SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
please.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:22]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:24]
Alright, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:26]
The reports of my death
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:28]
are greatly exaggerated.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:30]
Are you sure?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:33]
I think so. Winter is coming,
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:35]
but Stan Lemon is not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:39]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:40]
if,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:41]
you're listening to this episode and you were thinking this was the on location
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:47]
recording in Iowa, you, my friends
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:50]
It would have been awesome. Yeah. It would have been awesome, but but
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:54]
alas, this is not that episode.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:56]
So It's not this episode.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:58]
Let's see. Wednesday night,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:00]
I messaged you
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:02]
that I was feeling kind of
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:04]
congested.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:06]
Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:07]
And you told me,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:10]
go for it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:11]
What?
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:13]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:15]
Sure. I don't remember Wednesday. Wednesday night, you were like, don't worry about it. Missus Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:22]
Missus Kolmeier deals with snot and boogers and stuff all the time. No big deal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:29]
Then I woke up Thursday morning,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:31]
and I literally thought I was dying.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:33]
I think I was running a fever of a 102.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:37]
And Something like that. Yeah. And I said Cedar Rapids, we have a problem or something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:43]
I was trying to play off my Apollo 13 reference, but I don't it doesn't sound as smooth as Houston we have a problem.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:51]
Suffice to say,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:53]
I, I slept for most of Thursday,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:57]
most of Friday,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:59]
most of Saturday.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:01]
I did not make it to church on Sunday,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:04]
and I also took Monday off work. And as we record this on Tuesday,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:09]
I no longer have a fever,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:11]
but I still don't Yeah. Feel that
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:15]
So if you hear Stan coughing, he's gonna tell me to edit it out, but I'm not going to. It's gonna be it's gonna be so violent in your ears.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:26]
Be quick on the mute button there, Stan. I don't I don't actually have a mute button on this rig. I should
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:33]
I should get Shortcut on that. Yeah. Well, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:37]
So I was I was all ready to go though. My bag was packed. My microphone was packed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:42]
Yep. I mean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:44]
I was
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:45]
completely set to get in the car and drive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:48]
We were gonna
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:49]
meet up at the Hamburger Inn and finally
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:52]
get to the milkshake
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:54]
that I haven't had yet started our whole
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:57]
milkshake
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:58]
stick.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:59]
Would you call it a stick?
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:00]
Yeah. You say it a little weird, though. You got you got some bite to your stick.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:08]
Wisconsin accent probably. So we'll we'll circle back to all that in due course here.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:14]
But if all else fails,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:16]
I will be making the trip to Indianapolis
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:18]
for Avengers Endgame.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:21]
Yeah, man. Cert event to be determined. I haven't heard if he actually bought a plane ticket or not. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:27]
Patrick, you're making me nervous.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:31]
That'll so we're not gonna try and keep that episode to a half hour, are we?
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:37]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:40]
I don't really try to keep any episode to a half hour. Oh, oh, you you try. You try.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:45]
At some point, we just run out of things to talk about, or we have too many things to talk about before we begin. So I try to split those up between multiple episodes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:57]
So the polar vortex is hitting you pretty hard right now. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:02]
Let's do a weather check.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:04]
It is Tuesday evening.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:06]
We're at 07:30.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:08]
It is currently negative eight degrees.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:11]
It will not return to being this warm
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:14]
until Thursday
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:16]
around
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:18]
03:00
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:19]
in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:20]
Oof.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:22]
So let me let me make sure I am grokking this. It is,
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:26]
you said negative eight?
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:28]
It is currently negative eight actual temperature. So what what is the feels like?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:34]
Oh, that I don't know.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:37]
I can
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:38]
look quickly. Tomorrow, I have those answers for you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:42]
Tomorrow, we have a high of negative 16,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:46]
which I think happens right at midnight, so we'll lose
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:50]
eight more degrees here in the next
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:53]
three, four hours.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:57]
And the low is supposed to be negative 26
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:00]
with a feels like negative 55
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:04]
degree
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:05]
wind chill. That is outrageous.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:08]
Like, that's that's just
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:10]
that's just too cold.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:12]
That's like hoth, man. Yeah. That is hoth. That's a good that's a good analogy right there. So we are sitting at a balmy
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:20]
13 with a feels like of negative two.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:23]
It is particularly windy here.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:27]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:28]
if you step outside, it it definitely feels
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:31]
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:32]
Alright. So I pulled up darksky.net,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:36]
my address. They say it's negative nine, which is different than what my Apple Watch tells me it is.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:42]
With a feels like you wanna take a guess if it's negative nine actual temperature, what it feels like?
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:48]
Negative 20.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:50]
Negative 29
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:52]
currently outside.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:55]
Now get this.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:57]
So tomorrow, we're getting the feels like negative 55.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:02]
On
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:03]
Saturday,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:06]
we have a high of 41 degrees. That's positive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:10]
On Sunday,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:11]
we have a high of 46 degrees.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:14]
So we're looking at
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:16]
a
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:20]
70 degree
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:22]
change in
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:24]
five days.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:26]
Yeah. Similarly for us, by Monday, they're saying a high of 58, which if it's a high of 58 and I don't feel like this, you know what I'm gonna do, John?
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:35]
Bike ride. Yeah. However,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:37]
I have low expectations about feeling good enough to get on the bicycle on Monday.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:42]
Milkshake.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:43]
Yeah. There you go.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:47]
It's gonna be cold, Stan. I am working from home tomorrow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:51]
Me too. Energy energy companies.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:55]
You always work from home. Like, the furnace people say,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:59]
your furnace wasn't designed to handle
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:01]
temperatures this cold.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:03]
So if the
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:05]
temperature in your house stops dropping or starts dropping, don't panic.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:10]
And they told us all to bump our thermostat up by four degrees to prepare for this. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:18]
Yeah. I mean, like, these temperatures are
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:22]
next level. Right? So
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:25]
it's just these that's exactly right. Your your furnace more than likely has not been designed to
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:32]
run with these kind of temperatures nor has it been,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:35]
specced out capacity wise for
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:39]
these kind of temperatures, and it's just gonna struggle to keep up.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:43]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:44]
They're saying that any
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:46]
skin
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:47]
with direct contact
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:48]
cat contact to the air outside tomorrow when we're feeling these negative 55 degrees,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:55]
you have about three minutes before you'll need medical attention.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:59]
Jeez. So this morning, it was 10 degrees out, so it was a little colder than it is right now. And I took the dog out.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:07]
We've we've all been sick. My dog has this
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:10]
bizarre fetish
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:12]
for
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:13]
tissues,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:14]
like, used tissues. It's really disgusting,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:16]
but they make her constipated.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:18]
And so we get outside
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:20]
at 07:00 in the morning. It's 10 degrees,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:23]
and she's constipated.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:25]
And, of course, I couldn't get the bag open
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:29]
to pick up, you know, her stuff,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:32]
so I had to take my glove off.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:35]
And I couldn't get the bag, you know, like, you rub it, right, to try and get the bag to open, and I couldn't get the bag to open.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:41]
So I do what I always do. I lick my finger
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:44]
so I can slide it. Right? Mhmm. However,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:47]
my finger stuck to the bag.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:51]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:52]
then I I got you know, took care of Dax's business,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:57]
and I couldn't get the bag detached from my finger.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:01]
Nice. Yeah. It was a whole thing. And, of course, it's getting cold. Right? Like, my hands are getting colder,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:07]
and she's working on the next one because, you know, she's not feeling well because she just ate tissues like a dumb dog. But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:14]
yeah, that that was my morning, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:17]
Nice. So do you have snow on the ground at this point or no?
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:21]
We have tons of snow on the ground. Really?
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:25]
Yeah. We have absolutely nothing. I I shouldn't I guess there's like dusting floating around, but we there's we've got nothing to speak of. It's really sad.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:34]
So on yesterday morning,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:38]
we got
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:39]
probably
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:40]
three, four more inches overnight.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:43]
On
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:45]
the previous week,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:46]
we had
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:48]
probably six inches. And the weekend before that, closer to eight inches.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:53]
That's that's some legit snow. So let me ask you this. Do you have a
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:58]
sled?
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:59]
I do not have a sled.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:01]
Alright. You need to get yourself a sled, sir, because with snow like that, you should be sledding. And find a hill.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:07]
Yeah, man. Look. I'm I'm serious about this now. I I know you're an adult. I'm an adult too.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:14]
I I love to sled. I went to,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:17]
Fort Bend here
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:18]
the last time that we had legit snowfall
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:21]
with my kids,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:22]
and I had some straight up fun
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:25]
sliding down those hills. So it's good exercise too, John. You you really should get yourself a cheap little disc,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:35]
sled. You know what I'm talking about? Yep. Yeah. Used to ride on those all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And and just just go to town, man. Take take some time off. Declare a powder day.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:49]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:51]
We'll see.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:53]
I've been shoveling.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:56]
Have you been watching my Apple watch activity? I noticed that you didn't put yours on while you were dying.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:02]
I have actually not looked at your Apple watch activity because I've not had mine on because I was dying. Yes. Great. It says I finish an outdoor walk at, like, 05:15 in the morning.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:12]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:14]
So how long is your driveway?
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:16]
My driveway is 90 feet,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:20]
two cars wide for most of it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:24]
So I mean, that's that's legit. That's some serious, you know, coverage area. Yeah. It it has taken me
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:31]
usually right around an hour to clear when we have a decent amount of snow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:35]
When it's less snow and it's all light, I've done it as quickly as forty minutes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:41]
So I got the driveway and then sidewalk in front of the house that I clear.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:47]
Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:48]
this time next year, you probably have a snowblower.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:51]
We'll see if I make it through this year because
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:54]
I have money
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:55]
that I could spend on a snowblower.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:58]
The problem is I'm gonna do that, and next year, there's not even gonna be an opportunity to use it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:04]
Possibly.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:05]
But do I mean, living in Iowa, you really think you're not gonna get any snow next year? I mean, there's been years where we haven't gotten a lot of snow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:12]
Okay. Haven't gotten a lot of snow and haven't gotten snow are two very different things. But snow blowable snow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:22]
You'd
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:23]
be surprised where a snow blower can hit.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:26]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:27]
Yeah. I may end up with one. I was looking at some on Amazon the other day after I spent an hour shoveling starting at 04:45 in the morning so I could get to work. They're
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:38]
they're not cheap pieces of equipment, are they? I mean, are you surprised by the prices?
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:42]
A little bit, especially if you're looking for one that's gonna actually work.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:47]
Yeah. So are you are you settled on a two stage, or are you willing to consider a single stage? I I was looking at two stage just because I don't wanna deal with trying to
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:58]
clear out clogs all the time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:01]
I actually was looking at an electric one, and then I talked myself out of that. Yeah. I don't I don't think especially with a 90 foot driveway, I don't think that's the best idea.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:11]
I it's interesting. Have you seen these, cordless snow shovels?
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:15]
I did. I saw one of those the other day.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:17]
They are they're the most ridiculous thing to watch someone use. I mean, like, they're they're really funny.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:23]
I I apologize if your, dear listener, have a cordless snow shovel, but it is really funny to watch you use one of these.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:32]
I don't even like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:34]
they look so uncomfortable to me because you
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:37]
at least I haven't seen anybody with one where the handle is long enough to not be ergonomically incorrect.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:43]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:46]
I don't know, Stan. I
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:48]
love snow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:49]
This
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:51]
negative temperature where it's not safe to go outside, maybe not a huge fan of,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:56]
but
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:57]
I don't know. I just need my time back, especially if we're gonna get snowstorms in the middle of the week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:03]
Yeah. That's fair. I so I bought a
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:07]
snowblower after we moved to
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:09]
Seymour.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:11]
If you remember, that driveway was about 200 feet long. Yep. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:15]
for probably about a 100 foot, it was just one car width, but then the the pad in front of the house
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:23]
was gosh.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:25]
Huge. I mean yeah. It was as wide as the garage, like, the full garage.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:30]
Yeah. You could comfortably
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:32]
park four cars next to each other there. Yeah. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:37]
you know, at that point, like, it was just too much for me to do with a shovel.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:42]
I I definitely did it with a shovel, especially last year when I couldn't get the,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:46]
snowblower to start, and we had just the light dusting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:50]
But that was worth it. Now I bought just a single stage, so I bought a I Did you? Sure it's a Toro.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:55]
Yeah. So, again,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:58]
like, I opted for,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:01]
what I thought was a pretty nice single stage.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:04]
I think I got, like, a 21 inch,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:08]
you know, front to it. So it's pretty decently wide.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:13]
And I really, you know, haven't had issues considering the fact that I didn't empty out the gas
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:19]
over winter. Yeah. This is this is so dumb.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:23]
Were you trying to buy a house at that time? I don't know what I was doing, John. Like
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:28]
so
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:30]
any device you have like, I've got
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:32]
I can't believe I'm saying this on on on the podcast. My, my lawnmower,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:37]
I did not empty out the gas. I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:40]
I kept meaning to. I was like, oh, I'll I'll do that. I'll do that. I'll get around to it, and then I kept forgetting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:46]
So, you know It didn't make your reminders up, did it?
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:51]
No. No. It should've. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:54]
the like, this is super important. Right? When you got gas powered equipment
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:58]
at the end of a season,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:59]
you empty it out as much as you can. And I I'd tell you what, there are some really simple
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:04]
siphon things you can get on Amazon for almost nothing to suck gas back into a gas can. And then when you're done, you start the engine up and you burn off whatever little is left in there, and you just you spare yourself all of the pain and suffering of a gunked up carburetor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:20]
Now Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:21]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:22]
in invariably forget to do that. I went and I got the snowblower,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:27]
cleaned out the day before we got snowfall.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:32]
$45 to get the carburetor basically rebuilt. It was, like, the best $45 I've ever spent.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:39]
Because I love my snowblower, John. I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:44]
Well, you should bring it to Iowa,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:46]
and you can actually have space to use it, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:49]
I have space to use it. I did mine. I did the neighbors. I did the sidewalks.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:54]
If if somebody hadn't gotten to church, I would've brought it over to church and done church too. I I really do like the thing, though. I haven't had issues with it getting clogged.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:03]
I don't know if that's just the amount of snow that I've got is not you know, it's not been a big deal or or what,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:11]
but, it's it's worked very well. And I live in Indiana, so it's not you know, we're not getting we don't have two feet. I I don't remember last time we had two feet of snow on the ground in Indiana. I don't I don't think since I've lived here have we had that much. No. But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:24]
you know, for for that situation, a two stage
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:27]
might not be the worst idea.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:30]
Especially when you have to get through
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:33]
the stuff that the plow leaves at the end of your driveway so that you can actually get your car out of your driveway.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:38]
Yeah. See, that I always I just hit with the shovel. That stuff is just too nasty.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:44]
You know, your mileage may vary. I will tell you this. Here's one thing that I wish that I'd gotten that I didn't on my snowblower. I would have loved a headlight.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:52]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:53]
It,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:54]
you don't like
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:57]
invariably, I do it at night. Right? Or, like, after the sun has set. It's because it's not night. But Okay. And it just becomes difficult to see where you're going. A headlight would would go a long way, and I know a lot of them have those now. They'll have them up by the
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:12]
by the handle where you hold onto it. Yeah. So, you know, for the little bit more that you probably spend Or I think it's worth it. You could just buy an LED flashlight
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:22]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:24]
strap it on.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:25]
Yeah. That's true. No. That's that's that's totally fair.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:28]
I think it's one of those things that's like you get outside and you're like, oh, crap. Where'd I put the the, you know, headlamp? Right. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:35]
but if if you've got a maybe maybe I should just keep one in my my toolbox.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:40]
There you go, Stan. They're cheap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:44]
They are. They're I mean, there's there's no reason not to have, a dozen of them. Right, John? Right. I think I only have four. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:51]
I'm pretty sure I only have one, to be honest with you. I think I bought that one when I had the crawl space at the old house. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:59]
So that's what forced me. Interestingly though, take it when I go camping all the time. Right. It's it's my go to. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:06]
Nice.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:07]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:09]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:12]
we didn't talk about weather apps.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:14]
No. We didn't. I'm surprised you wrote this down. You're big on weather apps.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:18]
I don't have one.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:20]
You don't have one at all? I mean, I have the one that comes standard with the iPhone that's powered by the weather channel or whatever.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:29]
So, I mean, like, why
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:32]
all of a sudden do you want a weather app? Just because of the polar vortex? Polar vortex and snow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:39]
I mean, I've been I've been using the dark sky website
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:44]
to watch the polar vortex here,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:46]
and it's got a pretty map with purple and blue colors.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:49]
Not quite lilac color, but
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:52]
it's cold, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:55]
Alright. So I,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:57]
I have a long and conflicted history with weather apps. Yeah. Obviously, you know this. Otherwise, you wouldn't have asked me about it. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:04]
And interestingly, your father-in-law is a connoisseur of all things weather apps.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:09]
I mean And all apps in general.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:11]
Yeah. He he's I would love to know what his monthly budget for app spending is. God bless him because he's the reason that app developers are are still, you know, making money.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:21]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:22]
Do you know I'm just do you know how many apps the average smartphone user downloads per month?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:29]
Five.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:30]
Zero.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:32]
Really?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:33]
Really.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:34]
That that really surprises me.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:38]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:40]
So everybody wants an app, but it's not worth it. So Are you going for information or for,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:47]
aesthetics?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:50]
I'd probably lean towards information as the more important part.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:54]
Okay. And how do you feel about subscriptions?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:56]
Generally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:57]
lean away from them.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:59]
Alright. That's fair. I will tell you that most weather apps, most good weather apps,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:05]
involve some kind of subscription,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:07]
and the reason is because the data that they're consuming is not free. Right? This is fact of life. Right? So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:14]
I will tell you that I pay for a subscription on both my phone. Actually, maybe this app well, I'll come back to that part. But I also pay for one on the desktop.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:24]
Really?
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:25]
Yeah. I do. You do have for a desktop weather app.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:30]
Well, I use iStat menus. Are you familiar with that? I do. I am.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:34]
Okay. So I'm a big iStat menu
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:37]
fan, and they have,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:39]
like, a weather
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:41]
widget for the menu bar. And I use that, and I powered off of dark sky. And I do pay
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:47]
for the, you know, premium subscription or whatever it is,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:52]
that they've got. And, no regrets. Let me see. I think I paid
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:57]
I paid and so you with with this one, you can pay based upon how quick it refreshes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:02]
So either sixty minute, thirty minute, or fifteen minute interval.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:05]
And I pay for a year of fifteen minute updates
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:08]
at $6.99.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:10]
So there you go. Wow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:11]
Yeah. So it looks like
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:14]
you can use the dark sky API.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:18]
Mhmm. Thousand calls per day for free,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:20]
and that's a lot of zeros,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:23]
but fraction of a cent per call
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:25]
pay as you go after that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:28]
Yeah. So think about this from an app developer standpoint. Right? Because
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:32]
they are paying for all their customers that open their app, And I think that that's what makes it tricky. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:39]
we should we should just pause for a moment. Dark Sky, darksky.net,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:43]
that is my preferred
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:45]
weather
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:47]
website, if you will. It is a very aesthetically
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:50]
pleasing website.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:52]
Yeah. It's it's clean. Right? So the thing though that I like about it is I feel it has been accurate
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:59]
in a way that
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:01]
I'm often left,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:03]
you know, wondering what the heck is going on with, say, weather underground or the weather channel
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:08]
or Yahoo weather or whatever. Weather channel website performance has been absolutely terrible recently.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:15]
It it has been so long since I've even tried. I'm like, I I seriously don't even mess with it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:21]
But, you know, that used to be the go to. Right? You had, like, the weather channel. You had AccuWeather,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:27]
and, what was it? WeatherBug?
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:29]
WeatherBug.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:30]
I remember that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:32]
Did you ever have WeatherBug on your Windows computer? I did.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:35]
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, all those apps exist on iOS. They are all junk
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:41]
across the board.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:43]
So Weather Underground
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:45]
used to be my go to. Now they are actually owned by,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:49]
the Weather Channel now Mhmm. Which is really sad.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:53]
But they have historically
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:55]
to had two apps,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:57]
Weather Underground,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:59]
which I, for a long time, used
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:02]
and paid to remove ads.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:04]
So that was a thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:05]
I don't use that at all anymore. Largely, I just
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:09]
I don't know. I again, I go back to I I feel like the
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:13]
actual predictions were not,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:16]
good enough to be helpful,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:18]
and the the app is just clunky. Like, it it just it doesn't feel good.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:24]
They also used to have this app called Storm,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:28]
and they released a, like, new version
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:33]
called StormRadar
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:34]
under the Weather Channel branding. So it's it's very similar to the same app.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:39]
Storm used to be, like, one of the best weather apps out there,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:43]
and they have just completely ruined it. So for a long time, Storm was my weather app,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:50]
and that was all I used. I paid to have the ads removed, had no regrets. It was interesting because both Storm and Weather Underground's main app were being developed by
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:00]
different teams as I understand it,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:02]
and, they're kinda had they had, like, a little internal competition going. But Storm was definitely a little more nerdy on the weather scene.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:10]
So when you're using these weather apps, what information are you actually gathering
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:15]
on
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:16]
a regular basis?
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:18]
Yeah. The things I care about are
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:21]
high, low, feels like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:24]
and then, you know Is it gonna rain? Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:27]
Basically. And so,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:29]
you you know, everything else is nice. I like to see a radar just to see what's coming in. So apps that don't have good radar,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:36]
are are frustrating. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:39]
use the Dark Sky app on iOS
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:42]
mostly.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:43]
We'll come back to that in just a minute.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:46]
But that's the one that I'd recommend. Right? Go out, buy it, and use it. I I I like the predictions. I like you know, since they overhauled it,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:56]
it is an aesthetically pleasing app. It used to be it used to make my eyes bleed. I really did not like
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:03]
their, their iOS app for the longest time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:06]
They've got pretty good,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:07]
precipitation
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:08]
alerts,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:10]
and they also will do, a daily summary for you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:13]
And you can get, you know, your severe weather alerts, umbrella reminders, sunscreen reminders, and some custom notifications that are pretty cool.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:20]
I dig all of that. Their
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:22]
their radar
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:23]
is okay
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:25]
as far as I'm concerned. On iOS, I'm I'm like, you know, take it or leave it. But it
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:33]
that that's that's my default. That's the one I I stick with the most.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:37]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:39]
Now Well, I've liked their website recently.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:41]
Yeah. There you go. So I would start there. The other one that I I like a lot is called the Hello Weather.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:48]
This is a a gorgeous app. I mean, it's just an absolutely beautiful app, and it does a really awesome job
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:56]
of conveying to you what's going on.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:59]
Like, I think the clarity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:01]
in the UI
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:03]
is, you know, unparalleled.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:05]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:06]
So the radar
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:07]
is more traditional in terms of
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:11]
what you expect to see. And I think that they are probably sourcing this from normal
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:16]
National Weather Service stuff rather than the dark sky data.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:20]
Hello Weather lets you use dark sky. It also lets you,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:25]
toggle between other sources,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:27]
which I think is kinda cool. So, like, right now, I'm looking at dark sky,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:30]
and I can switch over to weather underground and see what the forecast is
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:35]
for here. So that's kinda neat. I dig that. Most of the time, I just leave it on dark sky.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:41]
This one does not have alerts of any sort, and that is why it's not my go to. Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:48]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:49]
yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:51]
Does Dark Sky have a watch app?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:55]
Yes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:56]
So I don't I don't actually use the app. I use the complication
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:00]
most of the time. So I've got the little
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:03]
dark sky complication.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:05]
I I I will tell you though, I feel like on the watch,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:10]
most of the time,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:12]
you get, like, more accurate updates on the device itself
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:16]
from the iOS weather app.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:19]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:21]
Which is frustrating, but it is what it is. Yep. I think they just have they probably have, like, a priority lane in terms of data transmission,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:28]
and that's what it is. You know?
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:31]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:32]
Frustration
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:33]
I have when I use any calendar apps complication on my watch.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:42]
Yeah. Just stick with the Apple stuff, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:45]
I mean, most of the time I do. Most of time, I'm I'm fine. I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:49]
you you know, there's
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:51]
there's nothing wrong with the iOS weather app. It just doesn't go deep. Right? And I think there's more
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:57]
detail that I would like to have. I also really like the time machine aspects of dark sky.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:03]
Have you ever messed with that? I have.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:06]
Yeah. I mean That's me. Last week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:09]
That that to me is pretty cool. I dig that. I like the graphs. I I I don't know. It's just it's good stuff. It's pretty nerdy though.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:19]
But it's just it's
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:22]
a good looking website.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:24]
It is. It's clean. Aesthetically pleasing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:27]
Yes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:29]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:30]
I probably won't buy an app, but, you know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:33]
Come on, John. You can splurge.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:36]
Spend all $4 on the weather app.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:40]
Probably Apple
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:41]
credit.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:43]
Oh, do you really you're
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:45]
me, Smalls. Let's look and see. I wonder if I can find out how much dark sky is even though I already bought it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:53]
Nope. Just tells me to open it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:58]
$3.99,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:59]
Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:00]
Oh, come on, John. You can do this. I could.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:03]
But will I? That's the question.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:05]
You totally should. It's an Editor's Choice app too at that. Number one in weather, it says.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:11]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:12]
I mean, it's a good app. Your, your father-in-law, the one thing I think he does not like
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:17]
is
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:18]
there are notifications
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:20]
that open up a web view. I think those are the National Weather Service alerts.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:24]
So rather than, like, do something in app
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:27]
and, you know, I get it, but, you know, whatever. Like, in the grand scheme of things, that's not that big of a deal to me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:34]
He's got one, and I cannot I've been trying to remember what the what the name of it is that he likes
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:40]
that
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:42]
allows, like, a ton of customization.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:46]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:47]
he's he's got all kinds of, like, crazy tweaks and whatnot.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:51]
That goes back to his Linux days
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:53]
where he had to tinker with everything. I just want things to work.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:58]
Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. Oh, weather meet. I think this is the one that he uses.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:03]
Weathermeet?
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:04]
Yeah. It allows, like, some more
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:07]
there's there's there's a lot more information,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:09]
and there are different, like, map layers. That's probably why he likes it, it would be my guess. Now your your father-in-law is a little different because, you know, being a pilot,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:18]
he's got, he's got some different interests in weather than
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:22]
an average guy like you and me.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:25]
I just wanna know if I have to put on a code or not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:28]
Yeah. Well, the answer is yes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:31]
No. The answer is don't go outside tomorrow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:33]
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:36]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:38]
Well,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:39]
I guess this was the weather episode.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:42]
Yeah. Stay
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:44]
healthy, Stan,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:46]
and come visit me sometime.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:48]
John,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:49]
I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try so hard. I just gotta find a weekend, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:54]
Oh, hey. Before you go, you gonna watch the Super Bowl?
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:58]
I don't even know who's playing in the Super Bowl, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:01]
Are you kidding me? You don't you don't you honestly don't know. I honestly do not know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:06]
Wow. If I told you
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:09]
the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:11]
would that surprise you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:13]
That would surprise me because I promised to be with you to watch the Steelers the next time they're in the Super Bowl. So does that mean you're coming on Sunday?
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:22]
My guess would be no.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:25]
Alright. So the Steelers are not in the Super Bowl, John. Do you let me ask this. Do you know who the New England Patriots are? Yes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:32]
I would have guessed that they were in the Super Bowl if I had to guess.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:35]
Okay. And then the other team is the
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:39]
Los Angeles Rams, not to be confused. It used to be in Saint Louis.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:43]
Yeah. When they were in Saint So
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:46]
they did their
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:48]
training camp
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:50]
at Concordia, Wisconsin,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:53]
and that got a whole bunch of furniture in the new dorm that they built when I was there. I think they put up, like, three new dorms since I was there. So I saw some training camp stuff. I've never seen
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:05]
them play. The
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:06]
rams trained at Concordia, Wisconsin. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:10]
I I had no idea. I had absolutely no idea. So they bought, like, couches for the new dorm, and they put them up in there. So yeah. That's wild.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:19]
What
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:21]
isn't there a team
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:23]
a football team that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:25]
trains at, the Mankato campus?
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:28]
That I do not know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:30]
I feel like that maybe that's the Vikings. I don't know. We'll to look that up. I today, I learned something new about the Concordia system, so there you go. Well, that that's happened on Sunday. If I am, up to it, John, I'm going to make some enjoyable food.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:43]
You will miss out on my white bean chili dip. I shouldn't say mine. It's really missus Lemons.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:49]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:49]
possibly some wings.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:51]
If I'm feeling up to it, I'm gonna do some wings. Nice.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:55]
Maybe not on the grill, maybe in the oven because
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:58]
Well, it's supposed to be warm this weekend.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:01]
Yeah. I I just I think with the way I've been feeling,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:05]
it would have to be
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:07]
oh, that's the day that it gets up to 51. Have you used your grill since you've moved?
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:11]
Yeah. I've used my grill. Are you kidding me? I've used my grill a bunch. Alright. I we've we grilled out for
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:19]
Evelyn's birthday. No. I guess I you sent me a picture of that. Grilled out for Lucy's.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:25]
I've done shrimp a couple times now.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:27]
I just worry about you sometimes, Stan. You're big on this reverse sear for steaks. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:34]
Spending
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:35]
more time in the kitchen than at the grill.
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:38]
I will not be grilling tomorrow. I don't think the food would cook.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:44]
What a what a thankless job that would be to try and grill in polar vortex.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:49]
Yeah. Yeah. I've definitely I've definitely grilled in snow. I've grilled in sleet,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:55]
freezing rain.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:56]
It has definitely been below freezing,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:58]
like outside, wind chill, all that good stuff. I have not grilled in a polar vortex, and that is not something that I have any interest in putting. Right. Hard pass. I mean, I've shoveled the deck off a couple times to grill.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:11]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:11]
there's that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:13]
Do you when you do that, do you find that it takes a while to get that grill going?
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:17]
No. I haven't actually.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:19]
That's good. I mean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:21]
you're you're probably more patient than I am at this point because I So much more power.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:26]
Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:26]
where is that? I told you, man. You go for the BTUs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:29]
Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:31]
Alright, buddy. Alright. Until next time,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:34]
If we survive the polar vortex and the white walkers don't come to get us.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:39]
If we survive the polar vortex.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:41]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:44]
We'll see you later. You know nothing, John.