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#53: It's Inconceivable!
24 Plays26 days ago
#53: It’s Inconceivable!
Francis and Jessica chat about celebrity sightings in Brooklyn as the OG Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) was on the same return flight to NYC. JetBlue has clearly seen better days in the past - could they really charge higher prices without losing customers? For all you flyers out there in the USA, try the paiback.app to get money back on flights when prices fall - use our referral code 811706852807 to get your first $5. The weekly chat rounds out with another NAHL junior team going belly up, pet acupuncture and a company really spent $500 MILLION on AI tokens…
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Transcript
Introduction to The Grocery Stick Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
From a makeshift recording studio in Brooklyn, welcome to The Grocery Stick with Jessica and Francis. Shut the front door. That is not what we agreed upon. Francis and Jessica. Meh, ignore that.
00:00:13
Speaker
We're Brooklynites and friends. We're here to talk, laugh, commiserate, and argue about all things travel sports-related, kid-related, and plain old life-related. It's Francis and Jessica, or I quit.
00:00:23
Speaker
Shh. Bingo. Episode 53. Hang on. One second. Sure.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yes. One of my all-time favorites.
Cultural Impact of The Princess Bride
00:00:45
Speaker
Episode 53, The Princess Bride. yes My daughter hasn't watched yet. ain't got Evan to watch it. I'm sorry.
00:00:55
Speaker
How is it that your daughter has never seen this Listen, I keep asking to watch it. I can't force him. My son listened to me and he watched it and he's like, that's the best movie ever. Totally. I was like, listen, not only is it the best movie ever. was like, when you're getting into college and into the workforce and all your bosses are my age, our age, the number of quotes that would come up in that movie that if somebody said that to you, which is my kids, and you knew what they were talking about, like your status is elevated like 100 times right above every other person your age who hasn't watched anything. Oh, I'm like, that Princess Bride.
00:01:35
Speaker
It's inconceivable. And if you don't know, right, it's inconceivable. And if you don't know what they're talking about, yes then you're immediately deemed an idiot. Well, you're just out of the conversation. i was like, listen, and it's like everyone keeps, everyone our age keeps quoting from that movie.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, because it's fantastic. Yeah, so so. Both my kids. As I texted you the other day coming back from Vancouver on the red eye, was in line and i hear this, oh my God, this woman would not stop chatting to whoever the guest was.
00:02:07
Speaker
Right?
Celebrity Encounters at Airports
00:02:08
Speaker
but bla but Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like holy fuck, this woman will not stop talking. I turn around and she's like a jet blue VIP, I guess.
00:02:18
Speaker
Mm-hmm. gate agent. OK, now I'm like the fuck. It's like 11 p.m. on a Friday night. We're on the red eye to Vancouver. it's It's going to be a four and half hour flight. So no one's getting any sleep.
00:02:31
Speaker
And you'll land at like eight o'clock. I'm like, who is so high maintenance in Vancouver? They need to they can't navigate the airport, an empty airport by themselves to the gate.
00:02:41
Speaker
Right. Mandy Patinkin. All right. Yeah, because he's like a doddering old man now. Old man still got the tiny, the ponytail. Sure. The mini ponytail that old men seem to be wearing these days. Anyways, and he gets on.
00:03:01
Speaker
He's totally a nice guy. I'm not even sure he needed that escort. Maybe his assistant said you need an escort. Who the hell knows? What was going happen in the gate? Like people, you know what? As I just said, half the people don't even recognize who he is. Right.
00:03:14
Speaker
Okay. He gets on, but this is the bad. He gets on the plane. He's sitting right in front of me. Okay. On the plane. And, people start coming on.
00:03:26
Speaker
I'm going, Mandy, you're best, man. You're the best. my God. typically go New York. You're the best. I love you. Because they're New Yorkers. And he's a Broadway guy. And he's a Broadway guy. As he's rolling down to the back of the plane. And it's, oh, thank you. And a couple people, hey. Then one guy comes on the plane.
00:03:47
Speaker
And the seats are two by two. Right. I'm in row four. He's in row three. OK. And he's in the window seat. OK. And like, man, day my wife absolutely freaking loves you.
00:04:05
Speaker
i love your work. that Yep. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. is it i mean At least he asked, is it okay if I take a picture? And he's like, sure. And I thought he was just going to take a picture of the guy to prove that he was on the way. But no, he wants a fucking selfie. He's in the aisle.
00:04:22
Speaker
Everyone's trying to board. There's already two people. Like, there's the guy in the aisle is already sitting there. And Mandy's like, well, I think you should ask him first if it's okay, if you're going get in the picture. And the guy's like, oh, sure, sure, sure. So the guy leans into the aisle. It's the most awkward selfie. Leans into the aisle, takes his picture, and then moves on. I'm like, oh, my God. I think it's awesome. It's such, like, a typical fan moment.
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, most New Yorkers, when we see celebrities, it's like, ah, hey, whatever, move on. like i Especially, say you're just in my fucking way. okay We see them in our hood in Brooklyn. They're all in Brooklyn Heights.
00:05:02
Speaker
I bumped into the Gyllenhaals and blah, blah, blah, and Skarsgård and everybody else. and they're all trying to be incognito with their sunglasses. You can tell Milo Welch them. And and it's like, hey, dude, just order your coffee faster. Get the fuck out of my way. Right.
00:05:16
Speaker
You're just another person living in Brooklyn. You don't get special treatment. Move it along, pal. yeah So i was a little shocked. But hey, Princess Bride, he's illegal Montoya. He is. He's my father. prepared to And like I said, you know, he's a he's quite the Broadway guy. i he is.
00:05:35
Speaker
huh You know, his entire his entire career up until i like struck that point was Broadway driven. Right. I didn't. And then so I read about going to look up his profile. I am DB. Oh, shit. like He's done quite a lot.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah. Since the days of the prince's bride. um And he's OK. And here's the best part. The best part is the dinner I had the night before. with my friends.
00:06:01
Speaker
Right. God's sister. She's off to Europe, I think, enjoying her herself. But she had time for dinner with me and a few other buddies. And one of the buddies is like, hey, guess who's living in my building?
00:06:17
Speaker
Mandy Patinkin. Amazing. I text him. I'm like, dude, he's right in front of me He's like, no way. I'm like, wouldn't it be great when I scare the shit out of him if I said, Mandy, I know where you live. Oh, my God. That would be fucking bananas. it would kick brother late even like Excuse me. Excuse me. Stalker. That would be terrible. Please get him off the plane. Francis on the no fly list.
00:06:45
Speaker
Oh my God. Dude, you'd need to be bailed out. That would be scary shit. Totally. If someone behind you says, I know where you live, and I can name the building in Vancouver where he's living. That's so stalkery, man. What a coincidence.
00:06:59
Speaker
Anyway, my buddy is a really big fan of his. And so he was so tickled pink that he bumped into the lobby of his apartment downtown Vancouver. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's Mandy Baden-Kin.
00:07:10
Speaker
So crazy. That's the first time in all my years. I mean, Vancouver's Hollywood North. In all my years of flying back and forth to Vancouver, that is the first time I've, oddly, I've met a celebrity On the flight. I guess the point is, if you're a big celebrity, you're flying private.
00:07:30
Speaker
Right. And you're not flying JetBlue, even if it's the front of the plane. Right. Right. Yeah. I don't. know He's a man of the people. Mandy, good for you. Flying JetBlue like the rest of us. Yeah. The only third flight to New York from Vancouver. Right. Right.
00:07:47
Speaker
Pre-COVID, he could have flown Cathay Pacific they got real in real business class or first class and really lived it up. ah You know what? I don't always think that it's always predicated on income from those guys.
00:07:58
Speaker
I think that some of them, like Mandy's just an old school kind of guy. Yeah. You know i mean? He's an older man. I don't know a lot of the older people. i mean, I think that there's a lot of sightings, I feel like, of older celebrities.
00:08:13
Speaker
i don't know. I can assure you, De Niro's not flying JetBlue. No, but you know what? we saw We saw Ethan Hawke in the JetBlue Terminal at JFK with get out of town his daughters. yeah No way. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I was with my daughter. We were at, what how do you say it? SIBO? SIBO? SIBO? Yeah.
00:08:32
Speaker
And we were in and we're walking around and it was early in the morning and it was busy. Yeah. And i'm just standing around and I am tired. I'm just like, and I don't pay attention to this shit. Like, I really genuinely do not...
00:08:46
Speaker
look around for people. Like I just don't. Yeah. I'm not that impressed, generally speaking. Like I'm like, whatever. And so we're standing there and we're online. I think we were online at H&H Bagels.
00:08:59
Speaker
And she elbows me like really fucking hard. And it's like 5.30 in the morning. Yeah. Elbows me so hard. And I go, look at her. i go, what? She goes, mom.
00:09:10
Speaker
She goes, mom. Look, look. And look at her. I go, what am I looking at? goes, look, right in front of us. It's Ethan and Maya Hawke. Holy shit. And I look at her and I go, how the fuck do you know who Ethan Hawke is? Yeah, exactly. Well, that's the other thing. Right. No, she knows him as Maya's dad. Maya's dad, right. And then, like, and then, well, did anyone accost them for pictures or take, like, pretend selfies with them in the back? Nobody bothered them at all. See, there you go. Not when was present. Nobody bothered them at all.
00:09:41
Speaker
No, nobody said anything. I mean, there was definitely a lot of those whispers going on. my God, do you see that? Do you see that? You look like the best is always somebody serving you. You you look a lot. Has anyone ever told you you look a lot like someone so celebrity? You look like Ethan Hawke. Did anybody ever tell you that? That would be me. I should have done that. I should have done that. Excuse me. good I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
00:10:02
Speaker
My daughter swears you are totally no my excuse me excuse me mind me sir 14 year old daughter excuse me sir excuse me sir my daughter swears that is this your daughter that your daughter is my home right would you mind taking the picture for us so funny i said to i said to my daughter i was like you should just go up and say hi yeah you know don't ask for any photos or anything but just be like your work i love you guys that's the best i love you guys love your work yeah have a great trip yeah yeah yeah don't overstate your welcome
00:10:36
Speaker
Right. I think I listen to Conan O'Brien's podcast and he tends to, people will come and say, hi, I love your work. And he'll sit there and it costs you for 20 minutes to have a conversation with you. And lot I just wanted to say I love your work. But working right now. I'm showing you. I love it when I'm doing it with you.
00:10:57
Speaker
Which is great. Oh, man. Yeah. They're all over our hood. Yeah, I mean, they're all over the place, period. like I mean, I had Ralph Fiennes hold a door for me at Odeon once. No shit.
00:11:07
Speaker
No shit. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's pretty cool. so nice. Yeah. So nice. I ran into Heath Ledger yeah in a wine store in the rain in on Court Street when he was around, you know, I mean, and still alive. Yeah, yeah, um yeah. Yeah. mean, I used to have run-ins all the time. Elijah Wood at the movie theater. Oh, man. told the kids. Yeah.
00:11:28
Speaker
That when they were one, I think they were one, maybe just born, we lived in Tribeca. And i was late for something. I came bombing out of the elevator.
00:11:41
Speaker
Nice. I literally almost ran in over Sienna Miller. Oh, I believe it. At the elevator bank. was like, sorry, excuse me. and he so And she's like very polite, very nice. And I was like, who's that tiny blonde? Oh, my God. Sienna Miller. I don't care. Whatever. I got to go. yeah Sorry. yeah All right. See you later. Apologies.
00:11:58
Speaker
know what movie she was filming, but she's in a recent movie and I saw it. Hey, and Trigger by Memory. Guys, I almost ran her over. in What was it? It was like some shooting i don't spy movie I saw recently.
00:12:10
Speaker
I feel like I haven't seen a real preview, like normally, unless I'm in a movie watching the previews. Really? Yeah, because like i don't you know i don't watch regular TV. Yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker
You know, on like regular TV stations. I just don't. And I don't have any ads for anything. So I'd have to actually go and seek out trailers to look at. Yeah. Or I see them when I go and I watch a movie that's currently showing in the theater.
00:12:36
Speaker
Right. Okay. Weird. Weird. Oh, I'm so stupid. The latest Jack Ryan movie. Hello, Francis. Wake the fuck up.
00:12:47
Speaker
on um On? I guess it's Amazon Prime. Oh, Amazon Prime. Yeah. Oh, right. Amazon's the one that has the Jack Ryan series story. yeah um What's his face in The Office? Again, reprising his role as Jack Ryan.
00:13:03
Speaker
Krasinski. um And then Sienna Miller is there. Anyways, it was a fairly entertaining show. You should watch it. I will check it out. oh But getting back to JetBlue for a second.
00:13:18
Speaker
Yes. So how was an airline that used to
Airline Service Quality and JetBlue
00:13:22
Speaker
be good? just thinking to myself. i was sitting there. i was sitting there. The Wi-Fi is dog shit.
00:13:31
Speaker
And eye the screen, the TV screen, which again, you know, they were, they were cool. The first to offer, maybe the only one still to offer de direct TV. And the seat backs that works as soon as you the plane. But like, this screen is so grainy. It reminds me of my like Commodore 64 computer for the Atari's we used to play. And I was like, what the fuck?
00:13:58
Speaker
And then i said, that like I look at the article. Oh, they haven't made a profit in six years. JetBlue? They're literally about to go bust. JetBlue? Yeah. No shit. They were desperately trying to merge with Spirit, which which went bust itself. Yeah, totally. Well, they were I thought they were trying to acquire Spirit. Merge, acquire, whatever else get to be more competitive. Now JetBlue's like praying that ah I think a Alaska Airlines...
00:14:26
Speaker
You can buy them so that they can we compete with United, Delta, and Southwest. Right? And and i was like, well, no wonder. I mean, fuck. I distinctly recall pre-COVID.
00:14:42
Speaker
well before COVID, we would fly JetBlue to, they have all the Caribbean routes, right, from New York? Yeah. So you'd fly there in the Caribbean, and it was like, it was awesome. You get on there, and there's like 100 different snacks.
00:14:53
Speaker
Those Terra Blue chips, I used to love. I used to love that too. Oh my God. Amazing. Amazing. It's fucking gone downhill. Like it's tough times at JetBlue Airlines.
00:15:04
Speaker
And don't know. I mean, I guess they're stuck in the middle. The problem is like the premium airlines like Delta in America, they've made record profits for the last six years. Yeah.
00:15:16
Speaker
And then you're at the bottom heavily discounted airlines. Some of the small ones like Breeze and Novello, they're doing well. Well, they're doing well because they're new. I guess. And so if you're stuck in the middle like JetBlue, you're neither premium nor are you deep discount. No, you're pedestrian.
00:15:34
Speaker
I guess fucked. Fucked. Yeah, but it's weird because I have to say, yeah i love my JetBlue flights. Even without the fanfare. I don't need a lot of fanfare. yeah know I like a drink service. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't really need your snacks. Don't get me wrong. Super nice people work at JetBlue. Yeah, and so I'm impressed by that. We have a friend who's a pilot for JetBlue. Okay.
00:15:54
Speaker
And I saw him at a barbecue like three weeks ago. I haven't seen him in a while. yeah um And i was I said, so how's it going? How's the job? What's going on?
00:16:08
Speaker
The culture at JetBlue for the employees yeah is so amazing. Yeah. He loves his job. He loves the company. yeah Like he has never had a single bad word ever to say. And he's not a guy who would just be like, ah yeah you're my friend, but you're also a client. So I can't say anything. I don't think he would ever do that. Okay. um As a matter of fact, we went, one of the times we went to Aruba.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. He and his wife were there. oh yeah. Because he had flown the flight down. Nice. Oh, and I remember you telling me that. I remember you telling me hadn't flown our flight down. He flew yeah yeah a flight down. Yeah.
00:16:46
Speaker
And so, you know, we hung out, we went to dinner, we hung around, and then only to find that he was flying our plane back. Hmm. You know, so my kids were really excited. Yeah. We were like, oh, this is going to be great. Like, I know the pilot. I know he's totally competent.
00:17:00
Speaker
Yeah. And we ended up having some mechanical issues in the air. shit. Yeah. Like, you know, they were like, um, so we need to turn around and go back. And so we circled. Yeah. In the airspace. Okay. And ended up going back and landing in Aruba.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah. and JetBlue was great. Mm. You know, and I realized that's a few years ago. Yeah. um But he still works for the airline And he loves the company. yeah All the people that work there really love the company. So even though they've, I think, had to cut corners a little bit and cut you know luxury, luxury-ish items to the yeah public, yeah they really take care of their employees. And I think that that's really important to highlight. Wow.
00:17:44
Speaker
It's not a funny matter, but you have to and you have to like laugh at the irony is that if you take care of your employees so well that you don't make money. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that is i don't know if yeah that's the reason. Your company company is going down. maybe It's all it's all but they're still hand in hand. But they still run $99 flights. like you know You're talking about an airline who, if they increased the amount of money that they charged everybody, for all the flights, they'd probably be better off.
00:18:13
Speaker
But they don't do it. I agree. But it's probably because they can't. I don't know. that Then the other airlines eat their lunch. I mean, it's a fairly efficient market. The CEO is not stupid. He's ae' a really experienced guy. Yeah. I'm just saying, you know like if you're not making any money, then how do you make money? I mean, you have to figure out. you raise prices and then people just drop off. Right. But at the same time, it's like, OK, so then they'll go to the other airlines. But the other airlines don't fly to the same destinations. Right. Which is so kind of a similar thing between JetBlue and Delta. I don't know if that's true these days anymore.
00:18:42
Speaker
Oh, I told breeze doesn't fly everywhere. Well, not breeze, but like if you raise prices, you're doing frontier doesn't fly everywhere. wo whoa, whoa, whoa, lady. I don't know what that name is. I'm just kidding. and i was going to say, wow, I'm making fun of you. So buddy if you get blue raises their prices, they're they're entering the territory of Southwest.
00:19:04
Speaker
Definitely United and definitely Delta. right Those two airlines. Oh, an American will eat their lunch when it comes to the product, which is the plane and the services. But if they're making more money, then they can provide more service. like It's cyclical. i mean lady Economics 100. Price elasticity. You know how it is. They raise prices. People leave JetBlue because for, let's say they charge $99 for a flight now and then they go to $150 to make some money. And then they're like, well, for $165,
00:19:32
Speaker
I'm at Delta with free check baggage. Okay. So I've never found a flight anywhere and Delta for 165 and any destination I needed to go. I don't know where you're flying, but JetBlue is definitely not flying $99 flights to Vancouver.
00:19:44
Speaker
Well, I don't, I mean, I don't, see i about to be fair, I've never looked at a flight to Vancouver because I'm going to but like when I go down to Florida or I go down to the Caribbean, you know, I go warm weather. if I book it enough in advance, Yeah. Right. And actually plan it. It's $99. I mean, I'm flying down to Savannah o this week.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm flying JetBlue and I'm flying JetBlue because it was $120. Like, yeah you know, it's like I don't need to spend a fortune to fly three hours. It makes no sense to me. Yeah. I'd rather allocate that money to like a European flight. Like, I don't need to do that here. yeah well I hope they survive.
00:20:23
Speaker
Because if they don't survive, then I really have no flight to Vancouver. See, my parents. yeah whats it So I'm out luck. I mean, I think the route they picked up, I guess routes are routes, right? So I think when Cathay canceled their route, just when COVID started, I guess JetBlue stepped in and said,
00:20:40
Speaker
right We want that that slot, the landing slot, right? That's where the rights are, the landing slot. So you assume if somebody, if JetBlue disappears, somebody else will pick up that slot.
00:20:51
Speaker
Right. It was a full flight. and Yeah, I mean, know. Once a day, you can make money, but. Right, I mean, you run it once a day. It's not, you know, it's not like it's a, you know, a commuter. But I don't know how much more they can charge because I paid a thousand bucks for that flight. because I was not happy about that.
00:21:04
Speaker
Round trip. Yeah. See, but I don't think that that's absurd. I paid almost the same thing to go to fucking Minneapolis on Delta. So I can pay 500 bucks and fly economy to to premium economy to San Francisco and Delta. And I got jerked around because they canceled my flight. They moved me to the nighttime. Like it was like, what the fuck? Oh, that's right.
00:21:24
Speaker
what the Fair point. Fair point. So I just think it's like at this point with the airlines, it's kind of a pick your poison kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. You are right.
00:21:35
Speaker
blue Because there's tradeoffs everywhere. Given that they're so good too. It reminds me of this guy. It's funny. Ended up being a good friend who's little one year older than me in college. But when I was running the Hong Kong business in my last investment banking job,
00:21:50
Speaker
He came in for interview and he worked for standard chartered bank and they had just shut down that segment of his business. And he comes in and he says, I'm like, dude, we go way back. Happy for you to join us in the research team as an analyst.
00:22:05
Speaker
Like, here's the package. And he looked at me and said, oh, that's like that base salary is like 40 percent lower than what I had at Standard Chartered. I said, I know. That's why we're still alive. And your company shut down. I'm like, what do we tell you, dude? The business model is the business model. I'm not a fan of it. We're all getting paid less, but we're all being squeezed. So you can either have a job and a lower paycheck. And if you really want this paycheck, I can help you.
00:22:29
Speaker
So he didn't take the job. don't know what happened to him. I'm like, well, at some point, you didn't understand that the last job you had for 40% more pay shut down. Right. For a good reason.
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, the airlines have been in turmoil since COVID. I mean, it's yeah been it's been almost six years since. I mean, since it's been bad. I mean, they weren't suffering in turmoil before that.
00:22:52
Speaker
But, you know, like bailouts and whatnot. But like since COVID, since the world shut down for almost an entire year, Yeah, nothing's really bounced back quite the same way. i You keep saying that, but I'm telling you, Delta's been making record profits for six years. it's a ability shit All over the place, too, in order to maintain their profitability. i mean, OK, so like, you know, you don't do drink service now under 300 miles.
00:23:17
Speaker
That's cutting back. It's scaling. It's okay scaling. Fair enough. I mean, they've definite've gone upmarket. The thing is that they've gone upmarket to business and premium segment. So they don't really care about the economy class. They're just like everybody premium economy and first class.
00:23:32
Speaker
Remember we talked about that and AI and the price gouging. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Price discovery. Excuse me. Price discovery. They're the best at it. And I'll ah i'll say... because I'm soft from my old age and I fly the front of the plane, their front of the plane is heaps better than the front of the plane at United and American. Just like, just product, new planes, food, what have you. Right.
00:23:57
Speaker
Points. Anyways, personal preference. they i did Yes. Ultimately, they all do suck compared to carriers in Asia. But then the European airlines are even worse because I booked.
00:24:07
Speaker
Have you booked flights to Europe recently? No. Like British Airways and some them. I'm like, fuck. Every European airline now, you get the price. Even if you're applying premium economy and you think you've paid for the flexible fare.
00:24:22
Speaker
Right. Which has some cancellation or refundability. Right. When you choose your seats, they charge you more. Right. It's always an upsell. I'm like, what what? are you talking about?
00:24:34
Speaker
There's no free seat in premium economy, even though I paid for this ticket. get Nope. yeah It's the same way on all of them, though, because I've flown all of them this year. JetBlue, you have to pay. you but yeah i pay on Delta, not in the front of the plane. If I want something that's closer to the front of the plane or if I want something that has a little bit more room or whatever, I'm paying a premium price. If you fly comfort class in Delta, there's no fee to pay. Bullshit.
00:25:01
Speaker
Bullshit. There's definitely a fee. Oh, no shit. Like for you, if you're the cardholder whatever. Maybe that's what is. Maybe not. Maybe that's what it is. But I'm not the cardholder. He's the primary cardholder when we share an account. So you have to pay the two of these. Yeah, you screwed every time. Not just like a special exit row. Like any seat? No, I won't do an exit row. I don't want be in exit row. Any seat.
00:25:23
Speaker
Any seat. Fuck. I didn't know that. Mm-hmm. Yeah, same thing on JetBlue. I did not know that. Yeah, same thing on JetBlue. thought I was only on JetBlue because that i happened to be in JetBlue. was like, fuck you, JetBlue. I paid for the ticket. Now I got to pay another 49 bucks to choose seat? Yeah, no, Comfort Plus in Delta is... no shit. It has a fee.
00:25:40
Speaker
Oh. yeah they don't I mean, unless you go in and they give it to you in an upgrade because of your account status. Right, right, right, right. And then you don't for it. When you're booking your tickets, if you want Comfort Plus rather than economy, it's an extra fee. Okay. It's higher that means that having status...
00:25:57
Speaker
either through the credit card or whatever, means everything. by It means you actually save money. Yeah, it means everything. Because like four or five times a year and you're paying for that seat, you bo just pay for the credit card. Right. I mean, it's i don't know how much it is individually, but what I will tell you is like it's like you know it's like the difference of paying between economy and first class. Like comfort plus is a lot more money than economy.
00:26:19
Speaker
Yeah, um there you go. and you don't even have to And you don't have to pay for like the... $650 reserve card. You could just pay for the gold card. I don't know. but I don't know if that's true. Actually, I know that for the gold card. Yeah. You get free baggage.
00:26:33
Speaker
Okay. That I know because i had this conversation twice in Minneapolis because when I was leaving to go back, They were like, I see you have a Delta Amex. And I said, I do.
00:26:44
Speaker
And they said, are you the primary account holder? And I said, I'm not. And they were like, and that's the problem. They were like, a gold card because you will save all of this money checking luggage. At the very least, just checking luggage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah Yeah.
00:26:58
Speaker
So, but even though I'm on the account and I ah like, and the cards in my name, they would, yeah I still don't get the discount. I don't get the free luggage. Yeah. And is that because you're, wait, do you know what card, is that a gold or a platinum or reserve? I think it's a platinum reserve. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not gold.
00:27:17
Speaker
Right. Okay, okay, okay. Interesting. All right. Well, there you go. ah Yeah, so I don't reap any benefit as the co-account. Did we talk about, did have does ring a bell? Did we talk about, based on this stuff, payback.app?
00:27:32
Speaker
No. I don't think so. Really? I don't think so. Shit. What's up? For once, AI is being put to good use for us as consumers.
Apps for Tracking Flight Prices
00:27:40
Speaker
So there's an app called Payback.
00:27:42
Speaker
P for Peter, AI. Yeah. Back. dot app Wait, say that again? So you pay back. P-A-I-P-A-I. P-A-C-K, yeah. So you know the word payback, but it's A-I instead of A-Y. Yeah, I'm going right now while you're talking. So basically you book a flight, you pay cash for it on one of the big airlines, you forward them your...
00:28:05
Speaker
Receipt. And they monitor it for you. Price goes down. They negotiate a flight credit into your account from the airline. No rebooking, no nothing, no change of ticket. It's just here's the money back in credit. Now, the catch is they take a 20 percent commission. OK, well, because they can't get that from your ticket, they have to charge you. Okay.
00:28:26
Speaker
Fine. Whatever. So, okay. So for example, like my daughter to, to rally for college, I pre book lot of one way tickets for the year. cause then we can change it later. Right. And now instead of me trying to like, remember the price, the price issue, issue the price algorithm. Yeah. now fucks you Okay. So now, now I just pay the price, a reasonable price for the ticket. I don't have to worry about the price or when there's a right time to so-called book it. And they cycle through every day. And when the price drops, I get an alert.
00:28:59
Speaker
Hey, we just got you a $50 credit from Delta. It's in your account. Thank you very much. We'll charge your credit card $10. Crazy.
00:29:09
Speaker
Holy shit. Crazy. How did you find that? I follow um the points guy. Yeah. invest And they were talking about it. And I mean, I should send you a referral link so I can get five bucks and you can get five bucks. for Yeah, sure.
00:29:25
Speaker
But yeah. And so, you know, I was like, okay, I'll try it out on my flights first. was like, it's fucking unbelievable. I was like, Nida's gotten two $50 credits already. I've gotten like 40 on my flight to DC with Buddy Boy.
00:29:42
Speaker
And it's as's i just told my brother because my brother, his nephew is going to school of Pittsburgh. I'm like, this is fucking great. Book all your tickets, throw the receipts in the system, and you just keep getting flight credits back every time the price goes down. Oh, it's so freaking awesome. That's really cool. Yeah.
00:29:58
Speaker
And I mean, you always wait. Oh, shit. I thought you remember. See, you have my locator code. Don't rebook the flight. how i sta No, no, no. There's no rebooking. And they just, david again, they must have negotiated in the background with the airlines. They listen.
00:30:13
Speaker
you don't want to lose them a passenger, right? People get pissed off that the price has changed. So yeah let us handle it. Give people flight flight credits. If they have a flight credit, what does that mean?
00:30:24
Speaker
They're loyal to you. Yeah. They're going to buy another ticket with that money and so on and so forth. So I think it's a pretty good system. Crazy.
00:30:35
Speaker
Try it. There's another one called Junova. J-U-N-O-V-A. I'm sure there's more, but which I didn't like so much. I tried it. It was kind of clunky. Okay. So Payback, I thought, was the most proactive and fascinating and very useful. You guys should do it.
00:30:49
Speaker
I'm going to check it out. Yeah. I'm absolutely going to check it out. i can Nothing to lose. Holy shit. nothing I discovered like two weeks ago. Crazy. Nothing to lose. It's awesome. And if you don't like it, you can just stop tracking and whatever. Off you go.
00:31:03
Speaker
That's crazy. No problem. Yeah. That's super cool. Yeah. yeah um
00:31:10
Speaker
What else did write down for episode? Rochester Americans now folding. Oh, done. Did you see that? I did see that. Done. Finished. So now I'm wondering, are we just noticing this because our our our boys are junior hockey age or and and this happens every year, two or three teams go bust?
Junior Hockey Teams' Financial Struggles
00:31:28
Speaker
Or is this like a knee is this like the the edge of the front edge of a trend because junior hockey is such a bad business now? Yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
you know there I feel like there's always talk and always rumors about teams folding. yeah But I feel like this is the first time that it's actually followed through and come into fruition. i don't write because I don't recall a time ever hearing about something like that and then watching it happen and until now. like yeah i mean you felt so and i do i know it Two teams and in four weeks, right? I i mean i knew i knew about maine o Yeah, you knew a while ago. Yeah, I knew before that they were in trouble. But, you know, like I said, I i know at least one owner of a team. Yeah. And they're always in the red.
00:32:19
Speaker
So, you know, you never really know exactly like whether or not the team's going to be there the next day. i would also argue that they're expanding into the West. Yes. So, you know, maybe there's just not enough money need um need for like the Rochester team here or the main team here and they need to, you know, i don't know if it works with charters or whatever. i I imagine it probably does to a degree. Like there's probably some nuance. The league, right? You got talk the league about it. Yeah. There's probably some nuance that we don't know about that yeah we haven't, you know, dove deep enough into. yeah Yeah. Where, you know, they're expanding by like, I think so five teams out West, four teams out West. And so, yeah you know,
00:33:04
Speaker
I don't know, maybe that's the balance. and And the same thing with, you know, NCDC, right? NCDC is also expanded, but I think that was more like 18 teams or something like that. Yeah. Overall. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. I just, I think, I just think the landscape of the sport is changing so much.
00:33:23
Speaker
Oh, that big time. You know, it's really hard. um I think it's really hard to keep up with the shift at this point. Yeah. Evan got an email during the other day from a team.
00:33:37
Speaker
didn't even heard this. In the VIJHO. What's that? Vancouver Island Junior. Oh, okay.
00:33:49
Speaker
And the coach is nice. Hey, buth blah blah, blah, blah, blah. It's through Elite you know the elite Prospects portal. So it's the screen people. They send these spam out people. Sure. And I'm hey, you know what? Come play for us for a year. And and then you can we send kids on to the BC and the AJ. And I was like, it just got me thinking again, like, fuck. Like, if your aim is to play for college, play in college, you really do have to take a step back and say to yourself, like,
00:34:18
Speaker
even pre NIL changes where the Canadian is coming down, like you're in the U S and you said every lease expanding and you say to yourself, okay,
00:34:30
Speaker
If I'm in the USHL, it's a lock. I'll play somewhere. I might not like where I play, but more than you if I'm good enough to play in the USHL, I am getting found by a college. Yeah. That's probably given, right? Yeah.
00:34:42
Speaker
Okay. And then pre-NIL changes, you did have, I think, BCHL. was already on the move out of this Canadian hockey league and into the U S NCAA program right itself. And, and again, like if you look at the rosters, BCHL, I think like 95, if not higher percent of the of guys already have college commitments and then they end up.
00:35:06
Speaker
Okay. We can argue about whether that's, chicken or egg and some kind of scam but kind of but anyways like they pick t they they they tend to draft kids who are already committed so that they can look good right okay fine so that's their scam so if you're in the ushl and the bchl you're pretty much guaranteed to play in college and then it fell off precipitously right in the now and then ncdc and whatever right so But if you're like looking at that and you can see it's very open based because thanks to the internet, you can see all the rosters and who were and the bios.
00:35:42
Speaker
how do all like How do all these, oh sorry and and they can't make money. Right. How do all these lower tiered junior B, junior C, especially in Canada, I don't understand how they exist. Like when you talk to a kid who can play there, and we know, we one shall not name that person, but one of our Cyclone kids is playing junior B or maybe was playing junior B, but in Canada.
00:36:08
Speaker
Where the fuck are you going with that? I have no idea. Like, and then as a parent, and sorry, I'm like, that's like, that's like playing double A cyclones hockey forever.
00:36:21
Speaker
Right. And not growing up and say guys, Well, I mean, they can't play forever. goll be forever you right They're going to age out of that as well. yeah yeah And, you know, i guess to a degree, right, I think you need to take into consideration also that not every kid matures at the same rate.
00:36:40
Speaker
And so for kids entering college, you know you want them to be mature enough to be able to manage themselves and not fail out. Right. And so if you have a kid, let's just say hypothetically, who is not of that ilk, is of a different type of maturity level where, you know, they need constant guidance.
00:37:02
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I feel like playing junior hockey, even if it doesn't lead to a college situation. right Is a benefit for these kids. I mean, you know, you talk about gap years, right? You can take a gap year. You can work. You can take a gap year. You can travel. You can take a gap year and you can play hockey. And the thing about playing hockey in the gap year is that it's a discipline. Yeah.
00:37:25
Speaker
but Not so different than working. There's a little bit of a difference like when you start to get more granular, but when you take the big overview and you pull the lens out, it's not that different. You get up, you have a schedule, you go, you work, you're committed, you show up, you do the best job that you can, you learn, right? And so I feel like for those people who are still playing junior B or whatever that looks like in Canada, like maybe there's just a different, a different growth status. I know, but you're saying, but my, I guess my beef is you're look,
00:38:01
Speaker
your kid my kid if they want to play junior hockey sure right it could be anywhere bc na ncdc like it's it's it's free it's free quote-unquote free right yeah i think my point is like even if you're not mature enough everyone has to be mature enough by 20 because you age out that's one right yeah two like if you're not ready for college and you want to get a job or take the gap year, that's cool. But, you know, junior B, C, you're paying to play. Right. Well, it's the same thing with USPHL and NA3. Right. So now you're paying for that privilege to pay. I guess my beef is like,
00:38:46
Speaker
for that privilege to pay i guess my be is like And I get the the the the the shitty model, revenue model for junior hockey. But, yeah, again, different structure, different folks, as you said. But I'm like, listen, if I have to pay yeah the junior team for you to play, I'm ah fucking go get a job, dude. Or there's another way for you to mature before you go to college than to for me to extend the so-called dream by paying another 15 grand for you to go play junior. That's, I guess, kind of my beef. Yeah, no, and and I totally get that. But I just think that, you know, different families have different visions of of how a kid would grow into that.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah. Right. and And I guess so I try. Look, I personally yeah not do another year of pay to play. Yeah. You know, i know. Absolutely not. And most of those families, by the way, most of those families.
00:39:37
Speaker
The wealthier families are definitely not letting the kid play junior PNC. They could fucking do something else, right? Or go work in a family company, I don't care, whatever. And that's my thing. and then And then the working class families who really should be tired of paying 10 grand a year yeah for hockey, right? If your kid can't get into a tuition-free team, really?
00:39:55
Speaker
You're gonna take another 10, 15 grand and send your kid packing? yes I guess. I guess. That's more stress. I guess. You know what? And maybe some of these kids are just never suited for college anyway.
00:40:06
Speaker
Right? I think that there's a there's ah point and a layer that we're discounting, which is some of these kids may not go to school. Maybe some of these kids go to trade school. Right? Yeah. like You just don't really know. um i have a buddy like that. His kid was like dejected last year about the whole college process.
00:40:25
Speaker
And he's like, okay. You know, his educated family. He got in god into colleges. he just He got into some kind of weird mental state. And yeah and and the dad said, fine.
00:40:37
Speaker
I'm not going to force you. If you don't want to college, then you got to get job. Right. Get a job. Like I said, go to trade school. You got to pay me rent. You got to grow up. Yeah, you got to do something. You can't just sit here and like wallow in self-pity. Right. And you can't play video games all day. Like you just like you got to get up and you got to be part of part of the human race. Pseudo gap year.
00:40:56
Speaker
He did that. And then after seeing his friends. have fun in college. He told his dad this year, all right, I'm ready to go. Rock and roll. You need it in the air. Freaking awesome. I was like, that's great. And then off i think he went Rutgers, whatever it it is. Rutgers is great. Freaking great. I know. I had no idea, by the way. no it was amazing. It's amazing. I had no idea how great Rutgers was until I visited. It's come a long way. It's come a long way from when we were here. I always looked at it. I was like,
00:41:24
Speaker
like Jersey school, whatever. But I was like, wow. You would have thought it's another SUNY of some sort, right? They have like these crazy large five campus network, yeah which is amazing. yeah They never knew. i was like, wow, this is crazy. aren't they are And they're a Big Ten school, which is even more crazy. well i think Yeah, I think depending on the campus, there's a D1 and there's a D3 campus. Yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
yeah right As well. That's how big they are. but it's crazy It's Big Ten football. i mean yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Come on. That's sick. I know. So anyways, I'm like, so there's, but, but to me, I was like, okay, there's a sensible example.
00:41:59
Speaker
Yeah. And that came out. I think he was playing soccer or basketball. He could have said, that Hey dad, pay to play. and Let me put me in some kind of league where I can just fuck around all year. but The thing about soccer and basketball is yeah you can find that, you know, so readily available pretty much everywhere.
00:42:16
Speaker
It's an outdoor sport. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like, I mean, basketball, yes. You can patch the grass or get some concrete. Right. Like, you can find it literally anywhere. think that, like, you know, the hockey conversation is a little different only because you can't find it everywhere, which has always been part of the complaint, is that it's not pedestrian.
00:42:33
Speaker
it is... hard to find ice. I mean, you've been saying it for as long as you yeah know your son's been away, right? it Like you go up and you're trying to find ice all the time as soon as the season's done. It's just, it yeah different yeah it's a different beast.
00:42:46
Speaker
um I'm not discrediting soccer or basketball in any way. yeah um it's just an easier facilities sure yeah It's just an easier thing to Even at college, yeah I look around and you in general, if you're a college with a club team, the club team plays at a private slash public rink, right? yeah Somewhere else, like 20 minutes off campus, right right? So you drive there, and you do your thing, and okay, fine, whatever.
00:43:09
Speaker
but But even in the colleges that have a D1 or D3 program, and then an affiliated club team, that club team doesn't, from my knowledge, that club team doesn't get to use the ice on campus. Are you fucking kidding Yeah, that's crazy.
00:43:27
Speaker
That's fucking stupid. At Cornell, I was looking at it and i was like, wait a second. if my son plays club there, he'd have to drive 20 minutes into Ithaca to get to the rink. There's a fucking rink on campus that's not being used 24 seven. Yeah. But it's a D one designated rink so they can do whatever they want.
00:43:46
Speaker
Right. I was like, well, that's horseshit. Yeah. Anyways. So, um, yeah. Anyways, Victoria Island, I'm sorry, Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. And I just kind of chuckled to myself. It's a nice place. It's a nice place to hang out for a year. It's definitely a nice place. You know?
00:44:04
Speaker
It'd be worst thing. That's not true, actually. You can go to Odessa, Texas. It depends. Well, Victoria Island is a big place. Which, unfair, I've never been to. But I imagine it's not that great.
00:44:15
Speaker
And if you're in Victoria, the city. Yeah. On Victoria Island? Sure. Just like high people, if you get to the BCHL and you get to play for Coquitlam Express... That's right in on the outskirts of Vancouver. Life is pretty good. Yeah. That's an urban area. If you get sent to Powell River.
00:44:33
Speaker
Yeah. Which I don't even know where that is. Exactly. And if you looked at a map and then tried to get there, you're like, oh, fuck. What is it like a train, bus and a ferry? That's like teeny tiny town.
00:44:46
Speaker
Really? Not close to anything. Oh. Yeah. Look, tradeoffs. Hey. Tradeoffs. I get it. I get it.
00:44:57
Speaker
By the way, which USHL team is in Iowa? Waterloo. Waterloo. Is that where one of our other buddies played? Yes.
00:45:09
Speaker
Okay. yeah That's Iowa. That's not North Dakota. No. Got No, no, no, no, no. That's Iowa. Waterloo is Iowa. It's a about two hours two hours away from the main airport.
00:45:22
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Got it. One Evan's ah
00:45:27
Speaker
teammates got an invite to the training camp. And I was like, where the fuck is that? And was like, oh wait a second. That may be where what's his face went. It is. god a Got it. gotta Got it. Got it. Got it. Yeah. That's where he played his first year.
00:45:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Cool. All right. um So anyways, very sad that a second team has gone under. I hope it's not at the beginning of a trend because they're releasing kids in back into the system and it's already hyper competitive as it is into the next couple of closing months.
00:45:55
Speaker
Yes, it is. To find a team. Yeah. um it's not It's not the best.
00:46:03
Speaker
Oh. This one's going to be near and dear to your heart. Wonderful. I can't wait. Oh, wait, wait. Before I get to it. First thing, I thought this was really funny. All the AI shit. One company, i think it was i think it was Amazon.
00:46:16
Speaker
One company that didn't didn't remember or thought that its people would use AI responsibly. And all these big tech companies, which started out informally publishing who are the biggest users of AI as like a badge of honor. Yeah.
00:46:34
Speaker
company ended up with $500 million, with a capital M, $500 million my AI tokens. Oh, my five hundred million dollar bill oh my god for ai tokens oh my god And so finally, you know, you've seen the news.
00:46:53
Speaker
Amazon, Meta, all these guys, they're like, no, no more using AI indiscriminately. We're not publishing. We don't give a shit how much you use it. It needs to be used for a productive purpose. In fact, if you use it and you're not productive, you're at a big negative, which obviously in intuitively is like, yeah, hello. Right. It's like any other tool.
00:47:11
Speaker
Right. that you want for your job. What's the point of just like people were using it for the weather and wasting tokens. Why? Because that's up because it's it's like, this what tell people all the time when you're in the company. People respond to incentives.
00:47:24
Speaker
If you tell people, hey, we're going to publish who are the top users of AI because that's the way forward. People that are going to fake it, right? They're going oh, I'll do every little thing. AI, order my lunch. AI, what's the weather? AI, everything. And just burn through tokens. That's bananas. That's just silly.
00:47:42
Speaker
it' is It is totally stupid. So anyways, 500 million. I don't even know if it's CFO. I don't care how big your company is. If you see a bill for $500 million dollars on AI tokens and you can you know as a CFO you haven't increased your revenue stream by $500 million dollars off the line. It's like, what? the Shut it down yeah right now. And so in the bigger AI model, I have this chat with friends. It's like, guys, the AI business model, it's screwed, right? Like you...
00:48:12
Speaker
there The fact that it never gets tired as a selling point sounds good as a consumer or user, but not good you run a company because while it's running the background and burning through thousands of dollars of tokens that you're not keeping track of, yeah your bill can be quite large yeah if you don't set a ah limit. but It's funny. I don't think I realized how quickly that could surmount.
00:48:36
Speaker
Oh, my God. i don't like like It's crazy. like and I'm sitting here and I'm thinking about it. I'm like, Wow. They bring guys on CNBC and, oh, how much how much do your engineers burn through? And one guy was like, oh, I think it's like 200 bucks a day. And like, 200 bucks a day?
00:48:52
Speaker
200 bucks a day, 365, like a few thousand engineers. Think about that number. Yeah, that's bananas. So that business model is bad. Yeah. Right. And as you and as people shut down their corporate use of AI because of those bills, then the token price has to rise for fewer users to get back that money. So they'll never make it back. I don't know how this model ends. Boom, bust cycle. We know how it kind of ends in here for a little bit. But like.
00:49:16
Speaker
Holy shit. That was a crazy story that I saw. But the one I really wanted to get to was.
Pet Acupuncture Benefits
00:49:23
Speaker
b bing bing Yeah. Pet acupuncture.
00:49:26
Speaker
Uh-huh. Sure. I just saw an article about that. Yeah, no, it's a big deal. Have you ever tried that? I have not tried it, but I also don't have a dog right now who has that kind of need.
00:49:38
Speaker
You don't think that the Fresh Prince could get a benefit or maybe some some anxiety relief? Maybe. it's only for pain. I don't know. i don't know if it's for, I don't know if there's a direct, yeah you know, key for yeah anxiety in dogs. I don't, I mean, I know it's known for people, right? People do acupuncture all the time.
00:50:00
Speaker
To relax. Yeah, to relax. I don't know if it works the same way for dogs. I do know that it's pain related. Oftentimes it's for dogs that have like, you know, arthritis, hind end issues, you know, mobility stuff.
00:50:12
Speaker
Like I know it's used for that, but I've never really looked at it. Um, in terms of, you know, emotional support. Have you met anybody who's done it? I have not personally met anybody who's done it, but I do know about it and I know about it when I say i know about it. I know about it yeah on like a surface level.
00:50:29
Speaker
Um, yeah, there's also acupressure that they do for dogs. They do dog massage. There's a lot of massage stuff happening. And dogs just sit, sit still there. and No problem. Well, yeah, cause it feels good.
00:50:41
Speaker
I guess. Yeah, it feels good. I mean, pets is hyper fidgety. No, won't sit still for anything. No, everything. Good point. Yeah. m Okay. Anyways, I thought about you.
00:50:52
Speaker
ah Dog acupuncture. Everything dog related, right? all ah One thousand million percent. I know. Anything pet related. I know. going to call my friend Jessica. I know. And see what's going on.
00:51:07
Speaker
Yeah, that's the cross I bear. But even human health. I was going to ask you, like, I have a persistent vitamin D deficiency. It's awful. So I get pills. Oh, by the way, that means my physical is coming up next week. so we'll have an update on whether my stupid oatmeal eating and walking and biking around has made an impact to my life. We're going to find out. We're going to circle back to that. and We're going to find out in two weeks. Yeah, when you're done. Okay. But I have this vitamin constant, vitamin D division last like several years.
00:51:37
Speaker
And you take a supplement. What Do you take a supplement? i take a supplement. But what is that? I mean, I'm out in the sun all the time. Is that my skin pigment is not processing the the sun properly? Like, what why am I deficient? I don't live in London or Vancouver where it's gray. a good ah So, I don't know. It could be an underlying issue of something else.
00:51:57
Speaker
I have many underlying issues. Yeah, I mean, it might be worth it might be worth you know looking into and mentioning it at your visit. Yeah. Well, no, I do. I mean, they come on the blood test and then they just go here. Here's a prescription for vitamin D supplements. Bang. Take one a month kind of thing. OK. And then.
00:52:14
Speaker
Well, OK. So but here's the thing, right? When you walk into a doctor's appointment, you still need to be your own advocate. So, yes, you have a self-advocacy in those moments is very important where, you know, I mean, I don't know how long this has been going on, but you walk in, they do the blood test and they do the same thing. yeah And you sit there and you go, hey, so so this isn't working.
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Like this isn't working. I don't know why you still have me taking the supplement. I don't, you know, it's still not, my body's still not processing it correctly. Sun is doing nothing. I mean, dietary, you could always reinforce it with dietary like d three Right.
00:52:47
Speaker
But if none of that's working, then it's like, you got to look at it and be like, okay, so we need to explore why. Because it does, your body just doesn't willy nilly that kind of stuff. Right. If you're not processing it, there's a physical reason why.
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah. You know, my love of doctors and. Yeah, but you but you should enjoy this then. Just like putting your thumb on them and being like, what the hell? It's like every time I see the kidney stone guy, he's like, oh there's a little stone we should go. I'm like, no.
00:53:13
Speaker
Yeah. But you'll be in pain. I'm I don't care. ah I don't want the surgery. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. and No thanks. Yeah. I mean, i you know, i think I think all of those things depend on the degree to which you want to one feel better or heal.
00:53:28
Speaker
Yeah. Right. And two, whether or not you have mental fortitude to get from before through it to the after. Clearly I do not. Yeah. Well, I mean, look. I've stalled. my My path to self-actualization has stalled at the doctors. But you know what? Here's the thing. Not every recommended surgery is a necessity. Yeah.
00:53:50
Speaker
Surgeons like to cut. Yeah. I mean, i watch but that's what they do. That's my fear. like Oh, every excuse. Hey, you need surgery. Yeah, they like to cut. So, you know, it depends. Like when it came down to my pancreas yeah situation and they were like, need surgery. And like a whole entire room full of people unanimously agreed. Oh, by the way. Why would I say no? Okay, so did you get a second opinion on that? Hell no. Absolutely not.
00:54:12
Speaker
Oh, you didn't? No. No time? um it wasn't i just It wasn't necessary. It was what was. I mean, it was like, you know, it was scans. I guess the second opinion, you know, it was like between the initial doctor, the geneticist, and then yeah the surgeon. like yeah And because they put me in front of my case in front of the multidisciplinary board, there were like 30 other people. You already weighed in. So it wasn't like I needed to go take it somewhere else. I just felt like, okay, i just felt like okay no, this is not. I'm not taking a chance.
00:54:44
Speaker
Right. i just wonder whether or not doctors get offended. Yeah, they do. Of course they do. They do, Because they're people. sure Just the same way as, like, my daughter's teachers get offended. Like, you know, and then. Does the second doctor have...
00:54:58
Speaker
any what's the word not skin in the game but does a second doctor have any skin in the game to be contrarian or to say they don't look at it that way oh yeah Yeah, they don't look at it that way. They they look at it as as, you know, for the most part, i believe my belief is is they look at it as like their job, you know, yeah supported by the Hippocratic Oath is to not do any harm. And so, you know, I think they go into a second opinion with a fresh slate.
00:55:29
Speaker
You know, and they just kind of look at scans and they look at notes and, right you know, and then they cross-reference it with their own experience and their own education, right? Because not every doctor knows all the same things, which I think is kind of really important to always remember. Yeah, yeah, um yeah.
00:55:44
Speaker
And then they base that, they base their opinions, their second, their quote, second opinion yeah on knowledge and information, not on feeling. I mean, you know, at a certain point, i think if you offend a physician,
00:55:57
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it's not disagreeing with them per se or saying no to a surgery. I think there's like, you know when there's an inference that they're not doing their job or they don't know what they're talking about, I think that they do get offended because I mean, really, who wouldn't?
00:56:09
Speaker
um I mean, but I think that cut me. Yeah, but I think they all want second opinion. I think that they basically look at it as, as you know, you're a patient, you're a product. Yeah. It's a business. yeah yeah Right. You know, you can do whatever you want. There's no attachment. There's no physical, yeah mental, emotional attachment to this. It's like, okay. And if you say no, yeah they think you're making a mistake. They'll probably say, I think you're making a mistake, but you still have agency. And so you can pick up and walk out of whatever office you want to walk out of and you can walk into whatever office you want to walk into.
00:56:43
Speaker
you know, you have agency. Right. Yeah. No matter what they do or what they say. Well, you kind of their mercy because you don't have the knowledge, right? Yeah. But at the same time, it's like, you know, look, there are people who I have known in the past. Let's just say, for instance, and this is a little bit off topic, but on topic at the same time.
00:57:01
Speaker
i knew someone who had terrible teeth. Yeah. And they just never, ever went to the dentist, like never, ever went to the dentist because they were fundamentally afraid. Yeah. And so panicked all the time that they couldn't bring themselves to go.
00:57:15
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Their teeth were fucking disgusting, like really awful. So bad. But no matter what anybody said. Yeah. The fear was, you know, prevalent and dominant and they just never went.
00:57:29
Speaker
Hmm. It's not right. But in my opinion, like I don't agree, but that's their version of agency. Hmm. My teeth are filthy. They're disgusting. I don't care because I can't overcome my fear. So I just decide not to do it.
00:57:44
Speaker
Even though every dentist tells me I need to come in and get a cleaning. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. um Okay. Hmm. We'll think about that. Yeah.
00:57:56
Speaker
Sure. ah Well, that all went by really fast. I can't believe that. That was pretty cool. It is pretty cool. Do you have anything you want to end on before we get to the dad jokes? Just how I don't want to do the dad jokes.
00:58:10
Speaker
Oh, but you're so good at it now. I'm like. I'm taking a class right now where it's all memorization. I feel like my RAM is full. i just
00:58:20
Speaker
but there's a part of me There's a part of me that kind of got a kick out of you never getting the dad joke. but now But now I'm excited because you get them. Yeah. And I'm like, this is fucking awesome. I don't get all of them. Well, now going to choose. See, but now now I'm going to choose them knowing that you'll probably get them because you're really good with the wordplay.
00:58:44
Speaker
Yeah, because I'm a cunning linguist.
00:58:48
Speaker
ah sorry Hang on second. I've watched so many British comedies recently. thought you were going to say you were a cuntilingus. Well, that's the play on words.
00:59:00
Speaker
Anywho. I watched a really bad movie last night. What was it? On Netflix. And it was... jen And it's very disappointing. It's very disappointing that I watched this show. ah Sorry. That I found this show to be so bad.
00:59:16
Speaker
Because I was hoping that it was gonna be good. Okay. But first of all, It's a Jennifer Lopez
Critique of a Jennifer Lopez Rom-Com
00:59:21
Speaker
movie. Okay. Generally, I like her movies. they' like and you do They're entertaining. I know they're a little plasticky, but hey, but whatever, man.
00:59:28
Speaker
and Entertaining. Yeah. She just made a movie. Is this the one where she's like the the one the woman in the wilderness? like she's the It's called Office Romance. Oh, yeah. go No, that's a different movie.
00:59:40
Speaker
Just came out, 2026. And the reason why it's disappointing it got 51% Rotten Tomatoes. that's not terrible. Oh, please. 51%? Everybody hates it. Oh, yeah.
00:59:52
Speaker
oh Okay, I've seen some 20% of the people that saw it. I've seen some 20% Rotten Tomatoes movies, which are like just terrible. Okay, the reason why I was hoping like this is because Brett Goldstein is in it Oh, I love him.
01:00:07
Speaker
And I love him. Yeah, I love him. Are you kidding me? From Ted Lasso. Yeah, and shrinking. Oh my, and shrinking. So I can't believe you made a bad, I guess you you, at some point you make a bad one.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah, I guess, you know, well, I mean, from script, from when you read the script to how it's executed, changes quite a bit, right? Yeah, yeah. He wrote it. Yeah. And so he probably loved the story, but like at somewhere, yeah somewhere, sometime. Rom-com. During production, it didn't translate. Which sucks, because I really like his writing. I know.
01:00:38
Speaker
Anyways, I got a thumbs up anyways to be nice on Netflix, but it was a bad movie. Oh, so you're misleading people to go waste their time. Totally. ah Awesome. One a thousand percent. That's two hours. I'll never get back. Exactly.
01:00:52
Speaker
OK. OK. Here we go.
Playful Banter and Puns about Balloons and Switzerland
01:00:54
Speaker
First one. Here's a so I'm throwing you a softball down the middle on this one. Are you Jessica Francis?
01:01:04
Speaker
Why are balloons so expensive?
01:01:09
Speaker
Come on, lady. You should know this in like three seconds.
01:01:14
Speaker
Are you Googling this? by the and I had an idea. The other day when you got them, i like, wait second. Is she Googling this shit while or I'm telling her the jokes? You might be. Did you do hear any typing? I don't know. You're always like, oh, you're looking it up. I hear you clicking on the tea on the keyboard. Why are balloons? Jessica, why are balloons so expensive? and
01:01:34
Speaker
Give me one second. I've got a dog barking. um Don't blame the dog. I'm always blaming the dog. Farts blame the dog. Shit on the rug, blame the dog. Like, there's always blaming the dog. Balloons are so expensive because of They're inflated.
01:01:51
Speaker
and Inflation. and The judges will give to you even though you took way too long to get that i had to say it out loud. i had to go back and say it out loud. i was like, come on. Come Okay. No, that took a minute. It's okay. Okay.
01:02:05
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Here's another softball down the middle. Okay. What is the best thing about living in Switzerland? What's the best thing about living in Switzerland? What's the best thing about living in Switzerland?
01:02:21
Speaker
Remember, I'm giving you softballs down the middle, which means it's all about wordplay, people. yeah except i already fixated on one thing that i think is the best reason to live you remember and which is the chocolate no i can't get away from it alec baldwin's sweaty balls oh yeah for sure that was a great great as oh my god that was a great i was like oh my god that's so awesome and then they took it for south park yeah that's fucking awesome yeah um okay what's the best thing about living in switzerland i have no idea because i'm fixated on the chocolate
01:02:57
Speaker
I don't know, but the flag is a big plus.
01:03:02
Speaker
That's cute. That's cute. See? Yeah, I wouldn't have gone there. Okay. All right. You have gone there? I thought that was soft one down the middle. Laderoch chocolate Swiss chocolate? Oh, yes. See, that's where my- Line up for that shit. I know. See, that's where my head went. I can't believe people- Here's how stupid I am. I discovered it on my last trip in Vancouver because they opened one in a new mall and line out the door.
Discovering Expensive Chocolate
01:03:22
Speaker
Totally. And by the way, it's fucking expensive. It is. And it's fucking amazing. Like $100, $200 chocolate. Isn't that amazing? I'm not chocolate guy. Oh, so good. So I text my wife.
01:03:31
Speaker
So good. Hey, this is this new store in Vancouver called Latter Rock. And she... basically yells at me. It's not new. Fuck you. I have been buying this from my business trips in Switzerland for the last decade and you have not touched them. So go fuck yourself. i thought Oh God. And then my daughter jumped on the bag and i said, daddy, what the fuck? That's funny. Mom is it buying this stuff for us for 10 years already. And you're only telling us. Oh, funny. That's how far behind. Yeah. It's been in the city for a long time. And it was in Roosevelt field. And there was another mall.
01:04:06
Speaker
We went away for some tournament. I feel like it was with PA all. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I was with one of the Cyclones parents who had been on that team and we found it and bought like two pounds of it and split it, like did a variety and like split it between the two yeah families. Damn. And they make this dark chocolate that has pink peppercorns in it.
01:04:27
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Holy shit. Are you serious? Is that good? So good. What's in the chocolate? I don't know. It must be crack. It's laced with crack because it is so good.
01:04:40
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Okay. One last one before we end episode 53. I hope my brain doesn't get caught on something for this one too. Okay. No more chocolate. I'm trying to find out the least.
01:04:55
Speaker
Okay. Anyways. By the way, did you see my cup?
01:05:02
Speaker
Buc-ee's. I wish people could see that. That's pretty freaking awesome. can send you a picture. Where did you go to Buc-ee's? We went to Buc-ee's in Colorado.
Visit to Buc-ee's Rest Stop
01:05:10
Speaker
Oh, nice. I hear it on the radio all time. I'm desperate to try it. good is the It's like an oasis in the middle of deserts. Are you serious? What is so good about Buc-ee's? Well, first of all, it's goals no it's a veritable like consumer playground. That's the first thing. Oh.
01:05:28
Speaker
clothing. I see. Jerky. shit. They smoke their own barbecue in there. They have housewares. I've never seen many bathrooms in my entire life. Why not keep thinking it's fast food joint? it's a rest stop.
01:05:41
Speaker
Oh, that's what it is. it's a rest stop. Outside, there's like 50 gas pumps. Inside, when you go into the bathroom, there's like 50 stalls in each women's and men's bathroom. It is unbelievable.
01:05:54
Speaker
Unbelievable. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm going to try that. I'm going to find one of these days. you got all right It's a road trip thing. road trip yeah i mean They don't really have them here. no Which is such a shame because it would be so much better than these like rest stops that we have along I-95. Those are terrible. yeah That's what I'm saying. Buc-ee's is like not terrible. It's amazing. I'll have to send
Tongue Twister Champion Joke
01:06:15
Speaker
you photos. I have photos from the inside. Send me the photos. Last one before we go.
01:06:20
Speaker
What happened when the world's tongue twister champion got arrested my god what happened when the world's tongue twister champion got arrested arrested It's a play on words. Yes. Five, four, three, two, one.
01:06:56
Speaker
Nice. They gave him a tough sentence. Oh, Jesus Christ. So bad. That is so bad. I was going to kill you. Yeah. You're fuck me. I can't believe I didn't. Yeah. i that's you But you know what? That's not the direction that my brain goes into. It just wouldn't have gone there. yeah I know. Because your brain goes into cunty lingus. Right. exactly That's exactly right. That's exactly right. My brain would not have gone there.
01:07:23
Speaker
That's really funny, though. Oh, man. This is a good one. Go back to the balloon jokes. Those are easy. Okay. All right. All right. We'll go we'll find a few more. That's our next episode. That's make more sense to me.
01:07:36
Speaker
All right. Okay. Deep into summer. Everyone have a good time. Yes. Good summer. um Hey, did you have a graduation already?
Social Media and Graduation Posts
01:07:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, good. We had that just before went to Vancouver.
01:07:51
Speaker
Oh. So, like, a week and a half ago. Oh, cool. Well, congratulations. Yeah. You know what? Maybe I should have posted. I know everyone everyone posted shit on Instagram to be part of their parents, other their kids, and I did not.
01:08:03
Speaker
Well. I kind of just left it at that. Okay. And maybe everybody knows, and then maybe I should. It's too late. Better than never. i don't know. I don't know. I mean, I haven't seen anybody else's posts from like the people I know about it for the most part. I've seen kid posts.
01:08:16
Speaker
Yeah. You know, like that it's own with all those encrypted messages and whatever they write. like the done So all the prep schools, we might have been in last, all the prep schools had their graduation because they have like a college like schedule, had their graduation ceremonies over the last year.
01:08:35
Speaker
Two weeks. Got it. I'm pretty sure we were one of the last ones. And then, ah and then I guess the regular high schools in New York, for example, follow like a a mid to late June schedule. Yeah, that's why i was asking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:08:51
Speaker
Yeah. So like, like Nadia's last year was, middle to third week of June. Right. Because that whole thing, I had to go back and forth with Evans hockey. Yeah. And then, and then, yeah, Evans was, uh, May 29th. Oh, wow. Okay.
01:09:04
Speaker
Cool. Well, yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. Well, thank you. welcome Good times, I guess. Yeah, sure. All done. All done.
Travel for Sports: Volleyball vs. Hockey
01:09:11
Speaker
Never have to drive that way ever again. Yeah. No, not for, not for anything unless you choose to.
01:09:17
Speaker
Now my car just sits in the garage and never have to drive anymore. That's insane. How awesome is that? Same with you. Oh, no, not's so not for me. I mean, for now, it's on a break. He's got his own car. Yeah, but I still have volleyball. Oh, you sorry. You still have volleyball. Yeah, so I've been up to Hartford twice this year.
01:09:33
Speaker
Eric was up in Providence. Yes. um And then I was just in Atlantic City. And where else did I go? I went a couple other places. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:09:44
Speaker
You're busy. So I got two more years. Two more years. Three more years. Maybe. It depends. We'll see. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. Okay. mean, have fun, right? I guess, yeah. We all miss it. Yeah, I'm having a good time. I mean, it's a different, you know, look, we'll talk about it some other time, but it's a much different structure than yeah than hockey was. It's very different. Yeah.
01:10:03
Speaker
Yeah. So. All righty. Okay. Time to sign off. Yes. See you all later. Have a good one, everybody. Bye. Bye. Well, well, well, you made it to the end. We can't thank you enough for listening to all of our random thoughts.
01:10:16
Speaker
Don't forget to give us a five-star rating. And you know how to reach us on the gram at TGS pod or send email to hello at the grocery stick dot com.
01:10:28
Speaker
you