SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:22]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:24]
Well, hello, John. How are you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:26]
I'm fine, Stan. I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:29]
Why are you concerned? Because there is nothing in our agenda note today, which means Sorry. It's gonna be beginning of the end. It could be the beginning of the end, but I've been thinking a lot about this.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:40]
And I thought that tonight would be the night that we would talk about the thing that I haven't wanted to talk about because it's too serious for the podcast.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:46]
K.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:48]
That's the rule topic. Remember? We we had the rule topic written down,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:52]
and you were not even sure about it. But I'm I'm gonna talk about it tonight, John, because I'm in a fiery mood tonight.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:59]
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:03]
No. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:04]
you know, I I've I've been I've been reflecting a lot because it's that time of the year. Right? It's the end end of a season.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:12]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:13]
I've come to terms with the fact that this podcast
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:16]
has
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:17]
not enough listeners for my ego, but too many for an intelligent society.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:22]
Nonetheless, here we are.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:24]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:25]
so so we're gonna talk about rules,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:29]
and and really, this means we're gonna talk about me. But I I've That's what the podcast does, Stan. Well, I mean, maybe. So so here's here's the thing. This this was the impetus for this. I don't remember what our conversation was, because the way that we take notes for a podcast episode is that we
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:44]
are having some other conversation.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:47]
And we're like, oh,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:48]
we should talk about that in the podcast. Right? One of us says that, we write it down, and then by the time we get to the podcast, we forget about it. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:55]
I may not remember what the context of this particular comment was,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:59]
but I remember
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:01]
what it was about.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:03]
Okay. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:04]
so I have a way of walking the earth
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:09]
and drawing lines in the sand. Right? So I will state,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:13]
like, I will do x or y, but not z.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:16]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:17]
And and
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:19]
and when I state that, like, it's gospel truth. And lately, as I've gotten older,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:24]
I actually write the the bloody things down.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:27]
Sometimes I pin them to my fridge.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:30]
But but I've been I've been thinking a lot about this, because most of the world does not operate
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:35]
in this kind of black and white way.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:39]
And I
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:40]
I think I did this before COVID, but I think COVID exacerbated
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:46]
all of these characteristics of of myself. Right? This is why I had no friends left, John. It's just you and me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:51]
You know? Like, this is all we got in the end. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:55]
Your kids still have to love you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:57]
Well, they have to for now. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:00]
And they could take all this up with their therapist someday when they're on somebody else's health insurance.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:04]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:05]
no. But but but so so here here's, like, if if people have no idea what I'm talking about. Right? Here's an example.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:12]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:14]
my kids and I will not dine indoors
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:17]
until they're fully vaccinated.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:19]
Right? And I think that's a really
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:21]
clear example right now because of everything going on the world. Now, that's not I'm not trying to say that
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:29]
I think it's unsafe for them to do it with one shot or with two and not two weeks, or even,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:35]
you know, like last summer when cases were low.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:38]
But but what I did was, for better for worse,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:42]
I I wrote a rule
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:44]
that because because it gave me a decision making
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:48]
framework.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:49]
Right? So I could choose, I'm going to do or not do this thing, not based upon how I feel today,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:54]
but based upon what what was written down.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:57]
And everybody knew where I stood, right, except except for family, because,
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:01]
you know, they don't they don't care. But and extended family.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:07]
If you know who you are, I still love you, because you're listening.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:11]
But but so so the thing is though, right, like, I I've I've come this is just a habit that I've built out, and I think I think it's abnormal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:19]
Is that fair?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:20]
Yeah. It's kind of abnormal. But is it normal for software developers? Because, basically, you're working like software. Your your life is a program you're writing. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's basically I've written a test assertion. Right? Like, if if this statement is true,
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:36]
then the test passes. If it's not, it fails.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:39]
And that is that is absolutely the right mental model
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:42]
for what I'm doing here. But but I I found my like, I've done this I've done this for a long time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:47]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:48]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:49]
the the thing is in the last two years, we've just been given a really
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:54]
terrible
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:55]
canvas upon which to paint these rules.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:58]
Yeah. A bunch of problems presented themselves
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:01]
all at once. Right? So Yeah. All all at once. And I I made this decision that I am not I so I and maybe this is maybe this is the the backdrop to this. I don't trust my gut or my instinct or my intuition.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:15]
Right? Like, I'm pretty sure they're gonna screw me up. Maybe this maybe this is a little bit of Lutheran theology coming out. Is that possible?
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:20]
Maybe. Because I think in general, you have pretty good instincts.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:24]
Like, so you just don't trust yourself. But I think that if you're in an ad hoc meeting and you say something off the cuff, like, you're probably gonna be right nine times out of 10.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:32]
Maybe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:34]
I I was gonna I was gonna say that that this is like the the Lutheran
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:38]
confessio
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:39]
angle but but then I remember like, Lutheran still believe in COVID so so it can't possibly be that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:47]
This is the podcast where everybody unsubscribes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:50]
So so
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:51]
All 30 of them. All 30 of them. Like
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:55]
I said, not
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:57]
not enough for my ego but too many for intelligent society. So, no.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:01]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:02]
I I just keep coming back to this because
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:05]
we're we're at this, like, weird state in the world where people
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:09]
they
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:10]
just make these, like, gut conclusions about what you do or do not do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:15]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:16]
And and and I get it, like I because I'm I'm very judgmental. Right? I I look at you and I'm like, oh, he hasn't shaved today. Right? Or, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:26]
I look in the mirror, I'm like, maybe I should have eaten a salad for dinner. Or there there was enough kale in that that soup. You know, what what whatever. Like but that kind of thing. But but
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:36]
I've come I found it very freeing
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:39]
to write these rules down and then just operate by them. And this this is why I wanted to bring this up. Because again, like, I'm just gonna take an example of right now. I I there's nothing more
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:50]
that I hate in this world than wearing a mask because I have a beard and it itches.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:54]
And certain masks will curl that beard up into your mouth or God forbid, into your nose. And it's a truly miserable experience.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:01]
Right? Is that why your beard is so short now?
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:04]
It well, it's actually longer than it has been. But I tell you what, John. God help me if I have to wear a mask for more than a couple hours
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:11]
in like in a in a row. I'm a just cut this thing off. So be prepared, Johnny, for whatever that may may
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:20]
may lie ahead.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:22]
But but no no no. So so again though, god, I'm all over the place tonight.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:28]
I don't think about, like, whether I am going to put a mask on or not. Like, it's not I don't I don't have an evaluation criteria for whether or not I should do that other than
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:37]
I I wrote very early on in this this stupid thing that we've been living in, this god awful existence for the last two years,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:45]
that if the CDC told me to, I would. And if they they didn't, then I I wouldn't. Right? And like, I it was it was a really binary thing and it freed me up to not have to think about it. And I do this with other things too. Right? I'm just picking the COVID thing because whatever listeners we have, we're trying to get them to unsubscribe.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:01]
Right? Sure.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:02]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:04]
I do think I do think that having that kind of binary
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:08]
operating
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:09]
mode
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:10]
frees me up to not worry about
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:13]
the little things. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:16]
As example too, like, I've I've started to articulate these things in written form. I was I was not joking when I said that I put them on the fridge.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:24]
We have we have memos.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:25]
You have lots of things on the fridge. We do. We do. But they're they're
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:30]
they're actual lemon family memos. They're not all about COVID.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:35]
When is it about how your kids, spend their allowance money. Exactly. Exactly. So I got really sick and tired of being asked, can I buy that? You know, and they're like, I've got money in my rooster money account. Can I just buy that, please? Dad, let me buy that. Will you pay for half of that?
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:52]
And and so the the fact of the matter is that there are some things that I will pay for half of. There are some things that I will not let them buy. Right? And I finally was like, alright, I'm just gonna write this down. I'm a print it out, I'm a send a memo out. I I made a PDF. I text messaged the whole family, so they all got a copy, and I put it on the fridge.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:09]
And it ended all of the decision making around those. So and everybody's like, oh, this is crazy. This is insane. So here here are the kids purchase rules memo. There are six things.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:20]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:21]
They begin with, there's only one purchase a month. So if as a kid, you decide to buy something
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:27]
with money that you have earned because I have awarded it to you, whether it's mowing the lawn or,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:32]
you know, feeding the dog, whatever it is. Right? You get one of those a month.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:37]
If you are going to buy something, you and this is rule number two, you must have a balance of $25 before purchasing something. If you do not have a balance of $25, it's not even on the table. Like, I don't care. I don't even wanna have that conversation.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:48]
Right? And and people are like, well, that's arbitrary. Yes. You're darn right that's arbitrary. But but I also want them to know that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:56]
if I only have $25 left in the bank, I don't actually go and buy,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:01]
I don't know, the Jersey Mike submarine sandwich that I really want, you know? I don't I don't do that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:07]
Rule number three is that I'm gonna pay for half of things if they make you productive. And I'll give some examples. Right? Like if they help you learn or they challenge your mind, not toys. And I reserve the right to make exceptions. So this is the most fuddy duddy rule probably in the bunch. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:22]
But it does the the upside of it is it forces my kids to ask the question, is this productive or not? Right? So so Henry can sit there and he's like, oh, Pokemon cards. Nope. Not really productive. Nope. No. No.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:36]
A book, right, that would be productive. The thing is, and this is rule number four, I'll pay for books in full so long as you finish the last book we bought and we can't get it from the library.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:47]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:49]
Now, other other productive things might be like Lucy bought a notebook. Right? So I'll pay for half of that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:54]
So I I covered rule four. Rule five,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:57]
I buy your food and drinks. You don't. Right? And this drives I don't know why this bothers me so, but I don't want my kids like out buying candy or soda pop or ice cream. I'm pretty generous. Like, you know, if they wanna go to Wile E Palooza, all I gotta do is ask. I'll probably cave.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:11]
You know?
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:12]
Don't wanna be left out. That's the meaning behind that one. John, John, you're spoiling my secrets right here on the podcast.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:19]
It's okay. Lucy doesn't mow the lawn until May. No. She's she's so behind. She's so behind.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:26]
Rule number six is, with most things, we will require you to wait a few days before purchasing something you want. Nice.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:34]
I was certain right to practice that too. Yeah. It's a it's a generally good rule for life. And then the fine print on this this memo is I, as daddy in chief, reserve the right to amend these rules at any time without notice or provocation.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:46]
And that's a good life lesson for them too.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:49]
Yeah. Yeah. Because there's always you're always answering to the man. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:53]
No. But but so so we did this. We did this. Right? We went through this exercise of writing down these things,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:59]
and then I shared them out with everybody.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:01]
And and literally, like, conversations around whether or not I can buy x y or z, regardless of how much money I've saved,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:08]
they went away because they have to fit within this rubric.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:11]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:12]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:14]
that's helped me out in COVID, did not stress about all the crazy crap that's going on, right, and all the, like, hyper politicized people. So it's like, I I may be doing something different from what I agree with you right now, but I wrote a rule, and I don't give myself the ability to just, like, eject myself from the rule on a on a minute's notice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:31]
Deciding things uses mental energy, and this is what you're protecting yourself from. The same as Steve Jobs wearing the same thing every day or meeting the same thing for breakfast every day, because I really don't wanna think about what to eat for breakfast next.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:46]
Calculation of, like, is this is this not the best
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:50]
expulsion of my energy? That's part of it. The other part too is
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:54]
and I I think this maybe holds more truth when you have kids. It's like, I am so absolutely
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:59]
willing
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:00]
to compromise
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:01]
in in the right moment. Right? Like, I'm willing to cave on my own rules, and 99.9%
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:07]
of the time when I do that, I regret it. Right? Because I've either I've either
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:13]
well, let let me back up. We we had an episode all about values. I think I talked about mine. Right? I would say that when I take the time to write
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:22]
a rule down,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:24]
you know, part of my decision making framework, 99% of the time, if I am willing to break that rule, I'm I'm also breaking a value.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:31]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:32]
And maybe it's like my financial security value or maybe it's my safety value. Right? And I'm not saying like I'm like breaking it in an epic and profound way. I'm just I'm just breaking it. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:46]
And I've decided that
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:48]
I'm just gonna try not to do that, and I'm gonna do that with these rules.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:53]
Are you sure that Lucy can't have two more hours of Overwatch time?
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:58]
You know, I would love that. Right? Because she's playing Overwatch with me, and
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:02]
we are having a good time. We're playing with Uncle Johnny, like, all that. Right? But the rule is forty five minutes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:09]
And if I cave on that, it's usually it's it's like a really
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:14]
it's a it's a it's a special exception. As as an example,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:19]
if she's playing Minecraft with grandma
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:22]
and her cousins, Like, I will fudge the forty five minutes to an hour. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:29]
But it's like, though these these are such rare exceptions and there's there's prior art for when we break these rules. Like, I could actually write down what what The rule when we break these rules. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:39]
Right? Like, it's an exception. It's it's it's 2.1,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:42]
which is if you are playing Minecraft with your grandmother
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:46]
and your cousins, which is a ridiculous statement of itself. Right? You're playing Minecraft with your grandmother. But if that's the circumstances by which you are you're in, yes, I will give you a fifteen minute extension,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:59]
you know.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:00]
Is Minecraft productive?
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:03]
Yeah. I've I've struggled with this one. I that that's
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:07]
like, it's so it's so easy with Overcraft or Overwatch. Right? Like No. It's not that's not fun. But Minecraft But you get into Minecraft and there's like, there's it can be productive but
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:16]
I don't know. That's that's tricky. That's so tricky.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:19]
The the ones that have the apps as of late that have completely, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:24]
deconstructed
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:26]
my notion excuse me, of screen time are the ones that Henry uses
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:31]
to solve Rubik's cubes. So it's timers
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:34]
or it's videos showing him algorithms to, like, short circuit things and and and, you know, recognize patterns.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:40]
Those, I'm like, okay. First of all, you found the one good use of YouTube.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:45]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:47]
Because I'm not fan of YouTube. But but then but then second, like, okay, I this I think this will help you out in life. Right? I'm not totally sure how, but I'm pretty sure it will.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:57]
Can you solve a rub Rubik's cube? No. I can't. I never have. Fascinating.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:02]
So if you watch him do it,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:05]
there there's like he refers to algorithms. Right? Like, he has pattern recognitions that he does
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:12]
in order to figure out where to move the pieces. And it looks like chaos as he's as he's changing it. See, you and I, right, we get a Rubik's cube and we're like, oh, we'll just match up the colors. Right. Then we gotta find this other color on the other side and like, move it up there and like, oh, no. I'm disrupting my matching.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:27]
He will have total chaos on that cube, and then in, like, three moves, it's all together because of some algorithm. And he's, like, worked towards that. It's it's Oh. It's amazing. Yeah. You should come by, John, and he'll show it to you. Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:41]
I should buy a Rubik's cube and get on the YouTubes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:45]
So he, at this point, has a two by two, a three by three, a four by four. He's got one that has, like, 18 sides, and then he's got a triangular one as well. So he's got multiple permutations.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:57]
And what's fascinating to me is that some of the algorithms actually translate
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:01]
from one to the next to the next.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:04]
And so he was showing me today how within a four by four, you actually have a two by two, and you can do these patterns
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:10]
at a macro level and then break it down into micro. It's I don't know. Crazy. Intriguing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:14]
I should buy everybody on my Christmas list a Rubik's cube for Christmas.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:18]
You should, man. There's actually a cool thing called the Go Cube. You should look this up. Go Cube? It's like yeah. Rubik's cubes are a hot item. They're they're they're back, dude. They're back in a big way.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:30]
Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:31]
So you successfully diverted me from rules.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:34]
I'm curious, John, do you have any rules like I do? Do you bother to write these things down?
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:39]
Or you just are you just flying by the seat of your pants? So I think that my rules are in my head.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:47]
I don't write them down, but, like, I will never be late for anything.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:53]
Like, there's that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:55]
You and I talked about this recently. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm gonna catch up. You and I talked about this recently. Right? Why why are we never late for anything?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:02]
Do you remember what we said? I don't remember why we said. Oh, we we because that's when the bell's gonna ring. Right? And we we're
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:08]
the product of teachers.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:10]
I I was actually thinking about this today on my walk,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:13]
because I was thinking about talking to you about rules. Right? And and open up the can of worms, which is like, why do I do what I do? Yada yada yada. COVID COVID COVID. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:22]
I thought to myself, like, how much of this is actually a product of being a teacher's kid?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:26]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:27]
Because because you think about the frame of reference of a teacher.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:32]
You gotta you gotta be on time. You gotta sit in your designated place. Right? You gotta get your book out at the right time. You gotta do your homework at the right time. Right? Like, it's a series of what I think are pretty clear rules.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:44]
And if you live in the house of a teacher, right, those who follow the rules in school, they will succeed in life,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:50]
and the rest of everybody else
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:53]
are basically like our siblings.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:55]
Right? No. I'm sorry. I'm not I'm not you, Liz. Not not you, Liz. No.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:00]
But but I do but I do think, like, there's there's like, we're presented with chaos on the other side of this.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:06]
And so I I've I've been reflecting a lot on, is being the child
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:12]
of a teacher the reason why I formulate these things in a very binary, like true false
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:18]
way.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:19]
And I I write them down, and I like stick to them, you know. I I think I think about my dad every time
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:25]
that
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:26]
I'm getting ready to go to church, and it is one minute past the time I wanted to leave. Like, I because my whole body tenses up, you know?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:34]
Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:36]
Yeah. I'm the same way. I don't know if it's a teacher thing or not, because I was a terrible student. But
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:42]
I
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:43]
don't know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:44]
Were were you a terrible student
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:47]
though because
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:48]
you were rebelling
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:49]
against your mom?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:51]
I don't think so. I think that I just didn't wanna do homework.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:55]
And Anna has this theory. I don't remember, like, what she looked up, but it's, something about the day and time I was born. And, apparently,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:04]
I'm something that knows
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:06]
the best way to use my energy. And if it is something outside of that, then I,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:12]
like, don't wanna do it or shut down.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:15]
I when you said daytime, I figured there was a fifty fifty shot. You're gonna say Mercury was in retrograde.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:20]
That's kinda what I was thinking too, but I think it's probably true. Like, sometimes I want to do things, and sometimes I want to
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:29]
sit and watch The Sopranos.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:32]
And Yeah. I think it's all energy management,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:35]
that it comes down to, and I think I just intuitively know
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:38]
when is the best time to
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:41]
do things.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:42]
I think that's fair. So think about right now, when you're at work, are you, like, are you on full time, like, mentally engaged? No. Absolutely not. That's impossible, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:53]
Alright. Well, here I was about to say, this this this new job that I've got, like, I feel like I'm operating at a 120% all the time. You are not working
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:02]
a legit
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:03]
eight to five
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:04]
office job, though.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:06]
Well, I'm not I'm not in a physical office. I'm working, like, 07:45 to five as of as of late, but And, like, if you take an hour lunch or
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:17]
half hour breaks here and there, like
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:20]
I can tell you for a fact. Alright? You may not believe me, but I can tell you for a fact that since starting this new job, I have definitely not taken an hour lunch.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:27]
And I I don't believe I've taken a half hour lunch. I think I've spent maybe ten minutes preparing lunch and coming back to my desk. I actually So
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:34]
This this this has kept me busy, man. So this is this is like
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:40]
the Stan Lemon that I knew when we first met, who would just stay up and just code for a week without sleeping or anything like that. Yes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:49]
It's a high level of engagement. But then when I'm done, right, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:53]
I so so I've noticed two things. Now that I've now I've got a job that's got me busy all the time, I've noticed two things. One is that
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:01]
when when I'm done with work, I want to start this mental crash. Right? Like, wanna just completely reset
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:08]
and and not think about anything. So last night, actually, in the process of trying to find my mental crash, I sat in my chair in my office. I put on my AirPod Max with noise cancellation on. I put on some smooth jazz Christmas. Nice. I did not go to sleep, but I closed my eyes. The room was dark, and I just sat there for thirty minutes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:26]
Right? So the nice thing about the smooth jazz Christmas playlist on Apple music is that there's no words. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:32]
And and it was just like a nice,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:35]
easy mental reset.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:38]
So that's one thing that I've noticed. The other thing is that when I have things to do and I'm done with work,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:45]
I know exactly what that schedule's gonna be. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:48]
I've set fifteen minutes aside to do the bills, fifteen minutes to, you know, load the car up to take it to the grocery store. I'm gonna go get groceries, then I'm gonna drop off the recycling, then I'm gonna come back. I'm gonna unload. Like, I know exactly the progression of events. That's always gonna happen on Tuesday. It's never gonna happen on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:04]
That's a rule. Not come
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:06]
I guess I guess that's what it is.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:09]
But it but it's also, like, my mind, like, mentally sorting and managing out the the chaos, so that I do eventually reach that point where I, you know, just take a deep breath. I have learned the last four weeks now,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:22]
I really like being busy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:23]
Yep. I really genuinely like being busy. I could've told you that years ago. Oh.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:29]
I think so, you know, for any future employer
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:32]
employer, any
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:34]
future employer of Stan Lemon, here's the key
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:37]
to both your success and mine.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:39]
Keep me busy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:41]
Because if I With difficult things.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:43]
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:44]
Yeah. No. That's that's totally spot on. I this is the way I'm wired. And maybe this is why the rules
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:49]
are what they are, because they allow me to
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:52]
work through the non engaging things quickly.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:56]
Yep. You know? Like, I just boom boom boom, sort them out. This all comes down to you don't wanna be annoyed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:02]
So you create systems to limit being annoyed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:07]
I that that might be. That might be. Especially, like more tolerant than I used to be. Well, that three kids will do that to you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:16]
You know you know what I realized today, John? With the kids. So I I
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:21]
used to be so wired that I could hear, like, all the things. I hated going to Starbucks, right, because I could hear all the conversations going on.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:28]
I was sitting at my dining room table tonight,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:32]
and there were, like, three different conversations going on. And there's only four other people, so you figure out how that math works. But there were three other conversations going. I didn't hear any Was of Henry talking dog?
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:42]
No. No. I don't think so. I don't I don't remember what's going on. But I didn't hear any of it, and I wasn't even looking at my phone. And I was just like, wow. The amount of control I have over my ears right now, it's truly amazing thing. That might be that might be a little bit of COVID too, though, you know, like Right. Because we're all we're all locked up for so long. I don't know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:59]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:01]
I don't know. Here we are, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:05]
Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:07]
We've talked about rules. We've talked about a whole bunch of other crazy chaos.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:11]
People have already unsubscribed from this podcast
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:15]
disappearing by the minute. If not, because they don't like the topic because I insulted them for not being part of intelligence society. But whatever. Whatever. What did you think of Hawkeye this week?
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:25]
I liked it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:27]
Definitely some Kingpin references in there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:31]
But, yeah, they made it through episode three without it being bad, so that's a win in my book.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:36]
Yeah. So looking back,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:38]
if I remember right, Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode three was especially bad. Yes. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:44]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:46]
that was definitely
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:47]
with with WandaVision, it was like they've gone one episode too far
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:51]
with their games, in my opinion. You had a different you had a different mindset. But I want I wanted them to start gluing stuff together.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:57]
And then Loki was was episode three of Loki the one where it was like, why are we doing this? Or was that episode five? I don't think it was episode three. I think it was later.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:06]
Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:08]
But we have gotten through
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:10]
what could be the doldrums.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:12]
Right? For a six I mean, this is this this is the midpoint. We're halfway through. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:18]
You mentioned Kingpin.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:19]
For those who don't know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:21]
Kingpin is the arch nemesis of
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:25]
Daredevil?
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:26]
Daredevil. Yes. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:28]
And so we have we have seen
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:30]
Kingpin most recently in the Netflix Daredevil show, which is not safe for kids. Definitely. And is a fan a fan Not really that safe for adults.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:39]
No. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:40]
Hey, it's at least it's not Jessica Jones. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:43]
I it takes a lot to make me squirm, but Jessica Jones got me squirm in season one. Oh, my goodness. More so than Sons of Anarchy that final season. Oh, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:53]
Which which that that pushed me to it like I almost shut Sons of Anarchy off and during the one scene. So Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:01]
It was a kitchen scene. Right? No. It was what's his name's daughter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:06]
Oh.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:07]
Yeah. Don't wanna talk about that. No. Let's let's see. Keep it on the podcast. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:11]
Not on the podcast. Keep that safe safe, Brady.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:14]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:15]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:16]
the thing with Kingpin, right, is he is basically
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:19]
this behind the scenes
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:21]
mobster of sorts that's gonna control all the things.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:25]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:27]
Daredevil is onto him. Right? Understands what he's trying to do. He will get control through really terrible ways. Blowing up buildings, killing people, whatever.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:36]
We
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:38]
if if you're familiar with the comics, you know there's a relationship between him and Echo, which is Maya. That's the character. That's her name, Echo. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:45]
She
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:47]
is not able to hear, and so she signs. She also reads lips, but she signs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:52]
And we get this glimpse, right, of him
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:55]
putting his hand on her shoulder, and it sounded I haven't I haven't actually checked this. Maybe I should look this up in IMDB, but it sounded to me like
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:03]
that guy from Law and Order Criminal Intent, who also was
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:07]
kingpin
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:08]
in Daredevil
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:12]
in in in that in that scene. But that, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:15]
the representation was, in my opinion, very clearly Kingpin. Yep. I don't know. Did you get any of those, like, oh, that's that guy moments?
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:23]
I don't know because Kingpin is kinda like a set character at this point. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:29]
Yeah. I So like that. Just there's
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:32]
Isn't there some there's some animated series where he shows up too?
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:36]
And this is probably the nineties.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:39]
But So there there is that. But interestingly, Into the Spider Verse references
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:45]
whatever the Sloan company is that they mentioned at the end of this episode.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:49]
And they make the connection between that company and Kingpin in Spider Man Into the Spider Verse, which is really interesting,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:58]
like, you know, connecting the dots. Right? We've got the MCU.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:01]
This is canonical MCU. We've got the Netflix thing, right, which is giving us a whole bunch of Daredevil lore. And then we got Into the Spider Verse, which is not MCU. It's also animated.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:09]
Yep. But it's multiverse, and the multiverse is, like, all over the place right now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:14]
And so I I think, you know, it just raises a whole bunch of questions about exactly
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:19]
who's who and what's what.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:21]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:22]
I'm I'm like crazy excited about this, to be totally honest with you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:28]
We've we've gotten rumors that the next Spider Man movie will have Matt Murdock played by I'm drawing a blank on his name now. Charlie Cox,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:37]
who was the Netflix character,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:39]
showing up as his lawyer in in the Spider Man movie. Now, we haven't seen that in trailers. So that could be totally, you know, Reddit Fudd
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:47]
or Fuzz Fizz, whatever.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:50]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:52]
I'm holding out, man. I would love to see
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:55]
them bring Charlie Cox in full tilt. I'd love them to see love to see them bring in the Kingpin character in Full Tilt,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:02]
tie it all up in this one.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:05]
I I I can see it just I like this show. I really do. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:10]
It's fun. And the ultimate plot point is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:14]
will Hawkeye be home for Christmas?
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:16]
Will Hawkeye be home for Christmas? Alright. So if you take the
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:22]
four
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:23]
MCU TV shows that we've had
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:25]
to this date. Right? WandaVision,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:28]
Falcon, Loki,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:30]
and Hawkeye.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:31]
And if you take if you take all four, the first three episodes,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:35]
rank them.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:37]
The first three episodes?
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:39]
Yep. Just based upon the first three episodes. If you have no idea what happens in episode four
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:44]
Yeah. I guess how do rank them, John? I guess I gotta go
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:48]
Hawkeye,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:49]
because I don't know episode four yet.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:52]
Loki,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:53]
WandaVision,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:54]
Falcon Winter Soldier.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:56]
Surprisingly, John, I rank them the exact same way. So maybe it's objectively true. And Marvel's good at good at
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:03]
TV once they stop trying to be TV and just trying to be movies over multiple episodes. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:09]
Well, and I think I think that's the key. That has been my sense of this TV show is that it's actually a movie.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:15]
It's a holistic story chopped up into six installments.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:19]
I don't know if that's actually how they produced it, but I definitely get that feel and I All I know is that it drives me nuts that they end with the cliffhanger each episode. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:29]
Well, there's like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:31]
yeah, it drives you nuts. Right? The same way that the end of a Star Trek the Next Generation season did Right. Right before summer started. Thankfully, don't have to wait four months.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:41]
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:42]
But I I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:44]
like, TV has missed some of that, you know? And I I I even feel like like WandaVision,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:49]
I as much as I enjoyed WandaVision,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:52]
I did not necessarily feel that suspense from week to week. Loki, I got a little bit of it. Falcon, when I like, we don't even need to keep talking about that because it's just it's just the bottom But of the
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:04]
I I you know, maybe part of it's the season and the die hard undertones and, like, all of that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:10]
But, you know
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:13]
And we're
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:14]
like, it kinda goes in order of,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:17]
like, Avenger level too. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:20]
So, like, Hawkeye and Loki are probably on the same tier with
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:25]
Scarlet Witch next. And then you've got Falcon and Winter Soldier. Winter Soldier is, like, a c tier character
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:33]
for the most part, and Falcon is like doesn't know who he is because he's becoming the new Captain America.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:40]
You're so generous.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:41]
Alright. Before we wrap up, I sent you a link today in Apple Music Link. Did you happen to listen to it? No. Because I was at work Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:49]
That the song
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:51]
from the musical
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:53]
at the
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:54]
start of episode one, Save the City. John, actually, here this would be great. If you could just get
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:00]
I could do this all day. Okay. Yeah. If you if you could just do I I could do this all day at the tail end of this episode, that'd be fantastic. But they put the whole thing up on iTunes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:10]
It's hilarious. Nice. And it reminds me of Rent,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:14]
like the way that it's sung, More so than when I watched it. You should totally listen to it. It's it's called Save the City from Hawkeye.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:21]
It involves Adam Pascal, Ty Taylor, Rory Donovan,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:25]
Derek Klaina, Bonnie Milligan, Christopher Sieber,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:29]
and Shana Steele. You search for any one or two of those names, you're probably gonna find it. Totally worth the, like, three and a half minutes that you're gonna spend listening to it. It was great. This if this is the best thing that comes out of Hawkeye,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:40]
I'm satisfied.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:41]
We need a straight to Disney plus musical.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:45]
Dude, listen. They don't even have to go straight to Disney plus. This I would I would mask myself up because of my rules and go and watch
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:54]
Rogers the musical in person. Alright?
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:57]
There you go. Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:59]
On that note, my friend, I think that is about as good of an episode as we can get out of a
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:04]
no agenda
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:05]
no agenda. I know. And I didn't take notes while we were talking, so I'll actually have to pay attention while I'm listening so I can write show notes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:14]
Alright, my friend. Until next time. Later, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:18]
This is Stan Lemmon reminding you,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:21]
just give a hoot about your neighbor. I don't care what you do. Get the shot, get a booster, mask up, whatever. Just care about your name.