a mortar on top of a golf cart like I did the other day. Just absolute buffoonery. But, um you you know, one was...
00:32:21
The Big Dog
one was more of a learning experience. The other one was I've kind of reached my peak and now I'm just kind of here to have fun, right? Like you're on both sides of the mountain on that, in that case, the ascent and descent. So ah life's kind of fun that way.
00:32:39
David Isaacs
Yeah. Um, just enjoy the ride, um, as much as you can. You know, I was never really a fan of roller coasters, um, cause they frightened me, but, um, I can also be kind of thrilling in some way.
00:32:52
The Big Dog
Right.
00:32:54
David Isaacs
If you, um, if you can get around to, you know, that thought, um, but Yeah, it's all the, lot of times feels like you're standing in line and the anticipation and whatnot and, you know, kind of the thrill of the experience until you're kind of back on that ride again.
00:33:17
David Isaacs
But yeah, I mean, there's, think we've talked about it quite a bit. I mean, there's always more to do, more to work on. And that's kind of the scary part, but also kind of the beauty of it.
00:33:28
David Isaacs
You never really, if you're looking for improvements, if you're looking for something to do you can always find something. And hopefully a lot of the times it's productive. But even if it isn't, then you can learn from it and you know relish the opportunity.
00:33:46
David Isaacs
Is relish the right word? Maybe seize the opportunity.
00:33:50
The Big Dog
How about mustard?
00:33:50
David Isaacs
and some Yeah. um Not too big a fan of mustard, but we can use it.
00:33:57
The Big Dog
right.
00:33:58
David Isaacs
um
00:33:58
The Big Dog
Catch up then. and
00:34:00
David Isaacs
Yeah. but yeah, just sometimes like that gratitude to even have the opportunity, you have the opportunity to fail where others hadn't had that opportunity or a lot of times opportunity for success, whereas others might not always have that opportunity. And, you know, whatever you have,
00:34:20
David Isaacs
that's available to you. Um, maybe if you don't have the opportunities that maybe some other people might've had, um, you still have something and you gotta, um, you know, work within yourself to, um, find those things and, uh, attack it with enthusiasm.
00:34:42
The Big Dog
Yeah, for sure. um I've had many opportunities to succeed in um the software world, and i' failed a lot too. um You funny because I've really only been in the game for almost going on four years now.
Career Struggles and Growth
00:35:04
The Big Dog
You know, I was thinking the other day of just...
00:35:09
The Big Dog
I would always throw, like... shade towards like the companies that would, I'd fail at. And like, it was always 100% on them there, you know, on them, but and i I take responsibility and, um for my part in it or lack thereof, I should say. And, no, but I was fun. It was, it's, it's a learning experience. And, um unfortunately have going through that made me realize like broader things too. Like,
00:35:41
The Big Dog
I very clearly had a drinking problem and, you know, i was spun from, um, just overworking myself, trying to keep all the parts, keep all the parts flowing, um, of my life.
00:35:57
The Big Dog
Uh, you know, trying to be the fun guy, the the mushroom, if you will, at all points is keep up the appearance that I was happy about, you know, underneath it all, it was miserable. I felt like a failure and,
00:36:10
The Big Dog
trying to hide the appearance of being successful, you know, posting on social media, like LinkedIn, like look at my code that everyone else has written that I just very clearly stole from a YouTube video, but yeah, I've learned, I've learned to fail. And, um, now I, and I know what failure is like, um, to quote Dusty Rhodes, you know, I've,
00:36:34
The Big Dog
eaten with kings and queens, but I've also eaten pork and beans, right? So, like, I've, again, kind of using mountain as an analogy, I've ascended and descended in both good and bad ways. Like, it's...
00:36:52
The Big Dog
I I'm thankful for all of the opportunities that I've had, um you know, and, and may come in the future. but I'm just learning to be okay with where I'm at I don't have to just be constantly on the move, constantly learning new things, especially like, you know, coming out of bootcamp where I thought I had to know like every technology language, every little facet, like every detail, you know, over prepping for interviews and, you know, applying for one hundred and uh, 75 jobs or however long, however many I did, you know, falling for LinkedIn and indeed and, and zip recruiter and all those, um, again, but that was just like my, my inexperience and my, um, I don't want to say lack lack maturity, but just, you know, lack of knowledge of,
00:37:48
The Big Dog
thinking that I had to know all these things of when really i just needed to know a couple of things very well, you know, um, with this job that I'm in currently, there's a lot of research, you know, like we're still a small company, so i have to wear a lot of hats, but, uh, in that, you know, it's like, I, I can grow and become this tremendous asset to a company. And, um,
00:38:15
The Big Dog
that that does afford me a lot of, um a lot of benefits. Right. So, um, you know, I've kind of went from being somebody who was, help or who felt helpless and, you know, really probably truly didn't know what they were doing into you know,
00:38:34
The Big Dog
ah ah you know, butter, butter or I'm sorry, a caterpillar, one another cocoon, and now I'm this beautiful butterfly. But I still have a lot of room to fly and grow. So, you know, ah for, I think now is the first time in a long time that I feel like I'm optimistic about where I'm going, especially in software. So,
00:38:55
The Big Dog
Um, you know, it's like, I've got people asking me questions of, Hey, can you take a look at this? I was like, I have no idea what it is, but I'll, you know, I'll do my best to get an answer for you and, you know, kind of just leave it at that. So just being, I'm just being comfortable with myself is kind of solid, long winded answer.
00:39:20
David Isaacs
Nice.
00:39:23
David Isaacs
Yeah. Try to exist outside of your comfort zone, but also being comfortable with where you're at and understanding like, hey, this is outside my comfort zone or you know this would be good to know, good to learn.
00:39:39
David Isaacs
you know I feel like that quite a bit. a Very small comfort zone.
00:39:44
The Big Dog
Right.
00:39:44
David Isaacs
and yeah Trying to get out of it as much as possible and you know, when is a good time to, when is it good to push or pull back or some of those things. So yeah, I mean, it really just, yeah, getting more attuned with yourself and understanding. And I think it comes with age and you're not as, um, yeah, out trying to prove something to other people, but trying to prove some things to yourself.
Marriage and Relationship Insights
00:40:10
David Isaacs
Um, that's really where the change and I think where the growth happens.
00:40:17
The Big Dog
Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's, um you know, when I was, i think I was 19 or 20 when somebody said this to me, she's like, I wish I, this girl who worked at Target, she said, um I didn't really know myself i until I was in my 30s and kind of wish I just went from that mindset when I like graduated high school.
00:40:40
The Big Dog
um And like, I didn't really, obviously I didn't really understand that until you know, within the last few years. And it's, you know, I don't want to say my my life began in my thirties. Cause it does, you know, sounds like I was just live this boring existence, but you know, i was just kind of floundering around. um i met my old wife when I was 25 and we were married by 29, think.
00:41:08
The Big Dog
um you know and even still we've been married only seven years in september and like we're still learning things about each other um you know and we're we're both in therapy separately we've both been to um marriage counseling like i i think that those things both felt like stigmas think that's right that's not the the die right That's stigmatism. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We all thought it was like going to specifically like couples therapy. We thought i was like a stigma, but you know, it's just,
00:41:45
The Big Dog
hearing each other in a different light where you're not just like screaming at each other and, you know, having to close doors, close windows. Um, you know, it's just maybe having that almost like a parental guardian there. Who's, you know, there to kind of be like a referee, you know, and then it's like, yeah. And then even after that, it still has taken work to kind of get to the point where we're at now.
00:42:10
The Big Dog
and trust me like i'm sure there there's days where i want to kill my wife and i'm sure they're not literally i'm not law enforcement that was a joke um i'm sure there's times where she's wanted to kill me still even you know talking about it but it's kind of just like letting the little things that don't actually matter go um that's taken me a long time. Like, that's the thing that's, I'm still working It's just like, is this thing really like, do I really need to say something like about like leaving her socks, like all over the place? Like, does that probably really matter? No. Do I need to say something?
00:42:50
The Big Dog
Maybe, I don't know. But yeah finding your way in your, your own life is ah the the hardest part of your own story. You know, like you're the main character in the story, but what is, what is your story?
00:43:05
David Isaacs
Yeah. Yeah. Did I make a, did I make the right choice? Did I make the wrong choice? Am I on the right path? Am I not on the right path? Is this working? Is it not working?
00:43:19
David Isaacs
Yeah. Try not to get too serious about it. Try to take a step back and look at things how they are. And it's difficult. Like you had mentioned, it's the most difficult thing that, you know, we can do.
00:43:32
David Isaacs
But a lot of times in life, you know, the, The harder path is typically, know, worth it more than the easier one. Those hard conversations are worth a lot more than the easy ones.
00:43:46
David Isaacs
Um, the, yeah. some of the tough realizations and, things, yeah, they are worth a lot more than some of the easy, um, realizations.
00:44:01
David Isaacs
So, um, but yeah, just, you know, keep on the path and be patient and, you know, find what works best for you. What do you want?
00:44:12
David Isaacs
And, um, you know, what opportunities exist to you that you might want to try you start out small and build from there, but just, you know, have a good sense of self and where you're at and, um, you know, where you want to go uh, yeah, just proceed from there.
00:44:36
The Big Dog
yeah Yeah, for sure. Finding your jumping off point is one is one thing. um you know um Figuring out where where you need to go is obviously is going to be the hardest part, but i think equally as important is finding your jumping off point. um you know It kind of just comes down to maybe basics problem
Quitting Drinking and Personal Struggles
00:45:02
The Big Dog
solving. And I'm still wearing that of where do I need to start? You know, like zooming out and looking at the whole picture. It's like, um yeah, I mean,
00:45:15
The Big Dog
cutting out drinking was obviously ah huge success in my life. But um what I really didn't do in hindsight was figure out what caused me to do that. Right. Like I, at the time i was, I decided to quit. I was,
00:45:30
The Big Dog
unemployed and I couldn't afford to see a therapist. Like, even if it was like, you know, the, um, my current one who is offering like, you know, steep cash discounts. Um, but it's taken me until now to kind of just like figure out what that like underlying thing that caused me to do that.
00:45:50
The Big Dog
Um,
00:45:54
The Big Dog
you know, so it's like, I think I figured out the end goal first, which was quit drinking, but you know, the first part of maybe i've been, why am I doing this?
00:46:05
The Big Dog
Why am I using this as a claw or crutch? And, um you know, or maybe, maybe what I did was right. I don't, I, you know, I don't really know, but, um, you know, find,
00:46:19
The Big Dog
ah
00:46:22
The Big Dog
find the steps that work for you and, um you know, just slowly pick away at it. We, you know, we talk about all this, that all the time on this podcast and, again, different, different problem for different or for different people, almost a different anybody for different people.
00:46:43
The Big Dog
Um, and I know I've kind of rambled on this episode and David, I don't even know, have you talked about, even talked about your, your
House Hunting Realizations
00:46:50
The Big Dog
house? I mean, that was the house that you want to look at. I mean, that was probably worth mentioning, as maybe potential problem, I guess, if you wanted to talk about that, I think I've just kind of sucked up the entire episode.
00:47:04
David Isaacs
That's fine. Yeah, I'll touch on it a little bit here in closing. But um yeah, I mean, I started as a joke saying that I was gonna, you know, live with my mom, but buy a lake house for vacationing.
00:47:20
David Isaacs
But I had the opportunity to go and check out one that, you know, might've been affordable for me, kind of like right on the cusp of, you know, what would be comfortable, um, in terms of the money I'd be spending on it.
00:47:32
David Isaacs
Um, but yeah, I took a day off last Thursday, drove up, uh, took a look at it and, uh, Yeah, it just kind of came back to reality. It was a kind of a dream of mine and it still is, but kind of came back to the reality of, you know, this house is built in 1970. It's close to the lake. The foundation's messed up. The roof's wavy.
00:47:53
David Isaacs
You know, so it was selling for $260,000, but it probably ended up being, you know, at least half a million dollars all in to kind of get it redone. Otherwise it would have been, you know,
00:48:07
David Isaacs
five, 10 years, you know, some issues that came up. And same thing too, with the realization of any of the housework or things that I could do, um I would have to drive three hours up there to do them.
00:48:21
David Isaacs
And if anything else happened, I didn't really have the financial flexibility that i have today, which, uh, would not be great, but I think sometimes too, you know, the dream kind of gets in the way of, uh, the reality of the situation.
00:48:39
David Isaacs
And, um, I think that was just kind of one of those parts of it. So we're still looking. but I think, you know, I like where I'm at now. Um, and I just don't want to be a victim to thinking I need something. And, um,
00:48:55
David Isaacs
you know not really taking in all the considerations of the different variables of how how much this is going to cost, you know what happens if something happens and I have to spend a lot more money on something else or if something happens to the house and I have to spend a lot of money on that. So, yeah, I mean, it's really just trying to look at things from different views and maybe sometimes like what we expect is exactly what we get.
00:49:24
David Isaacs
And it was sort of the case. with that. But yeah, kind of ties back to what you're saying, like of trying to find somebody to a vacation, not going too far. Like I had a good time going up, kind of checking out the city and checking out the, you know, the locals around the town and kind of getting their,
00:49:46
David Isaacs
view on, um, you know, what it's like to live up there and what to look out for and getting a house and all that. So, um, yeah, it was a good experience overall. And, um, I'm not too sad about not, you putting in an offer for the house. So, um, yeah, I mean, that's, uh,
00:50:08
David Isaacs
Good experience overall. And I'm glad i kind of took the time and did something, know, maybe outside of my comfort zone of, you know, just driving through hours up by myself just to look at a house and didn't have any other real plans in mind.
00:50:25
The Big Dog
Yeah. i mean And that's, you know, kind of like your, your baseline, you know, starting point of, you know, if you're in the market for a house, you know, you did put in the effort and you three hour or six hour on trip and didn't work out. But, you know, again, that's an experience to, you know, kind of gauge of, you know, maybe what you're looking for a house. And, you know, you can kind of speak of like, you know, I want to,
00:50:56
The Big Dog
you know, I, I, you know, when you're house hunting, you're like, I want a mansion, but then when you like like thinking in like your budget, you're like, I can afford, you know, a closet right now, but you know, uh, not necessarily your case, obviously, but and you kind of, you found what something that you may have liked, but obviously there were things that were wrong with the house and, you know, you fought,
00:51:23
The Big Dog
um you know, maybe impulse, I guess, of, you know, just thinking you needed that house when you really didn't. And, you know, maybe you find something closer, maybe you find something that's two hours away, like whatever the case is, it's like you have, you have your starting point. So I think it's, you know, you have enough of your starting data, right? Like, I know you're, you've been tracking your, how long things take you. But I think it's also a case of, you know, looking at a house of,
00:51:54
The Big Dog
all the work that would have to be put into it. And, you know, it's, you know, and with interest rates to the way they are, it may not have even been affordable to begin with, especially with how much you have to put on your down payment and inspections and all that. So, um you know, and then these are obviously all things that you may not have thought about. I'm, I, you, I know that you have, but you know for some folks out there, there's a lot of,
00:52:19
The Big Dog
maybe hidden things sometimes that yeah you don't necessarily know about, right. They're probably going to get you fleshed out. Um, but again, that's all a part of of our journey. And, um, you know, sometimes we have to take a six hour round trip to figure out that we didn't really want it or need it to begin with. But, um, you know, again, different, different case for everybody and scope of things may be different, but, um,
00:52:48
The Big Dog
Overall, it's about finding ourselves and finding out who we are and what what we really need and maybe we what we, you know, what we can tolerate, I guess, maybe.
00:53:02
David Isaacs
Yeah, I'll tell you, I spent more time and money on a lot worse things. So it's definitely not the, it's not that ah much of a waste than in my opinion. um And just the experience overall and, you know, checking myself. It's like, there's things I didn't think about or, you know, didn't really put value towards. Just kind of put the blinders on and go out and check some things out, but, uh, yeah.
00:53:31
David Isaacs
Um, grateful to have the opportunity to have that experience and, um, you know, it wasn't a bad one. Right.
00:53:39
The Big Dog
Right.
00:53:40
David Isaacs
Um, so,
00:53:41
The Big Dog
Yeah. for Like you said, it could have been worse than about but just about any other situation. Yeah. but um
00:53:50
David Isaacs
uh, yeah, I think that's, uh, Yeah. mean, I think about the opportunity to even be able to buy something or have a car to be able to drive up that way and, um, uh, money for the gas and, um, you know, to even have that amount of time to check out something like that. So, um, yeah, it's definitely good experience.
00:54:19
The Big Dog
Yeah, I ah then i bet i don't know if you heard, did you hear that they're closing Cadillac straight at the brewery in Madison Heights?
Nostalgic Reflections and Closing
00:54:31
David Isaacs
No, I didn't realize that.
00:54:33
The Big Dog
Yeah, just actually saw that on the news the other day, but it's one of the first things I ever said to David. I complimented it um on his Cadillac Straits t-shirt when we were in boot camp.
00:54:44
The Big Dog
It was on our final project, and always have a knack for weird ah conversation starters with people, but it worked, I guess. We're doing a podcast you know three years after her boot camp. so But uh, you know, who knows, maybe, you know, you compliment me on your t-shirt and, or, you know, say that you want to go to a movie and maybe that person starts a podcast with you and maybe they just ignore you and go to their movie. You know, there's a different learning, list different lessons to be learned.
00:55:17
David Isaacs
Yeah. Yeah. The opportunity took it. And like where we're at now, we get, uh, thousands of people listening to us every week, tuning in and wondering what we're up to.
00:55:26
The Big Dog
Yeah. We're,
00:55:29
The Big Dog
We're rolling in sponsorships, not from Cadillac Straits. That's for sure.
00:55:33
David Isaacs
Yeah. That does suck though. I gotta text my buddy and see if he knows. Um, but all right. Um, that's it for me. I don't know if you have anything.
00:55:44
The Big Dog
No, I kind of rambled on and I think I got everything out.
00:55:50
David Isaacs
Nice. All right. Well, you made it this far. Thanks for listening. And we will be back next week.
00:55:58
The Big Dog
All right. Bye everybody.