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Testing Your Tips
55 Plays1 month ago
Jeff and Jon sit down to discuss the video they just shot testing viewer tips and discuss an upcoming video shoot at Maker Camp. Thanks for listening.
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Transcript
Podcast Sponsorships Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
The American Craftsman Podcast is sponsored by Hayfla. Hayfla offers a wide range of products and solutions for the woodworking and furniture making industries. From hinges and drawer slides to connectors and dowels, sandpaper, wood glue, shop carts, and everything in between. Exclusive product lines such as Lux LED lighting and Slido door hardware ensure that every project you create is built to last. Learn more at hayfla.com.
00:00:25
Speaker
Additional sponsorship provided by Ridge Carbide. When you need the right saw blade for the job, put your trust in Ridge Carbide tools. For over 50 years, Ridge Carbide has been producing industrial saw blades designed with the exact specifications for the cutting results you expect. Before you buy, call us and we'll help you determine the right tool that meets your needs and your budget. After the sale, Ridge Carbide provides sharpening services for all your saw blades, dado sets, router bits, and jointer planer knives.
00:00:51
Speaker
Located in Kansas, rich carbide tools provides high quality products with outstanding customer service at a fair price. What are you cutting? Enjoy the show.
Candle Crafting Insights
00:01:06
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show. I'm getting pretty good at nailing the
00:01:12
Speaker
the height on these faders. Yeah, and you're doing a few other things, lighting candles and working the switchboard. Yes, the new Baloo candle. I don't know how new it is. The newest one I have, Yuzud. Yeah, they're good. I have one. We really like it. The official candle of the American Crossing podcast. Can you buy Brian's candles online?
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, yep. Does he have a website? What's the name of it? Uh, I'm pretty sure it's Baloo Candle B-H-A-A-L-O-O-C-A-N-D-L-E dot com. Nice. If you Google that, you'll find it. Yeah, and you can find them on Instagram. Really nice guy. Yeah. And the candles are really nice. They just got a really nice smell to them and they burn great.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, and he uses American made cotton wicks. All the fragrances are from a reputable source. My wife just brought home some candles from Joanne Fabric or something. She went over there to pick up. She's like, oh, candles were on sale. And they're a little bit foul. Save them for a storm. Yeah.
00:02:23
Speaker
Well, I thought the episode that Brian was on a couple of months ago now was fascinating. Just the whole process of making the candles. And actually, I want to see if he'll give me a wick or two because I want to play around with making a candle with some of the beeswax I have. Yeah, that'd be cool. I have the wax, so I just want to
00:02:44
Speaker
maybe even pour it into an empty honey jar. That's a good idea. Just put the wick down there, pour the deal in and it should be a candle, I guess. I don't know how it'll burn. I don't think it's going to burn as good as brines do, but... Yeah, these are coconut and soy. Yeah, they're nice. I don't really know how it works. Apparently it's like the wax is what is creating the flame. Yeah, the wick doesn't burn, the wax is the fuel. Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
Sometimes if you're trying to, if you're trying to like a birthday cake, if your match burns out or before it gets close to your fingers, you can blow it out and then just tip, tip the head of the match in one of the candle wax that you, that you lit already kind of just use that fuel to work your way around the cake. Yeah. So it comes with, you know, come wisdom comes with age. Yeah.
00:03:39
Speaker
Back when you used to actually use the number of candles, like if you were turning 10, you'd have 10 candles. Now you have a candle shape like a 10. Yeah, there you go. Everything changes. Yeah. I don't like those number candles. I don't either. I like the challenge of it and I like the challenge of blowing them out. Yeah. Although I don't want 57 candles on my next birthday. Yeah. Birthday cake. 36 for me. Yeah, it's amazing.
00:04:04
Speaker
Go quick.
Fitness and Daily Routines
00:04:05
Speaker
Yeah. Got to enjoy the moments. I saw a thing like anybody in there, you know, 55 or whatever, you basically have 20 years, you know, give or take. Yeah. And, uh, I look at it as like, maybe I've got 10 good years if I stay in shape and exercise. So my wife is always like, uh, well, what do you, what do you need to do that now for her or whatever? And I'm like, because there's no time like the present, you know,
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, and I feel like there's like a ceiling, you know, like, like whenever you start, there's a ceiling and the ceiling gets lower and lower, you know, so like if you start trying to get in shape at 65, you can only get so in shape, you know, but if you start at 55, you can get up to here and stay sort of at a
00:04:51
Speaker
I totally agree with that. And I think that everyone should lift weights at least like 10 or 15 minutes a day. Just, I mean, cause everybody will say, I don't have the time for that, including myself.
00:05:06
Speaker
And I mentioned I think like nine months ago I got on a good kick and I wasn't gonna have time today because I just had a crazy day and I just worked out for 15 minutes. You can find 50 so instead of looking at your phone for 15 minutes instead just just lift a few weights.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, or you could wake up 15 minutes earlier. 15 minutes of sleep isn't going to kill you. Yeah. Well, usually I try to get my workout in very early in the morning, but I went right out to the barn because I had all this veneering that I wanted to do. I'm using contact cement, so it's sort of like you just want to get that done because it's so toxic.
00:05:45
Speaker
And so I'm trying to get the contact cement on like each piece and by the time I get to the last, I think I had like 10 pieces total, you know, between the parts and then the veneer.
00:05:58
Speaker
By the time I got to the 10th piece, I was able to go back and put the second coat on. I always use two coats of contact cement. I feel like the first coat just sort of sucks right into the paper on the back of the veneer and also the substrate. So for me, it's just like a peace of mind to use two coats.
00:06:16
Speaker
And then I'll go in after that second coat, maybe have a, you know, eat something and everything will be dry in 15 minutes. Then I can go and put the veneer back on. So it's kind of like rushing in to do that and then get over here. And then I had just a little bit of time. I was like, okay, I'm just going to lift weights for a little bit. And it helps me, like it opens up my mind and my breathing.
00:06:42
Speaker
I can breathe so much better after just doing a little bit of bench press and a couple of pull ups, things like that. Nothing crazy. Yeah, there's something to be said about that capillary dilation that you get when you're lifting weights, your veins are all opening up. Yeah, and I hear people working out for two hours, I'm like, oh my gosh, that sounds incredibly boring.
00:07:04
Speaker
but 15, 30 minutes is really long. If you're listening for two hours, you know. I think you're socializing. Yeah. Like I think we were talking about it when I was in high school, like lifting weights for football. We worked out for two hours, but you're working out with a group. So you're doing bench, I'm spotting you and then somebody else and then somebody else, you know, you're working out with like three or four people. It could take two hours.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we're with me after 20 minutes. I'm like, okay, this is like sometimes I'll do a half hour, half hours the most I work out. Just just out of sheer boredom. And I'm listening to podcasts and trying to make time go by.
00:07:43
Speaker
but I feel like 15 or 20 minutes is all you and really even five minutes. Like I follow this guy called sober fitness on Instagram and he has like, I think he calls them dailies, something, whatever it is, where he'll just do like a hundred curls with just a 10 pound weight, you know, just a hundred curl in each arm. And that'll just give you a, just kind of a little, it's almost like an adrenaline shot. So you don't have to work out to be, uh,
Biking Gear and Experience
00:08:14
Speaker
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, that's the other thing too. It's like, what are we working out? Are we working out to feel good or are we working out to compete in something? And I'm not competing in anything. I just want to feel good. Yeah. Yeah. I've been doing 30 minutes on the bike in the morning. Do you love it or what? Friday I did it. I rode for an hour. Nice. Where'd you go Friday? Friday I went all the way up to Thompson Avenue. Nice. And then back.
00:08:39
Speaker
So do you have a water bottle on your bike? I don't. I was looking at them online, but I didn't really see anything that piqued my interest. Cause you need a little water bottle cage. Yeah. So I was looking for, I was looking for something that came with a cage and a bottle Amazon. It doesn't seem they have some, but they're like clearly very cheaply made, like, you know, just like generic, you know, when it's just like some weird generic name, like this water bottle.
00:09:08
Speaker
fan hall. I know that this is just some bullshit. It's not a camelback or a hydro flask. I want to buy something that's halfway decent. I'd probably just go to a bike shop. It's not a big purchase and that way you can touch and feel it before you buy it. Yeah. I just don't like going places. Yeah, but you can go there on your bike ride. Stop there on your bike ride on a weekend. Yeah.
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I try and get done before people come out. Yeah, that's true. I rode by, I was telling you, rode by Highlander this morning at, it was probably 5.15. That's dark. Was it pretty cold or what? It was a little chilly. Yeah. Did you warm up? Yeah, I wasn't cold by any means because, so to go that way, I have to, where did I go? Did I cross? So I crossed at Leonard and then I went down the path.
00:10:04
Speaker
Yeah, crossed. Did I? I can't remember which way I went this morning. So I went west one street, crossed the highway, and then went east. Are you using a light on the bike? Yeah. Did you mount it to the handlebar or something? Yeah, it's got like a little strap. Nice. It's like a headlight made for a bike, and then I have a little tail light. Cool. Because it's, you know. It's dark. Yeah, the way people drive is crazy.
00:10:33
Speaker
But down there, like the trail going to Highlands, the sea grass is really tall. It didn't used to be that way. So you're kind of like in this tunnel of grass. It's pretty cool. Yeah, that's the thing. I think you experience the world differently on two wheels, whether that's a bicycle or a motorcycle. And I mean, it is a sense of kind of floating.
00:10:58
Speaker
And you do see the environment like you wouldn't if you were driving. Yeah. And that's one of those situations where with the toll grass, you're like, wow, I didn't, I didn't even notice this before. And here it is. Yeah. One thing I am noticing is that, uh, and we're not going to turn this into the American bicycle podcast. Um,
00:11:22
Speaker
But I think, I don't know if my handlebars are too wide, or they don't have enough rise, or it's just because I'm riding a mountain bike in sort of a way that you don't ride a mountain bike. So you're leaning forward a little bit more? Yeah, I feel like there's too much pressure on my hands. I don't know. But the bike is made to be ridden aggressively in the woods, not on a path.
00:11:48
Speaker
So I could see where you would want to be more over top of the bike if you were riding up hills and stuff like that, but I don't know. Yeah, you'll see when you get into the woods. I was thinking about taking it to Highlander or somewhere just to have them double check that everything is set up and assembled correctly, and then maybe do a little bit of fitment.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, they're nice people over there. I like Mike and Patrick. They're the main mechanics. Yeah, I don't know. I think it sounds like your bike's running pretty good. If you're not having any issues, I won't even worry about it. I'm sure you're a decent enough mechanic anyway. Yeah, it's just there's so much... And you get into the weeds with this kind of stuff.
00:12:32
Speaker
the optimal saddle height, the front to back, the this and that, you know, and you could go crazy over that stuff. But again, I'm not training for the Tour de France. Yeah. That's how you have to think about it. Otherwise you can go crazy. Yeah. But it is nice just to ride a bike that's not making weird noises. That's just, you know, the, the discs aren't rubbing against the, uh, the brake shoes. Uh, shifts. Nice. Yeah. That's, you know, a quiet bike is a, is a nice experience.
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, it is nice to be able to just shift like that. And it just shifts real quick, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you, man. I'm glad you got a bike. Yeah, it's fun. So we just shot a tip video. Yeah, I think those are some pretty good tips. I think they were better than the first tip video that we did. These tips I think are better.
00:13:26
Speaker
I was thinking about how am I going to edit this one with the iron because it could be almost a 10 minute video on how to get a dent out of the wood with the iron. You have to put it at like six times speed. It'll work out. Yeah. I think, I don't know, it seemed like the iron was turning off.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's a weird iron. It's an old black and Decker and it's from my shop. I just use it for edge banding. I can't think of anything else that I use it for. Um, sometimes I'll use it to glue canvas to a stretcher, but that's a, or like a brace panel, but that's up in the art studio. Right.
00:14:06
Speaker
Um, I think the short that we shot might do well. Yeah. This tip video might do well. I don't know. Yeah. The last one did, uh, over 5,000 views. The last tip video. Yeah. I shot a tip video yesterday, which like just, um, I had to cross cut a piece of plywood that was a 15 inches.
00:14:31
Speaker
Oh, I saw that. I was wondering if you had just shot that or because I thought I had seen you talk about that before at some point. Well, this was kind of funny because I would always just cut through the plywood at the end and then lift up the front. But then the piece that you're not supporting with your hand that you lift the plywood up with would fall and inevitably give you tear out. Right? Yep.
00:14:55
Speaker
So these pieces were pretty close to their finished length. So I didn't want to, I didn't want to risk any tear out. So I thought this is kind of weird. Why don't I just make the, the end cut first, the far cut. So I came out, plunged down, lifted the board up and then finished the cut. I don't know if I've ever seen that. I haven't seen it done before. I'm sure it has been done just like anything.
00:15:17
Speaker
And then I just literally shot that, I think it was 27 seconds and the video's done really well. I think on Instagram, it might be like 30,000 views. Nice. It's got 500 likes. So if you get 500 likes, you usually get a lot of views. Yeah. The Confirmats grew short that we did, is doing really well now. That's up over 50,000 views. On Instagram? Yeah. Did we put that on YouTube yet?
00:15:45
Speaker
I'm not sure. Let's see. YouTube shorts sometimes really take off. That's the only reason why my channel hit a million subscribers this weekend is because viral bicycle video caught some wind again and it just blew up. Yeah, we did. It's got 14,000 on YouTube. Let's see what it's got on.
00:16:12
Speaker
About two years ago, when I would put a short on YouTube, it would just blow up. I would get like 20,000 views in the first hour, and then they would continue up to 60,000, 70,000 views. Now, it seems like they're dying at 3,000 and 4,000 views, except for this plywood one that I put up yesterday. I think it's at 17,000.
00:16:36
Speaker
I got a few negative comments which is always a good sign that it might do better yeah i seem to consistently hit ten thousand and go a little bit further we have fifty seven thousand on instagram pretty good yeah i pinned our top three three point one million on the pocket screw one.
00:16:56
Speaker
That's crazy. Yeah.
YouTube Milestones and Financials
00:16:58
Speaker
Uh, I got to congratulate you on a million subscribers, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. That's pretty cool. It is pretty cool. And it's, I wish I could say that, yeah, I got a million subscribers and every view, every video gets 150,000 views, but that's not the case at all. Um, basically I had one viral video from about two years ago that has gained the channel about 240,000 subscribers.
00:17:22
Speaker
So 750,000 still pretty damn good. But it's wild because that video just all of a sudden, I think on Thursday, I started to notice that I was getting a lot of negative comments on that bicycle rack video. I said, Oh, that video must be gaining ground again. And I think
00:17:43
Speaker
all during Saturday, it was getting more than a hundred thousand views an hour. Wow. So like sometimes 130,000 views an hour. Right now it's getting about 60 to 70,000. So it's still catching.
00:17:56
Speaker
And like, yeah, it bought the channel over a million. So that's kind of a cool thing. Um, but like we said last week, I wish it was like a 20 minute long video because that would actually mean some real revenue. Yeah. Yeah. That just, just so you know how the revenue works on shorts, you don't get a lot of revenue for shorts. So this is, this is made about $6,600. So still, you know, it's kind of like, I would equate making shorts
00:18:27
Speaker
to maybe playing the lottery, right? Without risking anything. So if you're making a short, more than likely you already have the content. It's like the tickets are really cheap, but you don't win a lot. Yeah. Yeah. But it's sort of like, and it's kind of fun though. It's sort of like, it definitely gives you a little bit of an endorphin rush when one of your videos is blowing up.
00:18:52
Speaker
And also you can use shorts as a related video to feed another video. Yep. So that's something that I want to think about to help advertise some of my long format project videos to try to get to some more plans is going back to some of my 30 and 40 minute long videos and just dissecting like a certain area
00:19:17
Speaker
and turning that into a short and then making the related video, the video that people hopefully go back and click on. Yeah, it's funny. Some of the shorts that we posted like about say like the square bearing router bit, people are like, well, you didn't show the full process like the it says related video right here. Like I'm guilty of that too, though. Like I don't think I've ever clicked on a related video when I'm watching shorts. I don't really watch shorts.
00:19:43
Speaker
I'll find myself going down that hole sometimes. All of a sudden, I'm like, oh my gosh, I just wasted 20 minutes looking at it. I have to see a good thumbnail. That's what will draw me in to click a short. But other than that, I'm purposely staying away.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that smart. I mean, I think I, I think I lost probably a good 40 minutes last night. I was like, Oh, I'm going to go to bed early. And then like before, like, just like kind of getting up and going, I said, Oh, I'll check my phone. And next thing you know, I'm like 20 or 30 minutes, 40 minutes. I'm like, Oh my gosh, I should have been in bed at, you know, an hour ago. Yeah, Instagram reels get me just not the shorts.
00:20:25
Speaker
But yeah, it's, you know, you get that screen time report and you're like, what the hell? It's really terrible.
Family and Meal Dynamics
00:20:31
Speaker
I mean, it's pretty, pretty, pretty bad. Yeah. And I, I like to think that I'm, I'm not really that bad, but the world is just glued to the phone. I mean, and I am, but I'm not, I'm not as good. I feel like I'm not as glued to my phone as a lot of people are. Uh,
00:20:52
Speaker
Some people can't, like they have a compulsion where they couldn't sit here with their phone right here and not look at their phone. Oh yeah, for sure. Like if I'm like, say at dinner, like with my family, I won't look at my phone.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah, we don't have phones at the dinner table and we always eat dinner. We always eat dinner at the table. And it's funny because my two oldest sons are still living home and it's actually really great because they're living at home and they're like kicking ass. They're not like, what are they going to do? You know what I mean? They're living home to like save up and move out. Yeah, they're not freeloading.
00:21:31
Speaker
Yeah. So, and you know, I'm old enough to know like, wow, this isn't going to be, this is going to be like this forever. So I really enjoy having them around. And yeah, it's not like when they're young, like me half the time, it's a battle with hundred six. It's like,
00:21:47
Speaker
You know, stop being with your hands. You know, it's like, man, all the time, I just feel like I just got a nag and nag and nag there at the age where you don't have to do that. You can just enjoy dinner as a family, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I said to my wife, I said, it seems like you're working more in the kitchen now than you did when the kids were little because they eat a lot. I mean, Walter and Michael, big appetites, that's for sure.
00:22:10
Speaker
Um, but nobody brings their phone to the table, you know, that's, and like I said, everybody, uh, we have an actual dinner time or when, you know, dinner's ready when Laurel says it's ready. Uh, but everybody comes and eats dinner and it's a, it's a nice thing. And actually Laurel, we, we almost never do takeout. Uh, when we do, it's a very rare, it's, it's treat because we do it. So seldom. Yeah. We're, we're sort of the same way.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, I can't get over... So I think Laurel did do takeout Friday night and she did Chinese food. I couldn't get over how expensive it was. Oh, I can only imagine. There's what, six of you? Five? Six? Five. Five. It was $90. Yeah. Now, I have to say though, that was dinner and lunch the next day and more snacks. But if you cooked dinner, it would have been the same. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah, there's always leftovers.
00:23:08
Speaker
That's true. That's true. But so we don't do take out for, for basically, it's just Laurel loves to cook and she's really good at it. And she's also really good at shopping. So, you know, she knows where to shop because I'll go in the store and buy a couple of items and it's 50 or 60 bucks. She'll spend, you know, 50 or 60 bucks and have like a full car because she knows how to, and maybe I got the numbers wrong there, but you get the point.
00:23:38
Speaker
So anyway, yeah, it's healthier and less expensive to make your own food. Oh yeah, it's crazy. Like people who trades men or trades people who buy their lunch every day, you're out of your goddamn mind, the amount of money that you're spending. And then you also don't know what you're eating. I'm not saying I'm the poster child for good eating, but you're eating from some random,
00:24:06
Speaker
worst case, you're eating from Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's and 7-Eleven and best case scenario, you're eating from a place who's buying everything from US foods. It's all, you know, highly processed. It all comes on an 18 Wheeler. Yeah. I mean, that's just how it is. We went to, uh, we stopped. We, like, I guess Laurel and I were in Vermont maybe a month ago now. And on the way back, we stopped at Chick-fil-A or maybe the way there. I feel like Chick-fil-A is the biggest rip off going.
00:24:36
Speaker
Well, I've only been there, I think twice. Yeah, me too. I have to say though, holy cow. I got one sandwich and one thing of fries. I could have eaten three. I just, I don't know. I feel like it's just not that good. I don't know. I liked it. Yeah. And that's why I was like, wow, I can't come here again. This is like, it's too good. Well, if you want to go around here, you got to wait in that line over there that wraps around the thing.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, we went to Costco last night because my wife needed glasses and I have to get a new ID. You can't really get in there. They've really made it very strict lately. Oh yeah, they have like a scanner or something now, right? I saw like a Instagram reel about that. Yeah, because Michael went to get his glasses and he had Laurel's ID and he ended up kind of saying, all right, well, I'm blowing past you because I'm getting my glasses.
00:25:30
Speaker
Oh, wow. So they won't let you in with somebody else's. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Meanwhile, you can order like Uber Eats from Costco on your phone. That's another thing like the whole Uber Eats thing. I don't I'm not into that. Yeah. I do it like if I go go away and I'm in a hotel, I'll
00:25:55
Speaker
I'll order Uber Eats from like, say Target and get like a case of water and some snacks and that way, you know, you have it at the hotel room. I didn't even think of that. But I would never order it like for delivery to my house, you know? Well, that's like my daughter's age bracket, you know, like her and her friends order this stuff and I'm like, what are you doing? You know? Yeah. And like, if you want to order pizza, just call the pizza place. Yeah. Because you know, Uber Eats is beating them up and taking 20% or whatever.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't even think of that. I'm just so untech savvy. I just wouldn't even think about that. I've never even used an Uber. I've been in an Uber once with someone else, but I wouldn't even know what to do. Uber is super convenient. When we went to Atlanta, we took probably 20 Ubers. Okay. Yeah, I guess so, right? Because you don't have a car. Yeah, I want to go to the zoo. Is it extremely expensive?
00:26:53
Speaker
Uh, no, it depends, but the prices fluctuate depending on where you're going and when. That's what my kids will say. Like during like, you know, certain holidays or whatever or times of night, you know, they're trying to get back from like Asbury park or something. Oh yeah. You'll pay through the nose. Yeah. Um, yeah. Like, uh, I want to say from the hotel to the airport, we paid like maybe like 20 bucks and then you tip the guy.
00:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that's
Transportation Choices
00:27:20
Speaker
good. Yeah, it's not too bad. I used to take cabs all the time when I was in the city a lot. I mean, I would take cabs for certain places. I used to take the subway everywhere. This is going back a long time ago. Cabs actually weren't really that much money back then. And I was taking cabs when you had those big yellow cabs. Yeah. Those things were like, have you ever been in a big yellow cab? Oh, yeah. I used to drive a Crown Vic.
00:27:41
Speaker
No, not a Crown Vic. When it was like a 57 Chevy, like a Bel Air. They had them. I mean, I was taking cabs. It was like in the late 80s, early 90s, and occasionally you would get a cab. So Jack, my oldest was born in New York City. Actually, all three of my kids were born in New York City except for Michael. Michael was born out here.
00:28:07
Speaker
Uh, cause I didn't want to drive in, but anyway, uh, I remember the cab ride uptown to Mount Sinai, uh, in the back. It was like we were hitting every bump. My wife was like dying in the cab. It's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy to have like, uh, one of those pregnancies or one of those like deliveries where it's like a urgent rush to get to the hospital. It was so weird because when, when Jack was born.
00:28:35
Speaker
We called the doctor and he was like, oh, uh, now you're fine. Stay, stay where you are, whatever. And then I don't know how long it was. Let's just say four hours later, we call again. I'm like, what are you doing? You got to get here. It was one of those deals. That's the thing with doctors, man. It's like, there's so much, uh, opinion in a lot of it where it's like, Oh, you're fine. They'll be like, what the hell? You should need to get here now. Yeah.
00:29:01
Speaker
And he ended up having to go into the NICU for, I think, about four or five days. Wow. He was a really long delivery. And so he ended up having to go and it was one of those whole things where we left the hospital before he did. Yeah. But he's good. It was just, I guess, a long pregnancy. I don't know. Yeah. Hunter was in the NICU for only, I forget, less than 12 hours. It was sort of a
00:29:32
Speaker
Formality, Ali got a fever during delivery and they, I guess that's like they have to take him to the NICU. Sure. Yeah.
00:29:41
Speaker
What hospital did you guys use? Monmouth. Okay, yeah. That's where Michael was born. Yeah, we were just at Riverview. I don't think we talked about it on the podcast, but I told you my wife was in a car accident two weeks ago and went to the hospital just precautionary. She, you know, her like shoulder and back were bothering her. And now it's bothering her more than it was then. So yeah, we're dealing with that. But we went to Riverview. Man, that place sucks. Yeah.
00:30:10
Speaker
What a horrible hospital. Well, I've known a lot of people who have died there. Yeah, I've heard a lot of stories about horror stories. I had a friend. They lost my mother-in-law's all of her blood work when she was there. No, we always should never go there. Yeah. We had a friend who went in there for hernia and ended up dying. Jeez. I mean, it was like his wife
00:30:35
Speaker
you know, had dinner with him. He was fine. She says, okay, I'll be back, you know, see you tomorrow. And something got screwed up. And then I had another, my neighbor actually, she got the wrong medication and it ended up screwing up her. She ended up screwing up her hands so bad that they had to amputate a few of her fingers. Yeah. It was like, it was a disaster. So yeah, we always go to mom.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So the ambulance, um, in that situation with like a car accident will only take you to the closest hospital, apparently. So now you're, you're getting all this done on the person who hit your wife's car insurance. Yeah. Which is the same insurance that we have. Okay. I don't think bodes very well for us, if anything,
00:31:26
Speaker
you know, if there needs to be any sort of litigation or anything. Do you have a good attorney? Not really. The attorney I use for everything here sucked, but Allie has a client whose, is it her brother or husband or something is like a
00:31:44
Speaker
Personal injury kind of I have a friend who who's like that's what he does. Yeah So yeah, I'll take the info. Yeah. Yeah, he's that's what they do and when I tell you You'll probably recognize his name so Jacobian Myers. No My brother-in-law he the thing is you have to deal with it Like a lot of times like especially being a guy you're like, I can tough it out. I'll be fine Give it a week or two
00:32:14
Speaker
My brother-in-law got rear-ended, just a busy guy, owns his own business. He's like, no, I'm fine. I don't need to deal with anything. And then about three months later, like his arm started bothering him. Anyway, he really got screwed up where he had to get major surgery. Never got a police report on the injury. Never went to the hospital or the doctor.
00:32:37
Speaker
And meanwhile, everything that all these injuries that he got, he had to pay for because he's in his own business. So he buys his own insurance. Yeah. Yeah. That's all the time you lose all the time. And now he doesn't have, he doesn't have full mobility in his right arm. So the moral of the story is you go to the doctor, you do all this stuff. That's kind of a pain in the ass because like in your case, it sounds like Ali's not getting better. Yeah. You know, you, you don't,
00:33:06
Speaker
you don't want this thing to be like 10 years from now. She's totally screwed up because she didn't get treatment when you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, she's like, um, you know, like I feel bad cause this guy was just an accident. I'm like, yeah, but
00:33:22
Speaker
Why should we have to deal? That's what insurance is for. Yeah. And screw the insurance companies. Yeah. And there's nothing personal about it. So ironically, I haven't been driving my truck now for about six weeks because my wife got rear ended when she was driving my truck.
00:33:39
Speaker
And, um, I felt terrible for the girl. So my wife calls me up. She goes, she was so shooken up. She calls me, tells me where she is that she just got in an accident. And I go down there and she is in the, the ambulance and they're giving her the check over. And, uh, and then I see the girl who hit her, who looks like she's only a few years older than my daughter. So I feel terrible for her.
00:34:03
Speaker
But distracted driver. She said she was looking at the radio station or the heater or something. I don't know. Probably a good chance she was looking at her phone. But right over where the train station is, there's a crosswalk there. So everybody's slowing down for all the commuters. And this young girl just plowed right into my wife.
Car Accident and Vehicle Preferences
00:34:25
Speaker
And my wife is fine. She did have a concussion, but she seems fine. And she did all because of the story with my brother-in-law, she went through all the right things. But six weeks later, we still don't have the truck because there was so much going back and forth with insurance. It's, I think, a minimum of $7,500 worth of damage on the truck, which to me, looked like it only needed a new bumper, but it needed undercarriage work and camera work and things like that.
00:34:55
Speaker
And we've had this loaner now, which I'll probably have up a maker camp because maybe.
00:35:02
Speaker
my truck will get finished by Friday. But I'm not gonna wait around Friday wondering if my truck's gonna get done because Walter and I are getting on the road to go to Maker Camp. So I'm gonna look at the bright side of it. Since this has happened, we had already had a trip scheduled to Vermont, my wife and I. So we've been to Vermont and back. Walter and I are gonna go to Maker Camp and back. We've been, I don't know, for some reason we did a lot of driving.
00:35:31
Speaker
And now all those miles aren't on my truck. Yeah. So that's the plus. Seems like a nice car too. You know, it's a Ford Explorer. I feel like it's kind of tinny. Oh really? Do they make an expedition anymore? I don't know. I don't know. I was saying to my wife yesterday, we were driving to Costco and I said,
00:35:49
Speaker
I don't like the way the motor sounds. Compared to my pickup truck, so I have a Ford F-150 and I'm not a truck guy, I don't really care. I'm not one of these guys who's like, it's gotta be a Chevy or it's gotta be a Ford. I just like- That's such a weird fabricated animosity there are between Ford guys and Chevy guys. Yeah, I don't get it. I'm not a car guy, I really am not. And I'm not a bicycle guy either.
00:36:16
Speaker
If it works good, there's a bunch of different bikes that I like, but I like them because of the components that are on the bike. So with this Ford F-150, the thing I like about it is it's got the EcoBoost engine, so it's fast.
00:36:32
Speaker
And I would have liked to have the six and a half bed. Couldn't find one. My first truck was a six and a half foot bed. Since then it's almost been impossible to get one. They're all five and a halves. I've learned that I can get away with a five and a half foot bed. I can fit a four by eight sheet of plywood in there and I can rig it or whatever if I have to. But the cab,
00:36:59
Speaker
in this truck is just really roomy. So I can. That's what I miss about having a full size. Yeah. Cause you had the Dodge. Yeah. I had two of them. I loved them. And so when you went to go get the Dodge, it just went way up in price. Yeah. Yeah. It was like going to be six, seven, 800 bucks a month. That's crazy. Yeah. I'm not paying that. I'm paying 500 for the Tacoma. That's about what I'm paying for the Ford. Yeah. I got a good deal on it. Yeah.
00:37:26
Speaker
I don't know, it's so funny because when I went in there, they were just lightnings, you know, Ford lightnings everywhere. And I'm walking around with the salesman. I said, boy, you got a lot of lightnings on the lot. And he's like, yeah, you don't want one of those. Yeah, they're having a lot of problems, aren't they? I wouldn't buy an electric pickup truck. No. I would buy a Tesla. What about a Rivian? Oh, I've heard good things about them just recently. Yeah.
00:37:55
Speaker
I don't know anything about him. Tell me something about him. I don't really know much about him, but I did see... So everybody knows that the Cybertruck, it's like if it gets wet, it's like destroyed. I didn't know that. Yeah. Like if you take it through a car wash, apparently avoid your warranty. Really? Yeah. But the Rivian...
00:38:12
Speaker
a guy down in North Carolina with the hurricanes that just went through, his truck literally got picked up and moved like 150 feet or something. Whole thing caked in mud, the bed full of mud, totally fine. Apparently they have this like something with the bottom, they make it, it's totally waterproof.
00:38:30
Speaker
And Rivian is its own company. That's the name of the... Yeah. It's not... You ever seen the Amazon delivery vans, the electric ones? Yeah. Those are made by Rivian. Okay, wow. Yeah. It's funny because I was on that fishing trip with Peter this weekend and he bought that up. He goes, boy, these four... Not these four, these Rivians.
00:38:50
Speaker
are really nice. And he was telling me that a friend of his had one and they have some compartment that you can fit like all kinds of luggage in. He happened to be putting golf clubs in there. And, and so of course he tells me about this truck, which I've never even noticed. And then yesterday I was on a bike ride and I saw one and I said, yeah, it looks pretty nice. That's how it works. And when you're shopping for a car,
00:39:15
Speaker
You're like, Oh, I'm looking for a Tacoma. You see two comas everywhere. Yeah. It's just like, it turns this switch on in your brain. You start to notice. Yeah, for sure. Um, that maybe that's like people talking about like manifesting. Maybe that's the reality of it. Would you think about one of those for your, uh, what are they priced at? Uh, they're pretty expensive. I think they're like 80 grand. Oh wow. Yeah. I don't want to, I don't want to make that kind of an investment in anything that I'm trying. Yeah. Every,
00:39:43
Speaker
Every, in my view, every vehicle is a liability. It's not an asset. Oh, no. I don't want to spend that kind of money on that. Yeah. And I'm all for alternative energy, finding things other than fossil fuel. I'm all for electric cars, hydrogen cars, whatever.
00:40:03
Speaker
I think there's a lot of progress that needs to be made, but you kind of have to start somewhere. But for me to go from a gas vehicle to an electric, I'm not making a dent. I drive 10 miles a day. It's not like I'm commuting. So the environmental impact that it'll make for me to switch to an electric at this point, the investment's not worth it because the price is only going to start to come down. Well, in your situation, see, your situation is pretty unique because you have a really high quality work van.
00:40:33
Speaker
And you're only driving 10 minutes to work. So you don't have to really depend on a battery's life. You're always gonna be able to, you can charge it here at work, you can charge it. So I think that Tesla now has a really nice car for like 30 grand. So that's what we're thinking about. Because right now, since Laurel and I both work from home, we just have the one vehicle. Now we have
00:40:57
Speaker
We have two other vehicles in the house that Walter and Michael use or anybody can use. They're just sort of vehicles that have been paid off for a long time. And, and they go because they're Japanese. Yep. You know, sorry, Ford guys, but I would never buy a Ford. I lease a Ford. Yeah. I don't think I would buy anything, you know,
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, these Japanese cars go. Like we have this Honda Pilot. That thing is never gonna die. And you could say the same thing. Like I have a Briggs and Stratton generator and it works pretty good.
00:41:34
Speaker
but my brother Jim has a Yamaha. And in my view, it's just worlds above it. Yeah. You know, it's like the Yamaha is above the Briggs and Stratton or vice versa. Yeah. I think Yamaha is better. Yamaha makes everything. Yeah. Yamaha is good. So I have a little Kawasaki four wheeler that I bought in 2006. All I do is change the oil in the air filter occasionally.
00:41:59
Speaker
It's so funny. I'm going to say it always starts. Except for the other day. Except for the other day because the battery's going. And so it's kind of a weird thing. You almost need two people to start it when you use the pull start because it starts when you give it a little gas. Oh, okay. It's one of these things. When you pull it, if it pulls back on you, it could hurt your shoulder.
00:42:25
Speaker
Like, so you kind of got to put everything into it. When you give it a pull, you got to be ready for that thing to like kind of kick back. You can't put an electric start on it. It has an electric start, but the battery's dead. And so I have a trickle charge. It was hooked up to the trickle charge. I think at this point, it's not, it's either my trickle charge is not working or my battery just needs to be replaced.
00:42:46
Speaker
So the way I got it started was I took a rubber glove, tied it around my handlebar like a rubber band to hold the throttle on. Well, I pulled it and that started it. So it got it started. But literally I was, if you don't follow me on Instagram, this was like Saturday, I'm trying to get all these things done. And like Jeff, let me borrow, I'm still saying borrow this ladder. It's a 12 foot step ladder.
00:43:20
Speaker
That ladder will break your arm. If you don't think about what you're doing, if it starts to twist on you, you got to chuck it or be able to fight it, but it'll screw you up.
00:43:33
Speaker
So I decided to clean my chimney because I cleaned my barn roof and it turned out so nice. So I'm like, well, I don't want to carry this ladder over to the, all the way over to the front of the house there.
00:43:47
Speaker
So the trick, the idea was to put the ladder in the trailer. And so this, this is like 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm going to put the ladder and I'm going to be cleaning the chimney by like 10 oh five. It's now like almost quarter to 11 and I'm still trying to start the four wheeler. Now I'm thinking I'll take the ball off of the hitch of the four wheeler and put that on the lawn mower. Then I realized that the hole for the hitch on the lawn mower is half inch when I need three quarter inch. So now I'm looking for a three quarter inch metal drill bit.
00:44:18
Speaker
And then I decided, okay, let me try the four wheeler again. And then I had the brainstorm of like just wrapping the throttle. So it was on because that's how I started. Like sometimes we'll say to one of the kids, Hey, can you come out to the barn? Like if the battery's dead and hit the throttle while I pull this.
00:44:37
Speaker
And it's a neutral, so it doesn't. No, no, it's just it just rate. So with with the rubber band concept, as soon as you start, it's like, yeah, but that's OK. Yeah, because I put the choke on. Long story short, it's a Kawasaki. The thing just goes forever. I don't know if I could say the same thing about something that was made in the USA. Yeah, Polaris or something. Although those might be Canadian. I think they are. Yeah. Are there aren't they made by Bombardier?
00:45:07
Speaker
I don't know. I think so. I think it's the same company. I think that's like the American, you know, you try and sell a Bombardier in America. People are like, what the hell is this? Well, did we talk about gas going bad on this podcast? I think we might've. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:45:23
Speaker
Actually, so get this, my brother-in-law's parents got gas at the Senoko over here on 36, J&R, whatever it's called, you know what I'm talking about? That's actually who towed our forklift over here when we bought it. First Avenue, right on the corner? No, no, no, 36 by like right before East Road. Okay. Not on this side, on the other side. Apparently, the gas that they got was full of water and it ruined the car.
00:45:53
Speaker
Terrible. Yeah. So what's the recourse? Uh, they got to get an attorney, I guess. Wow. Yeah. That's terrible. Yeah. They had them like pump, you know, pump out the gas tank or whatever. And it's like water. That's terrible. Yeah. There's gotta be other people who had that same situation.
00:46:11
Speaker
That's what I'm thinking. I mean, it couldn't be a one. How would that happen one time? No, that's probably must have gotten into the underground tanks or something, you know, if it's getting in. I mean, you couldn't do that purposely. You'd have to be an idiot. Well, so that could be a complete environmental problem for that place. That means I've got a leaky leaky gas tank, which is a nightmare. Mm hmm.
00:46:36
Speaker
That's a, that's a problem. That's when New Jersey needs another, uh, super fun site. Yeah. We don't have enough. Um, I was, I wanted to bring something up before. Can't remember what it was. We're going to shoot a video in maker camp. Anything about that? No, that wasn't it. But maker camp is in, uh, what two days now. Yeah. So we're going to shoot a video for today's craftsmen. So have you ever,
00:47:04
Speaker
thought about going to maker camp or wondered what it was all about. The plan is to mic up Jeff and whoever we interview, put a mic on them and probably start the video the same way on the first one. You know what I mean? And that'll be a fun video to edit. Yeah. We should probably interview Austin first. Okay. Right. It's his gig. Sounds good to me. I don't even know him.
00:47:32
Speaker
He's a good guy. Uh, yeah. So if you're there and you want to be in the video, um, it's $50 cash, 75 demo and a free beer. Yeah. Although Jeff and I were saying maybe we're not going to drink. Yeah. I'm probably going to have at least one or two. I think I'm not going to drink beer. Really? What are you going to drink tequila? Really? Yeah. I think that's what I'm leaning towards. Does that mean you're going to bring like high nunes or something? Uh, are those tequila?
00:48:02
Speaker
Yeah, my sons will say tequila high noons or something like that. I never had that. That might be an easier way to go. Yeah. I was going to do a bottle of tequila and then just mix it with... A lot of people will say that's the purest way to drink. You won't get a hangover supposedly. Well, for me, it's because I don't consume a bunch of sugar or carbohydrates ever.
00:48:26
Speaker
it's a real shock to my system. I'm gonna end up eating stuff that I don't normally eat and if I drink beer on top of it, I love beer. I could drink 10 beers if I'm really staying up and hanging out without even blinking an eye and that'll mess me up physically the next day.
00:48:51
Speaker
Yeah, I can drink a few beers, but I'm just, you know, I'm definitely going to have a few beers, but I'm also driving. We're three miles away. Yeah. I don't care if you're three or 30 miles away. I'm not going to have anything and then drive. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'll probably have two or three beers early on and then just hang out. They are going to have like a shuttle or something this year that'll just drive you. I think wherever you want to go. Really? Yeah. That sounds good until you can't get a shuttle home. Yeah.
00:49:20
Speaker
But we're only three miles away. I don't know, Walter picked out an Airbnb. So I'm looking forward to that. Last year we had a nice Airbnb, but I think this one looks nicer, at least from the pictures. You guys were kind of far. We were kind of far, but I tell you what, the weather was rough last year. This year looks good. Yeah. It looks like it's going to be perfect, like mid sixties.
00:49:43
Speaker
mid sixties and sunny every day. Last year was rough. Like I, it was an actual river going through like the food. If you want to call that a food court. Yeah. The, uh, pavilion, the pavilion. I mean, three inches deep. I mean, they had to shut down tents because it was so. And then the next day it was pretty muddy and people falling and trying to go up like the little Hills slipping in the mud.
00:50:09
Speaker
Yeah, so it's going to be nice because I think it's going to be peak foliage and and sunny. Can't ask for more. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, like I want to go up there and wear a sweatshirt. You know, I don't want it to be. Originally, I looked at the forecast like weeks ago, a long range forecast, which is super inaccurate anyway. But it said it was going to be in the 80s every day. I was like, oh, my God. I'm like, that's the opposite of what I want.
00:50:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's nice to be able to wear a sweatshirt. At night, it gets cold. You can stand by the fire. Stand by the fire. Boy. So I've talked before where I think I've mentioned on this podcast that I am allergic to pine wood. And not last year, but the year before, it was freezing. You remember how cold it was? Oh, yeah.
00:50:55
Speaker
And we're hanging out by the fire, which was like nothing. There was like, if you want a fire, you gotta feed the fire. Oh yeah. I think I'm gonna bring scrap wood. Might as well, I gotta get rid of it. Why not?
00:51:08
Speaker
And so I made that my mission and I had that fire roasting. And then I think a lot of that wood must've been pine because not the next day, but the following day, like my whole face was just totally beet red. Oh really? Yeah. Just, just from picking it up, you know, and I guess the sap gets on your hand and you touch your, you know, you touch your face all the time. That's just how it is in life. So I'm surprised I didn't realize that, but it probably was pine.
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was just like, yeah, fresh cut wood to like unseason kind of green wood will burn if it's hot enough. Yeah. Well, they have that big fire ring now that they made. Well, that's the other thing. So this fire ring is, it's cool looking thing. It's like a wrought iron kind of a deal that is one of the most dangerous things going. Like you could stab yourself in multiple places at multiple levels. Yeah. There's all these like, uh,
00:52:05
Speaker
like, like fern or kind of things, you know, like these like leaves that come up. Yeah. And they're all sharp. Everything is sharp. Everything is sharp. And so like to feed the fire, you kind of have to reach over them. It's it's pretty funny. You know, it sketches me out as they play that game with the nails and the hammer where I don't want any part of that. You ever seen a nail go flying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's I played it and I realized I'm really bad at that game.
00:52:32
Speaker
So they're playing with like a lump hammer. Yeah. And everybody's like three sheets to the winds. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you, you glance off the edge of the nail and like that 10 penny nail or 16 penny nail, whatever it is, it will become a projectile. Oh, a hundred percent. And I don't want to stand anywhere near it. Let alone play because then it's going to hit me in the eye.
00:52:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that's good to know because, or not good to know, but good to think about because I did play last year. It's terrible. Uh, and it is fun, but it's pretty much common sense that, yeah, that, that nail is going to fly. Yeah. I mean, I've had it happen to me many times framing, you know, when you're trying to hand bang nails and you just hear it ping and it goes flying. You're going to do the karaoke? No.
00:53:18
Speaker
That's not my scene. Yeah, me neither. I used to do karaoke a lot. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Who did you who would you pick? Like, what would be one of your? I used to sing Country Roads by John Denver a lot. Yeah. Well, I went to West Virginia. So that's like, you know, I like I like John Denver. Yeah. What else? That's a freaking long song, though, that a lot of people had to suffer through. Yeah. Were you good at it?
00:53:44
Speaker
I got a pretty good voice. Um, you ever heard the song Conte Partiro by Andrea Bocelli? No. Uh, have you seen stepbrothers? Oh, that's me and my buddy would sing that. Uh, what else? I think I used to do, um, uh, Bob Seeger. Uh, uh, what's that song? I can't think of the name.
00:54:11
Speaker
One of Bob Seger's big songs. Yeah. I think I know what you're talking about, but I can't name it. Yeah. On a lonely, lonesome highway. Okay. East of Omaha. There you go. Yeah. What's the name of that song? Sounds like you're already. It's like about a roadie. Yeah. Or about a musician. Yeah. Metallica did a remake of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
00:54:34
Speaker
Yeah, so the bar that, you know, when I was working in restaurants, I would go out to the bar, you know, whenever, basically every night, you know, when you're 22, 23. And the one bar, the Clada, that I used to go to. What town? Highlands. It's gone now, they knocked it down. That's actually where I met my wife, but they had karaoke on Wednesdays and Sundays.
00:54:59
Speaker
And it was just a thing, you know, you went to karaoke on Wednesday and Sunday. That's cool. It was a good time. The guy who did it was great. This guy, Ziggy, you know, he had like the reverb and everything. He made everybody sound good, you know? Nice. And he was like, he was a real quirky kind of guy. What do you think of the chubby pickle? Uh, I like it. I haven't been there in a long time, but I know, um, uh, oh shit. I can't remember his name.
00:55:25
Speaker
Craig is the owner, Craig and Adam. I've only been there once or twice to see my kids play. But that's the only bar I can think of in Highlands. Yeah, so Claddow is on the complete opposite side of town. You know where Cranky's is? Yeah. Sort of right by Cranky's. All right, cool. Yeah.
00:55:43
Speaker
Yeah. My kids, uh, will occasionally rent bikes from crankies because so my bikes are sort of tall. So they, like my boys can ride them, but their girlfriends can't. So they go to crankies occasionally and they'll rent bikes. And there's a nice little restaurant now at the end of Sandy hook.
00:56:04
Speaker
Yeah, the mule barn, is that what it's called? Yeah, so it's like kind of a fun day off thing where I think Walter and Jen rode their bikes to their, maybe last week even, it was a beautiful day. Yeah, I saw Walter had posted that story and I said, is that bike from Cranky's?
00:56:23
Speaker
I remember driving by and seeing him. He's got a pretty cool thing where I think you just like order it online and he gives you the code and you can just unlock the bike and take it. Yeah. It's all done with your phone. Garrett's a nice guy. He is a nice guy. I think he made a good decision basically turning his business into a fleet of electric bikes as opposed to being a bike shop. Yeah.
00:56:46
Speaker
I years ago, I dropped a bike off to get fixed by him and it took maybe like three months. Yeah, I think yeah, that's where I bought my twerker was from Garrett. Okay. And you know, so I would go in there all the time because I used to go to the coffee shop right next door. So I'd ride my bike in the morning and then I would go and I get a coffee and sit outside.
00:57:04
Speaker
back when I didn't have so much to do. And so I would go in there and shoot the shit, and it would be the same bike up on the stand for days and days at a time. Yeah, I didn't really care at the time, but then I was like, wow, this is really taken forever. And I haven't been in there in ages because the bikes that you rent from him are completely different than my bike.
00:57:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's not like a mountain bike. It's like a cruiser kind of thing. Yeah, his bikes actually have like a throttle. It might be a thumb throttle like an ATV. So you don't have to pedal at all. They're really just for sightseeing and cruising around and just being outside. They're fun. Do you know what it costs?
00:57:46
Speaker
I don't, but you can get a decent bike for like a thousand bucks. I think electric bike. I mean, I'm, I used to have people offer to give me them all the time, but like I, I've said it before, there's no such thing as somebody giving you something. It's an obligation. Yeah. And, and also because bulls have let me borrow this bike, like this long-term borrow. I don't think it would be like nice for me to be using other bikes all the time. Yeah. You think they'll take it back.
00:58:14
Speaker
I don't know if they'll take it back or not. I don't care because if they take it back, that means I can reach out to other brands. And if they don't take it back, then I've got the bike. But you know, we talked about this earlier because we were talking to a potential sponsor who in my mind, it sounded like they just wanted to give us some product. And I thought, you know, that's kind of like,
00:58:39
Speaker
It's kind of like they're asking a lot okay they're gonna give us product that we already have. In return for a shooting location on screen talent a camera person and editor and the platform.
00:58:54
Speaker
And even if you just had to pay somebody to you made a video and you had to pay somebody to put it out there that cost money. Yeah, so it's really funny. So I don't I I really like my contacts the guy I know at Bulls really nice guy. So if they want the bike back
00:59:11
Speaker
Fine, I don't care. But if they want to give it to me, cool. But after a year, I won't feel like I have any more commitment to them. I don't feel like I have any more commitment to them as is. Now, if I'm on a ride, I'll just tag them because I like Brandon over at Bulls. So we'll see what happens.
00:59:35
Speaker
It's a good bike, but it's like anything. Now it's a year later and I'm looking at other bikes on the market and I'm like, wow, I really like that Santa Cruz. Who knows? That DJI looks pretty cool that you sent me. That DJI is a sweet looking bike. The only thing is it's a new bike, so I don't know what's its track record going to be. Yeah. How much is your bike weigh? My bike is heavy. It's 56 pounds. Wow.
01:00:04
Speaker
So that must be hard to like, you know, if you got to like pick it up and like turn it around, not hard, but it's you feel it. So I think mine is 38 pounds. It's just because I'm a pro rider. I do like a thing where I pop a wheelie. You step on the pedal, you pop a wheelie and you kind of spin it around.
01:00:24
Speaker
getting it in and out of the truck is a little bit of, it's not work, it's just awkward, it's awkward weight. So the newer ones are closer to 40 pounds. Not all the newer ones, but the newer like more high-end ones. You don't notice the difference though when you're riding like my bike, because you're getting help from the motor.
01:00:50
Speaker
I, so now I'm getting fed all kinds of bike content. Obviously, actually check it out. I got these, uh, these are mountain biking shoes. I didn't buy them for mountain biking. I just bought them because I liked the way they looked. I was looking for, I needed shoes that I could wear pants as the, as the weather's getting colder, but
01:01:07
Speaker
I'm getting fed all of this stuff on YouTube and all these ads for all kinds of stuff. And, you know, you start watching these videos and they're talking about like, oh, you know, you could save some weight by going to bliss. And this I'm like, really, you're going to notice the difference.
01:01:22
Speaker
going from tube tires to tubeless. Is it 18 ounces that you're saving? Yeah, people get crazy. I mean, I'm not there. I'm not competing. It's just sort of like... Yeah. The only reason why I would like my bike to be 15, 16 pounds lighter is lifting it into my truck, which I rarely do. But when you have to lift that into your truck, because
01:01:46
Speaker
My truck, it's got a five and a half foot bed. So I have to put it in a certain way for it to fit and be able to close the, you know, without taking the front wheel off. Oh, you don't do that cool thing where you hang the tire out of the back. OK, so you can do that. That's pretty hard to do with a heavy bike. Oh, yeah. Oh, because you have to close the lift it over. You have to lift it over the tailgate. How are people going to know that you're going to ride your bike if you don't have it hanging on the back? I know. I know. How are they going to know if I'm driving my truck around that they don't know that I'm like a mountain biker?
01:02:16
Speaker
You gotta wear the sunglasses. That's my next step. I gotta get a pair of those big glasses.
01:02:22
Speaker
If you get glasses, get the kind that turn with the darkness. Yeah, I'm going to ask for those. Yeah, they're really good. So my son Walter got me a very inexpensive pair because when you get in the woods, it's dark in the woods. But I don't always wear glasses, but sometimes you'll get hit in the eye with whatever, a stick or something. Oh, yeah. It seems like if you're going to ride in the woods that you definitely should wear them. I don't always wear them because sometimes they fog up. Yeah. But they are kind of nice. Yeah.
01:02:51
Speaker
You know where I'm riding there's. I there on Lenerville Road. There's a tree that I have to duck under, but that's about it. Cool. Well, that's all we got for you this week, I guess. Tune in for our tip video and then maker camp videos are going to come out next week. Yeah. So a week from Saturday will be the maker camp video. Cool. And probably get some shorts up. And if you're at maker camp, say hi. We'd really like to meet you.
01:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, again, if you want to be in the video, I'm just kidding. Yeah, thanks for listening. And if you do listen and you enjoy, tell a friend, leave a review that would help out the podcast. Do we want to discuss the idea of having the video on the main channel? Do you think that's a plus or a minus for subscriber growth? Yeah, we could put out the question. Yeah, if you're watching this, just because
01:03:47
Speaker
My opinion is maybe we're feeding a, you know, something on Friday, which could take away from Saturday interest. Yeah. Something to think about. We could always put this on the green street channel now. Yeah. So we'll think of whatever. All right. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
01:04:10
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode, please tell a friend or share it on social media. You can leave a review of this podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. And don't forget today's Craftsman YouTube channel has an upload every Saturday morning at 8 30 a.m. Eastern. We'll see you next week.
01:04:43
Speaker
It ain't no shame but there's been a change.