WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:10.260 Ah, what's up? Welcome back to- What's good?... Another Two Dads and Tech. What's up, dude? Oh, goodness. Much. Did you hear that? Did you hear my chair kind of breaking right there? I, I, I wish I could. 2 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:21.300 Ah, man, I'm big. I'm a large man. So many wings. I actually- I wonder if that gained weight... I wonder if that gained quite a nut. Juicier too. What is it f- Is that a commercial? When in the world is that? It is. 3 00:00:21.380 --> 00:00:31.670 It is a commercial from, like, the '60s. Uh, I don't know why. Interesting. I don't know why. I love the Tootsie Pop commercials. Yes. Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? 4 00:00:31.670 --> 00:00:43.420 To get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? I don't know. Let me see. Well, let's find out. One. One. [laughs] Two. [laughs] Three. Three. Ah, so good. Ah. Dude, oh, that's good. 5 00:00:43.660 --> 00:00:55.220 Uh, [laughs] should we just end the podcast there? [laughs] Just- Could you... Wait, we should do that- That would actually be legendary... at least once. Yeah, we should. Like, 62nd episode. All right, uh- [laughs]... 6 00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:00.940 find us at twodadsandtech.com. Bye. That would be very funny. I kind of, I kind of want to do that. That'd be so funny. 7 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:11.979 Um, hey, I was, uh, I was having a conversation with some friends, and he was like, "Hey, if you had an extra $30,000 to spend right now, what would you spend it on?" You don't? And I gave some bling. 8 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:24.490 [laughs] Well, no, I do. I'm, like, really rich. Um, so but for all the- Mm. [laughs] No, I was gonna say... Anyways, um, yeah, so if you had, [laughs] 9 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:34.539 if you had $30,000 right now and you could spend it on anything, it's not taxed, anything like that, what would you spend it on? I'll tell you right now. Yeah, yeah. Is that... Are you asking me? Yeah, yeah. 10 00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:45.180 Like, what, what would you wanna do with it? And it doesn't need to be a trip. Like, it could be- Check it out... a car. It could be some tunes. Watch this. Watch this. Oh. Eight feet wider driveway, 10 by 12 shed, 11 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:59.140 new deck, new patio, done. [laughs] Dude, so you have a lot of house projects in mind. Because I, I need $30,000 specifically for those things. [laughs] Someone. I know what it costs. I've priced it all out. 12 00:01:59.320 --> 00:02:12.480 If anyone could please Venmo me $30,000, I can finally have a wider driveway. [laughs] What's going on? Is your- Or I'd get a Jeep Wrangler. Do you have a- Our, our driveway, we have a driveway that is, like... 13 00:02:12.670 --> 00:02:20.260 It's not one lane. It's a little wider than one lane. B- So it basically goes up. It's a pretty long driveway, but then it opens really wide at the top. 14 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:29.530 So you could fit, like, three cars at the top, but the problem is if you have anyone behind one of those three cars, you have to move that car all the way out of the driveway to get- Ah... 15 00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:34.829 anyone else out because it's not big enough for two cars. Yeah. So I wanna widen it so that there's, like, basically two lanes. 16 00:02:35.290 --> 00:02:42.660 It's not that expensive of a project, but it's like, all right, 5,000, 6,000 here, 5,000, 6,000 there, 5, 6,000. It just, all these projects. 17 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:54.180 And then another 5, $6,000 project are some really, really big trees overhanging my house that I get very annoyed by that I wanna slash. I just wanna get rid of them. Dang. Dang. So everything is- Yeah... 18 00:02:54.210 --> 00:03:02.020 is- I've thought about this... it's like a f- Yeah, it's like a funnel. Your, your driveway's kinda like- I know... a funnel a little bit. Yes. Um. Yeah, exactly. Interesting. What would you- Wow, okay... 19 00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:13.260 what would you do? $30,000 right now, Venmo's showed up in your account, no take backs, what are you spending on? You have 24 hours to spend it. Ooh, 24 hours to spend it. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I'm going, um- I added a rule. 20 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:20.940 I added a rule. I added a rule. Yeah. No, no, I like that rule. A- a- and it disappears in 24 hours. Am I understanding that correctly? It goes ba- It goes to Daniel. 21 00:03:21.040 --> 00:03:30.280 It goes to Daniel's, Daniel's Money doubles every hour you don't spend yours. All right. So- All right, all right... my incentive is to get you not to spend it in this new scenario. I added a third rule. 22 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:40.790 [laughs] No, just kidding. You have 24 hours. Spend the money. Ugh. All right, yeah, 30 hours. Honestly, I would... I feel like mine's so cliche, and I even told this to my buddy. I know. 23 00:03:40.790 --> 00:03:49.480 I feel like mine's so cliche 'cause it is like I want to go take a trip and buy stuff on a trip. You're such a normie. You're such a normie. And so it, it- Where are you going? I, I... Okay, that's a good question. 24 00:03:49.540 --> 00:03:52.790 I would go travel Europe. I would go travel Europe. Yeah. And I'd spend every... 25 00:03:52.800 --> 00:04:01.780 But that's the thing is if it disappears in 24 hours, I'd buy the flights and everything now, book the Airbnbs, take the cash out of the ATM. Yep. Yep. And, well, I guess it's Venmo, so I can't. 26 00:04:02.100 --> 00:04:09.360 I'll go get a- You're getting mugged... sign up for a Venmo card. 24 hours, doesn't matter where the money is, someone's taking it. Someone's showing up- Yeah... in a mask, and they're pickpocketing you. Yeah. 27 00:04:09.420 --> 00:04:18.920 I, I would, I'd, I'd travel Europe and, uh- Dude, Europe's very- Oh, I'd have to spend 24 hours? Okay, hold on. Europe's very what? I, I, you know what? Forget, forget the rule. Just tell me what you do. 28 00:04:18.969 --> 00:04:26.969 No, but- But you can, you can travel in Europe really reasonably priced. Like, I- when we- That's what I hear... lived in Spain, we went to London for a weekend. 29 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:39.000 It was $40 round trip tickets to fly to London from Madrid. $40. Wow. Less than- Wow... 100 bucks for both of us to get to and from London. Like- Yeah... unreal. 30 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:49.510 I mean, it's, like, cheaper to fly than it is to get a tank of gas. Not always- That's insane... but, like, the right flights and the right place. But, like, different country? Going from Spain to London? Yeah. 31 00:04:49.530 --> 00:04:58.060 And it's 40 bucks, so I'm like, it's so inexpensive to travel there. It's unreal. That's what I hear, and as I heard spec- I heard specifically, like, Spain is a great place. 32 00:04:58.500 --> 00:05:07.860 Which you ever, you would never move back, but- Maybe. No, we've talked about it. We're not in a rush to leave where we are now, but we've talked about- Yeah, of course... we, we wanna go back, uh, periodically. 33 00:05:07.940 --> 00:05:17.660 So we might go back this year. We went back last year. We love- Okay... we love Madrid. We love Spain in general, the culture there. The, it's just we love the country. Yeah. That's what I hear. I have... 34 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:26.480 There's, uh, actually a girl on LinkedIn that was like, "Hey, would love to just pick your brain." Have you heard of Suji? Suji, if you listen, I don't think you do, but if you listen, what's up? Suji. 35 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:38.720 I, I don't even know- Is that-... how to spell that. I'm trying to picture the name, and I'm, it's... I may be remembering it. Okay, try to guess. Try to guess- S- S- O-... the spelling... S-O-U-G-E-E. Close. S-U-J-I. 36 00:05:39.969 --> 00:05:49.450 [laughs] Not close at all. Wow, I was not close. I know. Yeah, she, she's awesome. She was actually really cool. Went to Madison, so she actually lived in Madison. I think she lives somewhere... She lives everywhere. 37 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:53.520 She was just essentially- Sure... saying, like, she's a digital nomad- Yeah... kind of person- Yeah... traveling all over. 38 00:05:54.020 --> 00:06:01.140 Uh, she was like, "Spain is a great place to actually go and have a family 'cause it's cheap, and it's safe, and the culture's great, and it's welcoming," all this fun stuff. 39 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:12.580 Spain, Portugal, ItalyThree countries I, I've been to and would go back to in a heartbeat. All three of them- Yeah... have their own nuances. But I feel like if you're a digital nomad, I don't know. 40 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:15.640 I, I've never been a digital nomad. I've, I've moved around a lot. 41 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:25.250 But, like, true digital nomads, like jumping from couch to couch types of lifestyles, I feel like I've seen so many of them go through those three countries. Obviously, you've heard of, like, the Bali and- Yeah... 42 00:06:25.280 --> 00:06:35.749 some of the, like, farther east countries too. But if you're going through Europe, Portugal, Italy, Spain. Amazing. Okay. That's what I hear. What's your-- What does your dream life look like? 43 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:46.040 I'd love to retire before I'm 40, but retirement is... We've talked about this in the past, but i-it's not, oh, like, stop working completely and just never lift a finger. 44 00:06:46.320 --> 00:06:55.860 I think retirement for me, like, work on the things that you find value in and not be forced to work on those because you need a paycheck. 45 00:06:56.580 --> 00:07:07.820 So once that happens, whether it's before I'm 40 or not, I would love to lean into community. Courtney and I, my wife, we, we love building community and, you know, we have local communities here. 46 00:07:07.880 --> 00:07:10.600 We have a local business that really is built around community. 47 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:23.240 But, like, community, just doing what we think actually changes people's lives, being generous, finding needs, whether locally or globally and, and doing what we can to help meet those needs or fill in a gap. 48 00:07:23.840 --> 00:07:35.020 Traveling, we love to travel. We've talked a lot in the past about having a, a kinda like a home base, and we love where we live now. So a home base would probably be where we, or at least the area we live in now. 49 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:44.460 But being able to go like, "All right, we're gonna go for three months to, you know, drop a pin, you know, on the map." And, and maybe it's to, uh, you know, we're part of a family of churches. 50 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:53.090 Maybe it's to go, you know, spend time with a church abroad, or maybe it's to just live in Europe for some time. I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of things we've talked about doing. 51 00:07:53.090 --> 00:08:02.600 We've talked about, uh, Courtney, especially in school, she went to school for some different things, uh, involving 501[c][3], like, nonprofit work and stuff. And so- Yeah. Yeah... 52 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:11.380 you know, we've talked about doing nonprofit, like, orphanage work, you know, abroad. I don't know. Uh- Yeah. But- I wanna do meaningful work. I think that's, that's where my heart goes. 53 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:19.120 My heart and my mind go to doing what matters and not doing what doesn't matter. I think we do a lot that doesn't matter in the, in the grand scheme of things. We 54 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:33.120 just, you and I and everyone, like [chuckles] people do things that just don't matter. I like to imagine a life where I'm not doing the things that don't matter as much as I am doing right now. Yeah. Okay. 55 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:42.020 Let's, let's get a little bit deeper on that and paint the picture here. You wake up. What's the first-- Okay, so you wake up in this dream life. What's the first thing you look at? What's the first thing you do? 56 00:08:42.810 --> 00:08:53.020 Uh- In the morning. Would love to... Yeah, I mean, some of these things, I'll, I'll, I'll be the first to say are practical right now, and I should just implement them. But here's, you know, we'll set that aside. 57 00:08:53.030 --> 00:09:01.370 Would love to not have to be on technology when I wake up, and not, like, immediately. Like, right now, again, don't have to do that, but, like, to go hours. 58 00:09:01.380 --> 00:09:15.920 Wake up one day with the sun, circadian rhythm, and go the whole day until the afternoon without needing to check a social account or look at Slack or, you know, see if anyone got back to me in an email. 59 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:26.100 Like, the, the needs that, like, never really stop in this stage of life, whether it's the three things I just described or something adjacent to those, we're just glued and tied to technology. 60 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:37.920 But to be able to actually disconnect, but regularly as part of my lifestyle, I think that's, that's what, like, the morning looks like. You know, brew a cup of coffee, hang out, do yoga, like, meditate. 61 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:49.800 Like, the things that sound, in theory, to be relaxing and de-stressing, uh, that, that sounds, I don't know, that sounds like an ideal morning to me. Yeah. Yeah. And you would live in Charleston, you said? I don't know. 62 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:59.760 I, I mean, I think we're open to... Even when we were in Europe earlier this year, we've talked about, like, man, it would be so cool to, like, come back to Europe every year. 63 00:09:59.860 --> 00:10:10.360 And we, we even, we were dr- daydreaming when we talked about this, but, like, buying property in Europe and having, like, a place to go back to that's, like, ours, where we get to know the town and the community and the people. 64 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:19.920 I think eventually something like that could, could happen. But I think there's the, the balance of, like, do we want... Like, when you buy property, you feel like you've gotta go back to that place. 65 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:28.480 But, like, there's a freedom of, like, well, we don't, we can go wherever we want. You know, just get an Airbnb for a month, and who cares where it is. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Charleston is great. 66 00:10:29.400 --> 00:10:39.480 Um, but there's a lot- Yeah. I mean, the world is, the world's full of really, really cool places, and I haven't seen all of them. It is. It is. What would, what would your house look like? I always, I've always been... 67 00:10:39.520 --> 00:10:47.240 Like, if you look, if you ever just, like, go on Zillow and look at, like, five, ten, fifteen million dollar houses, I actually like the very, very modern ones. 68 00:10:47.280 --> 00:10:55.450 You know, there's, there's the appeal of, like- So, like, big windows, like, square kind of? Yes. Like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Like- Yeah, yeah... extremely minimalist inside interior and like- Yeah... 69 00:10:55.460 --> 00:11:01.540 you look at it and it almost looks like the future. Like, you look at the- Yeah... outside of the house and you're like, "Whoa, that looks like sci-fi." I love those houses. 70 00:11:01.760 --> 00:11:10.580 That said, I don't know that we would agree on that type of house, but I don't know. I mean, you know, we're not, tomorrow we're not gonna buy a ten million dollar house. So it's like, I don't know. I, I like to... 71 00:11:10.680 --> 00:11:22.120 We went to Costa Rica on our honeymoon now almost eight years ago, and the house we got, we rented was, like, on the side of a mountain, very remote area, overlooking the ocean. 72 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:32.420 So you were probably a quarter mile from the ocean, so it's, like, right there, but far enough away where you're actually in the mountains. I'm like, that idea... Hong Kong. 73 00:11:32.520 --> 00:11:42.900 Someone, someone I work with just brought up Hong Kong. They were traveling through. They sent pictures. I went to Hong Kong about, uh, twelve years ago now, a few times, and I took this picture. I remember taking it. 74 00:11:43.160 --> 00:11:47.240 If you look at Hong Kong from, like, up above, there's a few aerial shots you can get of it. 75 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:56.440 Dense city, mountains surrounding it, and then ocean, like, water, like, right in the middle, and it's, like, two islands actually, Hong Kong is. 76 00:11:57.520 --> 00:12:09.170 I love the combination of that type of, like, city with water, with mountains. Seattle is similar. It's, like, very much like a city in the mountains on the water. Interesting. I don't know. 77 00:12:09.180 --> 00:12:18.260 There's a lot of places like that in the world. But I love having all of it in the same place at once. It's very, very cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. I've never been to Hong Kong. 78 00:12:18.410 --> 00:12:25.952 I think-I've never even had the desire to. Should I have the desire? I kind of have it now, but- Yeah, definitely, definitely go to Hong Kong if you ever get the chance. 79 00:12:26.552 --> 00:12:38.472 I, I was in China for three months the summer of 2014, and I flew through Hong Kong, so I was there for a night before I went to China, but then I went back to Hong Kong at least two or three times for, like, a few days each. 80 00:12:39.262 --> 00:12:50.192 Yeah. And it's just really a very, very cool city to experience. It's a melting pot in many ways. Like- Yeah... you go to New York City, and there's, like, every culture and, and language imaginable. 81 00:12:50.202 --> 00:12:58.432 Like, Hong Kong is... I- I don't wanna say it's similar to New York City, but it's, like, very much so a melting pot of culture. So it's not just, like, you go to Hong Kong, there's a bunch of people from China. 82 00:12:58.452 --> 00:13:06.872 It's, like, there's people everywhere from all over the world. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's a Russian here, a German there, you know, someone from Great Britain, and then a lot of Chinese people, a lot of Japanese people. 83 00:13:06.881 --> 00:13:17.332 It's like Hong Kong is just very much like a melting pot. I loved it. It was so cool. Yeah. Yeah. In this dream life, would you do something? Like, is there anything you would do every single day? The basics. 84 00:13:17.452 --> 00:13:29.122 Uh, I would try to pray. I would try to meditate. I would really just try to stay grounded. Yeah. I don't know. What would I do every day? Do, do you meditate right now? I try. Yeah. Okay. So maybe- Yeah, I try... 85 00:13:29.122 --> 00:13:37.222 maybe not all the time, but I actually, yesterday- I should meditate more... was the first time. Yeah, I don't know how. [laughs] I literally Googled yesterday how to meditate because I was like- Really?... 86 00:13:37.222 --> 00:13:43.452 "I feel like I should meditate a little bit." Yeah, yeah. Just to kinda like clear the mind before I get my day started. Meditation... Whatever. 87 00:13:43.512 --> 00:13:52.132 I've meditated more in certain stages of life than others, but, like, there's different forms of meditation. I remember doing one. During school, I took a semester off. 88 00:13:52.672 --> 00:13:59.132 Technically, I was still a student, but it was, like, called a co-op, so it was like an internship where you're technically a full-time student, but you're working. I don't know why they do that. 89 00:13:59.192 --> 00:14:05.672 But I worked, and I would have a 25-minute commute to work, and I was seeing a therapist at this time who was teaching me how to meditate. 90 00:14:06.192 --> 00:14:14.822 And one of the forms of meditation that he had mentioned, uh, and this is a really common one, I can't remember the name of it. There's an order of operations. It's like see, sight... No. 91 00:14:15.072 --> 00:14:25.692 Sight, touch, feel, smell, sound, I think. I- I'm probably botching this, but what you do is you clear your mind. Turn off music. I did it while I was driving. 92 00:14:25.932 --> 00:14:36.212 Perfect world, you do it, like, in a room, but while you're driving's fine. And you go down the list of, all right, what is every single thing... You, you know, you're just brain and eyes on the road. 93 00:14:36.372 --> 00:14:46.032 What is every single thing I see? And you start to just notice those things. Just see. All right, now move on to sight. Or, uh, to sound. What's everything I hear? 94 00:14:46.112 --> 00:14:53.352 So you're not trying to focus too much on the things you see. Obviously, you're driving at this point. If you're not driving, you just close your eyes. What do I hear? Identify all those sounds. 95 00:14:53.652 --> 00:14:54.872 What do I smell after that? 96 00:14:54.952 --> 00:15:12.312 And you just go through this list, and what it's doing to your brain is it's, it's almost categorizing these senses so that you're not so distracted by all of them happening always at once, and you get better at training your mind to distinguish s- like, distinct things happening to your senses. 97 00:15:12.352 --> 00:15:21.012 And it... I don't know. There's obviously science behind why you do this. Yeah, yeah. But ultimately- Yeah, yeah... it calms the mind. It, you know, slows the heart rate. It gets you to be more intentional. 98 00:15:21.692 --> 00:15:25.032 Um, I found that it was just a really good way to start the day. 99 00:15:25.112 --> 00:15:33.142 You know, I think work w- started at probably 8:00, so I was in the car at 7:30, and it was just a really good way to, like, start the day, to be very intentional. 100 00:15:33.752 --> 00:15:43.892 You know, get your emotions in check, prepare for work in that stage of life. So I don't know. That's one form of meditation. Obviously, you got the, the om, you know, that's like a very- That's... [laughs] You know. 101 00:15:43.952 --> 00:15:52.792 I don't know. Yeah. Criss cross applesauce. Cliché. Hands in the air. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, cliché, but, like, there's, there's so many different form. Prayer is a form of meditation. Um- That's what I assumed it... Yeah. 102 00:15:52.892 --> 00:16:04.472 Yeah. There's, there's a lot of- It's-... a lot of ways to meditate, and a lot of studies, spiritual and science, around why people should meditate and, and the effect it has on them. Yeah, yeah. 103 00:16:04.552 --> 00:16:13.652 Maybe I, maybe I should do it. I was l- literally yesterday on the StairMaster I was looking at it. Yeah. All right. And then if, if, uh... Again, back to this dream life scenario, what would you buy right now? 104 00:16:13.772 --> 00:16:21.492 Take your stupid little house projects out of this. What would you buy right now that you just want because you can? Jeep Wrangler. Really? You'd be... What are you driving now? Like a sick... 105 00:16:21.712 --> 00:16:28.392 This episode is sponsored by Zapier, which honestly is the only reason my newsletter growth doesn't look like a hot mess. 106 00:16:28.592 --> 00:16:38.112 You probably know this about me, but I work at Beehiiv, and I also have my own media company that's operated by Beehiiv, and I run Facebook lead ads using Meta. 107 00:16:38.252 --> 00:16:49.512 It's nothing fancy, but every time someone fills it out, a lead form on Facebook, Zapier just snags that event and drops the subscriber straight into my Beehiiv account. It's super easy to set up. 108 00:16:49.552 --> 00:17:00.012 There's no exports required. I don't have to, like, maintain it over time. I just set up this Zap one single time between Facebook and Beehiiv, and Zapier takes care of everything. 109 00:17:00.132 --> 00:17:05.252 It's an integration that works with Beehiiv, of course, but also, like, 8,000 other apps. 110 00:17:05.672 --> 00:17:23.852 So if you create a Zapier account and you wanna connect your WordPress and your Shopify and your Beehiiv account and HubSpot contacts or Salesforce contacts, and you wanna really integrate these different events that happen across your entire tech stack, Zapier is just that good at making it happen seamlessly. 111 00:17:24.352 --> 00:17:35.312 Zapier's my glue holding together my entire tech stack, and if you've got a business and you're trying to integrate your different tech tools across your stack, Zapier is the way to go. We have two cars. 112 00:17:35.352 --> 00:17:49.392 We have a Toyota Sienna, so like a van, and a, an Acura MDX, so like a seven-seater. Whoa. That's an SUV k- yeah. Yeah, and I, I mean, the, the van is... We need the van. We took a Wrangler 113 00:17:50.392 --> 00:18:00.532 to the Outer Banks a few summers ago. Uh, we rented one on, like, Turo and drove it to Outer Banks, and we went to those beaches in the Outer Banks that you just drive on the beach, and it's awesome. Mm. 114 00:18:00.612 --> 00:18:11.812 Ever since that, it's been maybe three years, we're like, "Oh, like, we have to buy a Wrangler." And look, I know they're not reliable. I know they cost a lot to fix. I know there's a lot of safety issues with them. 115 00:18:11.852 --> 00:18:19.512 Like, I know it's not the car to get if you want, like, the best car out there, but we want one. We both want one, and we wanna be part of the club. 116 00:18:19.552 --> 00:18:27.643 If you're-If you're in a Wrangler and you pass a Wrangler, like, you're, you're, you're waving at them, you're doing the little hand up on the steering wheel, like, you're nodding your head. 117 00:18:27.684 --> 00:18:37.984 Like, there's a community, and when we had that Wrangler for those few days, oh, it just felt like we were part of something bigger. We were part of something bigger than ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. 118 00:18:38.064 --> 00:18:46.884 [laughs] I can see you being one of those big duck guys. Yes. I feel like your Wrangler would just have ducks stacked to the door. Dude, I would buy, I would buy my own ducks. I would break all the rules. 119 00:18:47.044 --> 00:18:53.744 I would get so many duck- [laughs] No, I'm just kidding. It was funny, we, we got a duck on the one that we rented, and it's like you're only supposed to give... 120 00:18:53.784 --> 00:19:00.604 technically, you're only supposed to give ducks to the ones that you're like, "That is the sickest Jeep." Like, y- y- Oh, really? It's like almost a form of... Apparently. 121 00:19:00.824 --> 00:19:04.013 I don't know much about it, but that's what I've heard. And so you don't just like- It's like a-... 122 00:19:04.044 --> 00:19:13.904 give away ducks to anyone, and it's specifically the ones that aren't that impressive, like, they'll probably have less ducks. [laughs] So, like, one of our, my friends is, like, a Jeep, like- Big duck guy... aficionado. 123 00:19:13.944 --> 00:19:22.024 Like, he's... No, it's funny, he doesn't have a ton of ducks, but he's, he's got this crazy sick Jeep from way back in the day that he knows everything about and is apparently impressive. 124 00:19:22.104 --> 00:19:31.264 [laughs] But, like, no one gives him ducks 'cause it doesn't look impressive, and he's like, "All these people with a whole dashboard of ducks probably are just buying them themselves 'cause no one gives that s- me- that many ducks." 125 00:19:31.844 --> 00:19:40.084 I was like, that's funny. Dude. That is funny. Where- That's a funny thing to care about... where do you, where do you think that originated from, the duck thing? Do you know? I have no idea. That's a good question. 126 00:19:40.424 --> 00:19:51.084 We should ask Chat. Yeah, ask Chat. Where did the duck thing come from for Wranglers? Let's see what Chat tells us. Searching the web. The pond. 127 00:19:51.734 --> 00:20:05.254 The duck thing, a trend among, among Jeep owners called Jeep ducking or duck duck Jeep. The tradition began in 2020? No. It can't be that new. No. 2020? No. This is, like, uh- BS... decades old. All right. 128 00:20:05.284 --> 00:20:15.324 Unless it started in COVID. I don't know. Hold on. Let's see. No. Dude, Chat, when did the duck Jeep- Maybe they don't think... I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Thing start Someone tell us. 129 00:20:15.844 --> 00:20:31.124 Someone reach out to me. 2020 in Ontario, Canada. It can't be. It can't be true. What? It can't be true. It said it started back in 2020 during COVID. All it took was for one Jeep owner named Allison Parliament to... 130 00:20:31.133 --> 00:20:46.144 Oh, I'm chewing something. Can you tell? Yes, I can. Uh... Very loud. Please stop. Let's see. Uh, let's see here. Everyone- Story behind the Jeep ducks. It actually started in 2020. That- What? That has to be wrong. 131 00:20:46.224 --> 00:20:54.334 Dude. That's cra- and then one person, I wanna know how this started, but it took me to a Facebook post, and I can't find it. I'm, I'm reading- Um-... something on, on Jeep Chrysler 132 00:20:55.424 --> 00:21:02.024 that says the practice of Jeep ducking originated in a small town in Canada in 2020. Damn. Dude. 133 00:21:02.094 --> 00:21:11.344 Allison Parliament from Ontario randomly bought a bunch of rubber ducks from a convenience store and gave one to another Jeep owner with a note that said, "Have a great day." 134 00:21:11.404 --> 00:21:20.464 The intent was to bring a smile to the individual and spread a little cheer that we all needed during the pandemic. This small interaction turned out much better than expected. 135 00:21:20.504 --> 00:21:28.484 The Jeep owner walked out of the store, was confused when he saw a rubber duck being placed in his Jeep, however, after reading the note that was left behind, left a huge smile on his face. 136 00:21:28.544 --> 00:21:44.584 That night, #duckduckjeep was born after being posted on Instagram, and the rest is history. Five years ago? What? I would've bet money that that was not true. I need someone who's a Jeep just, like- Just a, a Jeep-... 137 00:21:44.594 --> 00:21:53.154 savant- Yeah. [laughs]... to tell me this is wrong. Please. Like, please hit me up and be like, "No, no, no. That is fake news. It started way before that." But, like- Dude... 138 00:21:53.224 --> 00:22:02.924 this is, this is, until proven otherwise, it's a five-year-old trend. So- That is-... that's pretty cool. That's crazy. Yeah, I would've guessed- Yeah... 1989 maybe. You know? 139 00:22:02.944 --> 00:22:08.984 Like, something crazy like that- Yeah, forever ago... where it's just been- Yeah... for... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. Well, Allison Parliament, I know you're probably listening. 140 00:22:09.204 --> 00:22:18.944 Good stuff starting duck, duck, Jeep. I know. She's our biggest fan, Alice- Allison Parliament. [laughs] She does not stop messaging us about loving our episodes. Um, anyways, that's awesome. 141 00:22:19.004 --> 00:22:26.384 That is, that is so, so cool. But- Yeah... okay, we're, we're, like... Okay, you have all this money in the world. What trip would you take? What's the number one trip you wanna go on? 142 00:22:26.564 --> 00:22:35.714 Um, well, if I bought the Jeep, I would probably drive it- No, take the Jeep out... somewhere. Okay, take the Jeep out. I would love to go to Tokyo. That's the- Ooh. Like- Really?... 143 00:22:35.724 --> 00:22:45.964 in this current stage of life, the most exotic and also difficult place to get to. Yeah. Like, Europe, very easy to travel to Europe comparatively. Yeah, yeah. Comparatively. It's not easy. For sure. 144 00:22:46.024 --> 00:22:56.044 But, like, comparatively, the time difference is six, seven hours. The time in the plane is, you know, eight, give or take. It- it's just easier transition. 145 00:22:56.264 --> 00:23:07.524 Going anywhere in Asia is just way harder on the kids especially because of the 12-plus hour time difference, all that stuff. But I've also never been to Tokyo, and I would absolutely love to go. 146 00:23:07.724 --> 00:23:18.684 I'm a big anime guy, so I watch a lot of anime. I love Japanese culture, love listening to Japanese. I don't know how to speak it at all, but I love the sound of the language, and I would just love to go. 147 00:23:18.904 --> 00:23:27.384 The history of Japan is something that's very fascinating to me. I'd love to go someday. Wow. I mean, J- Tokyo just sounds like such a cool city to go to, so yeah. 148 00:23:27.464 --> 00:23:36.494 I feel like, I feel like I would love to go there alone, and maybe that's a really bad thing to say. That'd be cool. And I think I, I think I say that 'cause my wife has zero interest. I've talked about it. Really? 149 00:23:36.504 --> 00:23:43.164 Like, would you ever want to go to Japan? And she's like- Yeah... "That's not for me." We're, we're a put us in the mountains or put us on the water kinda people. Yeah. Yeah. 150 00:23:43.524 --> 00:23:50.474 However, I feel like that'd be a really cool trip. I mean, there are, there are mountains and water in Japan, just so we're all on the same page. Yeah, but I'm thinking of Tokyo specifically. Um- Yeah. Yeah. And- Fair. 151 00:23:50.474 --> 00:23:57.484 Fair enough... I don't know. So when I'm thinking of it, I'm like, eh, I think, like, it would be a really cool trip to just go learn the culture. 152 00:23:57.934 --> 00:24:05.194 Uh, of course, it'd be great to go with, like, your family and stuff, but, like, sit there and go for a week or two just by yourself and just learn everything, eat whatever, have no worries in the world. Yeah. 153 00:24:05.204 --> 00:24:06.264 I feel like that would be really cool. 154 00:24:06.324 --> 00:24:19.704 Obviously, like, logistically for my life, that makes zero sense, and I would never do that, but I can't imagine dragging my 11-month-old and four-year-old around Tokyo right now for a very extended period of time. 155 00:24:20.164 --> 00:24:31.718 Yeah, I think the, the reason we like-S- Spain so much is 'cause we both speak Spanish, my wife a lot more than myself. So even in remote parts of Spain, like we're, we're fine. We'll get by. Yeah. 156 00:24:31.748 --> 00:24:35.328 Japan, obviously in the bigger cities, people are gonna speak English. It's gonna be fine. 157 00:24:35.428 --> 00:24:44.708 But if you were to travel outside of that at all, like there's nothing to fall back on if you happen to be somewhere where there's not much English speaking. I remember experiencing this in China. 158 00:24:44.748 --> 00:24:49.138 I was in Guangzhou, where there's plenty of English speakers. But I traveled 159 00:24:50.128 --> 00:24:57.208 way out west into the Yunnan province and, you know, Jiangxi, and like all over the place in China, where there was very little English speaking. 160 00:24:57.808 --> 00:25:02.868 And it didn't occur to me that I had learned some Chinese before going there, and I, I was conversational. 161 00:25:03.058 --> 00:25:18.988 I could get by, but there are dialects in China, so learning Mandarin Chinese in one specific way and not understanding the accent that someone in a different area of China might bring to Mandarin Chinese, oh, dude, unbelievably difficult. 162 00:25:19.028 --> 00:25:28.998 So I would... You just drop me somewhere 30 hours away from South China, and I'm like, I can't... I couldn't understand a single thing they were saying. And I was stuck- Really?... a number of times- Yeah... 163 00:25:29.048 --> 00:25:40.968 like in the middle of nowhere. Like, I just have to figure this out. Uh, that's a fun situation to be in as a 21-year-old who- Yeah... speaks enough Chinese to get by but is American-learned Chinese. Yeah. 164 00:25:41.088 --> 00:25:52.288 I mean- Yeah... dude, what a... It was, it was fun, though. I was single guy, didn't have a family, you know, full of life. It was, it was a fun time of life. You live such a unique life. Like what? Yeah, it's been fun. 165 00:25:52.328 --> 00:25:58.348 Like what were you doing over there [laughs] and why? Um, a number of things. I taught English. Um- Okay... 166 00:25:58.368 --> 00:26:05.268 which I self-supported myself to move there for three months, taught English to recoup some of the money at the end, and I was helping a church. 167 00:26:05.308 --> 00:26:09.668 It was like an underground church over there, um, that I was doing like mission work with, which was pretty cool. 168 00:26:09.888 --> 00:26:20.888 Uh, very illegal to do that in the way that I was doing it because China has two, at least back then, has two specific churches that are China-governed and- Yeah, yeah... 169 00:26:20.908 --> 00:26:28.808 Christian, Christian churches that are China governed. If you are part of those two churches, you're good. If you're not part of those two, you're breaking the law. Um, a lot of reasons- Huh... 170 00:26:28.818 --> 00:26:36.058 why I helped an underground church there, but many of the, you know, non-denominational Christian churches in China are technically underground, some more than others. 171 00:26:36.088 --> 00:26:48.708 And so it was, it was a cool experience, mission work, doing something like that in China. Um, and then also just alongside learning Chinese in school was a very cool way to like put some of that to practice. Um- Yeah. 172 00:26:48.748 --> 00:26:59.008 That's so cool... any way you can put yourself in a culture fully immersed is, I will die by this, is the way to learn a language. I mean, I've learned book languages. 173 00:26:59.188 --> 00:27:09.248 I've learned German, Hebrew, Chinese, Spanish, and obviously English. I've learned technically all of those languages in school professionally, some more than others. 174 00:27:10.668 --> 00:27:22.768 Spanish, learning it in Spain for a year, Chinese, learning it in China for three months, it just, it like 10Xs your- Yeah, so different. Yeah... ability to comprehend. There's really just no comparison. 175 00:27:22.808 --> 00:27:25.448 So people like are all about like Duolingo and stuff. I'm like, whatever. 176 00:27:25.488 --> 00:27:40.948 I mean, you're probably learning vocabulary, some pronunciation, but like I have yet to experience a single case ever of someone who went from zero to Duolingo, drop them in the middle of a foreign country, and actually have conversations. 177 00:27:40.958 --> 00:27:41.348 Have to get by. Yeah, yeah. 178 00:27:41.388 --> 00:27:53.408 [laughs] Like, maybe you can hear specific vocabulary and understand a little bit about what people are saying, but the types of things that you don't get until you're in real situations in another country, 179 00:27:54.308 --> 00:28:01.628 I mean, it's like embarrassing. Like- Yeah. Yeah, yeah... Duolingo is, is, is a fun, it's a fun thing. It- it's fun to brag to your American friends. You're learning something. It's gimmicky. Yeah. 180 00:28:01.688 --> 00:28:08.478 It's, "Whoa, I'm level..." You're like, "Yo, look at this. I can speak Chinese." "... 760 on my Duolingo streak." Like- I mean, who cares? Yeah. Like you're not, that's not doing anything. Yeah, yeah. 181 00:28:08.488 --> 00:28:14.868 But like good for you, you know, but I think that's all it is. It's like a game. Yeah. You're learning something, but it's not actually learning a language. Yeah. 182 00:28:15.448 --> 00:28:25.998 You're a good man, man, for all the work that you've, that you've done. Do you think, and you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, do you think that you would be upset 183 00:28:27.248 --> 00:28:39.568 if one or both of your kids grew up and they were like, "Dad, I don't think religion is for me"? No, not upset. Do you think you would have- Sad... failed? Would you feel failed, like that you failed? No. Okay. No. 184 00:28:39.948 --> 00:28:55.968 Courtney and I, we want to do our best to display our own values and- Yeah... to bring up our kids, uh, with those values. But- Yeah, yeah... the way that I view Christianity is that it is a personal choice. 185 00:28:57.568 --> 00:29:07.488 I grew up going to church, but I d- did not consider myself a Christian until I chose to be one as I was 15, still very young, but that was my choice. 186 00:29:07.728 --> 00:29:12.688 It's not my parents' choice, and the same way that I'm raising my kids, it's not... 187 00:29:13.048 --> 00:29:24.108 Like they're not Christians until they choose one day to be one or not, and that's their choice, and I'll influence that choice as their dad, but I won't force them to do anything. 188 00:29:24.128 --> 00:29:30.168 I mean, it just, that's the antithesis of what I believe the Bible teaches about following Jesus, is that y- you don't force people to do it. 189 00:29:30.668 --> 00:29:41.848 I also don't expect people to live like a Christian when they don't say they are a Christian. I think that's what a lot of people get wrong about religion in general. I've studied at the graduate level. 190 00:29:41.948 --> 00:29:47.568 I've studied many different world religions, Islam, Judaism. You know, that's why I learned Hebrew. 191 00:29:47.808 --> 00:30:07.048 Uh, I have a long line of people who were Jewish in my family, so like a lot of family history there as well, and I think history shows that when you expect a person to live the way that you believe people should live, when they don't believe that, it always turns into some kind of catastrophic war. 192 00:30:07.328 --> 00:30:15.578 Uh, you just don't... I don't believe anyone should live a certain way unless they want to. Yeah. Yeah. So I live a certain way, and I try to have values and display those values and try to be- Yeah, yeah... 193 00:30:15.578 --> 00:30:24.578 a good person, and I have a lot of different diagrams of what I think that looks like based on my own belief system. But, I mean- Yeah... my, my kids have to decide that for themselves. Yeah. Yeah. 194 00:30:24.588 --> 00:30:33.844 And that's, that's what I believe deeply.Nice. You know, I've always wanted to ask you that for, like, a year now. Which, by the way- I am- This might be coming up on a year. [laughs] I'm not closed off. 195 00:30:33.924 --> 00:30:39.314 I mean, you ask me any questions. I believe also there, there's a scripture that says, "Always be prepared to give an answer." 196 00:30:40.854 --> 00:30:46.094 That's, that's what I, I always, I always try to answer any question someone asks me, and sometimes I'm not prepared. Yeah. Yeah. You can throw me off. 197 00:30:46.124 --> 00:30:50.324 I'm sure if you ask enough questions, eventually I'll be like, "I have no idea how to answer that." But- Yeah... 198 00:30:50.464 --> 00:31:05.264 that's part of why I studied culture in school and got degrees in history and philosophy and theology, is because I want to be able to uniquely interact with people of any different background or culture or religion, because I think that's how the world becomes a better place. 199 00:31:05.393 --> 00:31:13.784 I think too many people are too closed off and wanna only interact with people who are like them. And if you look at history, that, that is just a dangerous ideology. It is. 200 00:31:13.824 --> 00:31:24.244 Anyone who is refusing to interact with or love those who are not like themselves is a, a typically a one-way track to danger. That 201 00:31:25.264 --> 00:31:32.244 nothing makes me more irrationally mad than people that will only- But rationally, I think. I don't think it's irrational. But- I think that should upset you. 202 00:31:32.283 --> 00:31:40.324 But, but, but it's a, but it's irrational because I shouldn't care what somebody else lives by and what they think and what they believe in and who they choose to- Sure... interact with, right? 203 00:31:40.424 --> 00:31:52.344 So like- I hear what you're saying. But like, ugh, yeah. When it's like, I don't even wanna get too far into it, but when anybody is just, they think this way, I will never be their friend or I'll never respect them. 204 00:31:52.374 --> 00:31:58.504 I'll, you know- Yeah... whatever it might be. Like, come on. The world's- I- The world's too beautiful for stuff like that. Yes. 205 00:31:58.904 --> 00:32:08.384 There are two things that I've heard said before, I think possibly by the same person, but I can't remember. One of them is, "I reserve the right to change my mind on this opinion." 206 00:32:09.024 --> 00:32:21.954 And I've always tried my very best when expressing an opinion I have or a belief system that I've adopted to do it all through that lens. I reserve the right to change my mind on this opinion. Yeah. Yeah. 207 00:32:21.984 --> 00:32:31.184 Because you learn new things every day. Yeah. You learn new things every day. And at, at some point there might be something that shows me something more about something I believe that changes my opinion on that thing. 208 00:32:31.244 --> 00:32:44.984 So that's the, that's the first thing. The second thing is I try to believe the best in people until they show me I should believe otherwise. I think that is the opposite of how most people live their lives. 209 00:32:45.224 --> 00:32:56.104 I think most people assume the worst. I think most people assume people are bad people. Most people assume people are up to no good, have malice, deceit, whatever. And unfortunately, many people do. 210 00:32:56.464 --> 00:33:00.544 I mean, the reality is- Yeah... many people are not- Absolutely... quote, good people. 211 00:33:01.124 --> 00:33:21.623 But when I'm confronted in a one-on-one situation with someone who tells me something about themselves or something about their universe, I choose to assume they're telling me the truth, that they are honest people, that they are good, again, until it is obvious to me, not what I've heard or what I've seen in the grapevine, like to me personally, that that is not the case. 212 00:33:22.304 --> 00:33:32.304 I think people actually act and behave better when given the benefit of the doubt. I don't think... People don't get the benefit of the doubt as much as I think they should. And I think- Yeah... 213 00:33:32.344 --> 00:33:43.984 again, this is all, I think, just the world would be a better place if more people gave others better benefits of the doubt and second chances and assumed the best in people instead of the worst. Yeah. 214 00:33:44.804 --> 00:33:52.924 Yeah, I think I always heard, I don't know where it was from, but just the, the phrase, "Assume positive intent." Um, so if somebody even does do something- Yes, assume positive intent... you, yeah. 215 00:33:53.064 --> 00:34:02.504 So I've always kind of lived by that. I'm, and I'm the same way, and I think, I don't know, I... Yeah, I just think that there's [laughs]... I don't know. I think the same way. 216 00:34:02.884 --> 00:34:09.274 I'm just trying to think of like when I go out and meet people, random people, I, yeah, I always assume like, "Oh, this, this is a great person. This is a good guy." Yeah. And maybe they're not, right? 217 00:34:09.364 --> 00:34:20.954 Maybe they're doing so many other things that are horrible below the surface- Well-... that I don't know about, but... assuming the best in people or assuming positive intent doesn't mean being stupid either. Yeah. Yeah. 218 00:34:20.964 --> 00:34:30.944 I mean, you think, you and I are both parents, and if we're out in public and you need to use the bathroom, something you don't do is ask a stranger to watch your kids while you go to the bathroom. 219 00:34:31.224 --> 00:34:37.924 Well, I assume the positive intent, like everyone's fine. I assume they're gonna be fine. No, you don't do that. That's stupid. It's not, you should be more trusting of strangers. 220 00:34:38.064 --> 00:34:44.484 It's, do not leave your kids with a stranger. [laughs] That's- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So there's like, there's, there's boundaries that you draw still. 221 00:34:45.134 --> 00:34:54.364 But, you know, if I'm working at a coffee shop and I have to go to the bathroom, depending on where I am, I, I may leave my laptop there. Usually I don't. 222 00:34:54.444 --> 00:35:03.404 But I think I'm aware that in most cases, if I were to just tap the guy next to me and say, "Hey, I gotta run to the bathroom real quick. Can you watch my stuff?" 223 00:35:04.284 --> 00:35:10.184 99% of the time that person would be like, "Yeah, sure, for sure." Like, totally fine. Like- Yeah... what? You're gonna just- Yep... 224 00:35:10.424 --> 00:35:18.304 happen to ask a thief to watch your stuff, who's gonna take that 30-second opportunity to steal all your things? Like, the odds are slim. 225 00:35:18.564 --> 00:35:29.844 More people are willing to be good people than people who are willing to be bad, so. No. Yeah. Yeah. All- That was- Very interesting conversation. That was, that was beautifully said. That was beautifully said. 226 00:35:29.924 --> 00:35:39.284 You're good at that. [laughs] You're, you're good at explaining things. [laughs] You're so good. That's why I do- You're so good at speak. You're so good, you're so good at explaining. You so speak good. 227 00:35:39.733 --> 00:35:47.774 [laughs] Thank you. Oh, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. What do you have for me? I just asked you a ton of questions. Let, let me hear you one off rip. I came- I do, [laughs] I know, I know. I came unprepared. 228 00:35:47.774 --> 00:35:59.364 I came unprepared. I gotta, I do gotta jump a little early. I have to, have to jump on a call- That's fine... in 10 minutes on the road. 20 minutes, but, um, yeah. What would you do if your kids decided to be religious? 229 00:35:59.864 --> 00:36:12.404 Yeah, yeah. And so for, I, I haven't ever once spoke about religion on this podcast 'cause I don't care to. Um, but I'm not, I'm definitely, I'm not, like I did not grow up in a religious household, right? Right. 230 00:36:12.464 --> 00:36:19.244 So I, all my extended family outside of my household family is all religious. My direct family, not religious. We never went to church. 231 00:36:19.684 --> 00:36:27.884 So I didn't grow up on it, so I never have attem- Actually, I attempted in college when I was dating a girl who was very religious, old school Catholic. 232 00:36:28.124 --> 00:36:37.100 Kind of, kind of like threw me off a little bit, going to a very old school Catholic church, and it was very foreign. Yeah. And I was like, "Whoa." [laughs]What was that? And there's nothing against it. I just... 233 00:36:37.200 --> 00:36:43.180 It's literally like going to a country and somebody's talking to you- It is different... and you don't know what they're saying. Yes. And I'm like, "Whoa, I don't know what you- If you've never been to a mass. 234 00:36:43.190 --> 00:36:50.250 I don't know what I'm-" Yeah. Yeah. It's very different. So anyways, I don't care. Be religious. Are you kidding me? My, my sons- Yeah... can do whatever the... Kinda like to your point, they can do- Yeah... 235 00:36:50.250 --> 00:36:55.500 whatever they want. And I even tell people, like, I'm not, I'm not against learning about it. Like, I don't hate it. 236 00:36:55.700 --> 00:37:00.640 Like, there's a lot of people out there that, that are very science-based and they're like, "Oh, you're dumb for thinking Jesus is real," like that kind... 237 00:37:01.540 --> 00:37:11.980 I, I g- I think I purposely neglect conversations around it, so I don't ever- Yeah... have to think about it. And I think I do that- It's fair... with many topics in life, to be honest. 238 00:37:12.060 --> 00:37:21.480 When I don't want to think about something or I don't believe... Yeah, if I don't wanna put the brain power behind a specific topic, I'm like, yeah, I just won't even think about it, you know? Why do you think that is? 239 00:37:21.700 --> 00:37:32.920 I avoid conflict. That's my biggest red flag, and I tell everybody that. Um, I hate conflict. I hate anything about like... Yeah, just anything about... I hate negative vibes. I really hate negative vibes. 240 00:37:32.940 --> 00:37:37.600 And so, like, I'm not saying that there always needs to be a negative vibe with conflict. I don't think that's true at all. 241 00:37:37.640 --> 00:37:44.780 I think there's very healthy conflict that you can have, and I think I need to indulge into more of those, into more of those conversations 'cause I don't have them enough. 242 00:37:45.420 --> 00:37:54.460 But I'm definitely, like, just give me, like, happy... Like, b- I just wanna smile and be happy and not serious all the time. And so, like, that's just who- Yeah... just who I am. And so I think I purposely avoid it. 243 00:37:54.540 --> 00:38:05.960 And so f- I'll give you a good example. My mom is the same way, and I definitely learned it from her, and I wish I did not, for sure. This is the one thing I wish that I was not like is where I avoid conflict. 244 00:38:05.980 --> 00:38:15.200 But we went to Chicago, and I hope she doesn't listen to this, but we [laughs] went to Chicago. Lovely. She's lovely. She, you know, paid for the Airbnb and stuff like that. We were there for a handful of days. 245 00:38:16.420 --> 00:38:27.000 And she wasn't being as helpful as I would've wished, and I, I let her know, but I had never once let her know that, even though that is a talking point, where it's like, you know, we're flying out to Dallas, we're spending $1,200- Yeah... 246 00:38:27.140 --> 00:38:35.030 to get there. We're getting your car... Like, come on, get, like, help us out a little bit, right? And so- Yeah... wasn't very helpful. There's... It's the most stressful trip I've ever had. 247 00:38:35.100 --> 00:38:43.460 There was just times where, you know, we're at dinner and the kids are losing it, and it's me having to calm them down. I'm like, "Come on, Grandma, please. Help. I need you." Yeah. 248 00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:51.940 So then I, I finally got to the point where I just, like, tapped her on the shoulder and I said, "I need you to do more." And then I kinda just walked. She didn't say anything 'cause she hates conflict, too. 249 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:59.140 She would never once be like, "Well, why do you think that is?" Or like, "I'm sorry" or da. It was just quiet. Nothing. And so I grew up in a household like that. 250 00:38:59.180 --> 00:39:09.760 Anytime that there was conflict, you just didn't talk about it. You swept it under the rug. So I avoid all conversations that make me, I wouldn't say uncomfortable, but conversations I don't want to have. Yeah. 251 00:39:09.800 --> 00:39:20.530 That's Troy, everybody. It's my red flag. My wife always talks to me, "You need to open up more." And I'm like, "Eh, do I?" [laughs] I think- Uh... you are probably not unique in that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 252 00:39:20.540 --> 00:39:36.480 I think most people learn from a very early age to protect themselves from being in situations that require discomfort. Yeah, yeah. And the questions of life require being uncomfortable. Yeah. What happens when you die? 253 00:39:37.500 --> 00:39:47.860 Yeah. Does all of this actually exist? Is heaven and hell real? Like, those are questions that most people avoid asking and answering. The easiest way is to just say no to all of it. 254 00:39:48.600 --> 00:39:56.160 A lot of people won't actually put their foot down and say, "I will argue that this is no, and here is why," because they've never thought that much about it. 255 00:39:56.570 --> 00:40:04.650 So I think the, the, the big questions of what is the meaning of life, that's easy to avoid because they're huge questions, very overwhelming. Yeah. 256 00:40:04.660 --> 00:40:18.920 But the trickling effects of, well, I just don't like, uh, having any uncomfortable conversation about what meaning of life is and what I should be doing in the 12 to 16 hours a day I have awake and all these different things, you know, it's... 257 00:40:20.060 --> 00:40:30.060 You're not alone. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No one wants to put themselves in a situation that requires discomfort. But I think there's, there's ways you can learn how to ask and deal with some of those questions. 258 00:40:30.200 --> 00:40:38.970 Not that you have to. I mean, you're, you're your own adult man. You don't have to do anything different than what you've done the last 30-odd years, but- [laughs] Yeah, no... 259 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:43.500 you can definitely, you can definitely have conversations about that- [laughs]... and figure out how to deal with it. Yeah. Do you think... 260 00:40:43.700 --> 00:40:51.410 Uh, here's a, here's a question I've always had, and maybe this is for a different episode. It's more on the religious side. Do you th- Uh, maybe it is. Let's, let's leave off with this. Do you- Bring it up. Bring it up. 261 00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:55.140 Let's do a cliffhanger. I will. I will, but because I ha- Yeah, exactly. This will be... 262 00:40:56.060 --> 00:41:04.740 There's so many different religions out there, and many of them believe in different things, or maybe one religion has many gods and multiple gods. And in Christianity, there's like... 263 00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:12.680 Maybe I'm wrong about this 'cause, again, I'm not educated about it, but there's, like, one God- Sure... and things like that. So i- let's just say, okay, let's just say God put us all on this Earth. 264 00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:20.620 Why do so many different religions believe different things? And a lot of them are somewhat conflicting and contradicting. 265 00:41:21.120 --> 00:41:31.450 So do you believe that there's one, and maybe because you're a Christian you do, but, but that there's one specific religion that you have to be to follow God? Or, or like... You know what I'm trying to say? 266 00:41:31.520 --> 00:41:39.100 I don't know how to ask it. Yes. But I always wonder, like- I will-... if it's true-... offline I will, I will help you ask the question more concisely, and we can have that conversation. 267 00:41:39.160 --> 00:41:43.580 That's a, that's a very good question. Man, I think that should be the next episode, to be honest. Um, like I think people- We can talk about it... 268 00:41:43.590 --> 00:41:51.000 'cause a lot of people are i- in my shoes, where they just grew up not religious, and they're like, "Ugh, I don't really care about it." Then there's people that are like- Yeah... "Religion is dumb." 269 00:41:51.200 --> 00:41:57.700 And then there's people, of course like you, where it's like, "No, like, I choose this life because of X, Y, and Z." And I think it would be really interesting. We need a... 270 00:41:58.490 --> 00:42:05.730 [laughs] Maybe we need somebody on this pod where it's like, "I'm anti-religion," and it's just like, "Let's just talk." [laughs] Let's just all three talk. Sure. Um, but- Yeah, I think those are- Yeah. [laughs]... 271 00:42:05.730 --> 00:42:15.860 those are very engaging conversations. Yeah. I mean, there's really just a, there's a, a library and encyclopedia of directions we could take that conversation, but it's a great question. 272 00:42:16.140 --> 00:42:24.100 And, and to anyone here- And with that-... that's... Wait. Yes. To anyone listening that is religious, pardon my stupidity. I just, again, I didn't grow up religious. But it's not stupidity. 273 00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:33.740 But no, no, look, most of the planet has those questions and either never asks them or has never gotten a good answer to them. Yeah. So I think you're, you're, you're, you're not stupid. 274 00:42:33.780 --> 00:42:43.840 I think those are very valid questions to ask. With that, [laughs] now you can get into- Where do they find us, Two, Two Dads in Tech, Troy? Uh, yeah, twodadsintech.com. 275 00:42:43.980 --> 00:42:51.480 And I noticed that your name on this just says Two Dads in Tech. [laughs] I know. I know. And not Daniel. Uh, it's funny. Yeah, it doesn't show up- But it doesn't show up on the recording, so who cares? It doesn't. 276 00:42:51.520 --> 00:43:01.980 Twodadsintech.com. Uh, go there. All of our podcast episodes are there, our YouTube episodes, things like that. And then from there, what really helps us is five stars on Apple- Yes, it does... and Spotify. 277 00:43:02.060 --> 00:43:13.140 Like, it really, really helps us, so if you've gotten here 43 minutes in, I'd greatly appreciate if you spent the next five seconds just giving us five stars. Uh, YouTube, hit Subscribe. We just crossed 700 subscribers. 278 00:43:13.220 --> 00:43:20.540 Daniel and I are both a little upset that it took us this long to get to 700, but I also think it falls on us and, you know, how much we promote it- Yes, it does... and stuff like that. 279 00:43:20.600 --> 00:43:25.900 So, uh, at the end of the day, go hit Subscribe as well. Really helps us. Other than that, see you next week. Awesome. See you next week.