Ep.244 Be Memorable With Shelly Graby and Jody Wynn of ADJACENT PODCAST

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Where'll you be going? Texas. Damn, son, where'd you find this? Go on, make it happen. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Welcome to Malet and Michelle. I'm Michelle, and this is Steve, who is surrounded right now by all female podcasters. So choose your words carefully because this is a focus group with microphones. One wrong answer, Steve, and we can make you the subject of an entire new podcast. Stupid thing Steve says. That's right. Well, that's the one I already have on.

SPEAKER_09 0:36

Or your favorite shit, Steve says.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Shit Steve says. See, I just broke that. There you go, Mom.

SPEAKER_09 0:41

That's right. There you go, Mom. Here we go. Here we go. We have a studio filled with professional podcasters, and it's going to be a fun episode. So hang in there. We got to thank these wonderful sponsors, though. Can't do the show without these sponsors. See if you can you can pick up on my theme today.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Oh, um, yeah, there was a little bit. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not gonna say it. Deep Eddie vodka.

SPEAKER_09 1:04

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SPEAKER_03 1:59

Did you say angina?

SPEAKER_09 2:02

I did. I said angina. Angina.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Okay. This is a family-friendly friendly podcast. Absolutely. So today we've got podcast family in the house, Sister Shelly. I'm gonna Shelly Graby. Jody Wynn, their Austin Ray, story-loving, community-building women who turn sisterhood, a little chaos, and the love of a good conversation into shoddy media. They now produce 10 podcasts, host the Adjacent Podcast, and still find time for RV trips, baseball tailgates, restaurant crawls, and plenty of sister shenanigans. Welcome, Shelley and Jody. Actually, like you're the 10 podcaster under the shoddy media umbrella, shall we say. But thank you so much. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_09 2:46

We're excited to have you all here.

SPEAKER_05 2:47

Oh my gosh, we're so excited. We are loving dripping springs. We kind of did a little tour on our way out here. Back off, lady.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

There's only one this town's big enough for one podcast and the Methodist Church.

SPEAKER_08 3:00

Don't you worry.

SPEAKER_05 3:02

Don't you worry.

SPEAKER_09 3:03

How did you all think about getting into podcasts?

SPEAKER_05 3:06

Well, that's a good question. How did you two decide to get into podcasting? Steve was.

SPEAKER_09 3:11

We told our story here a number of times, but basically it was just to stay relevant in our community, to stay plugged in. And we have met some of the coolest people doing this podcast. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_06 3:23

Go ahead, Shell. Well, we had been talking about it for ever over five years while y'all have been doing it. And finally I just scheduled a studio time and said, come on, you have no more excuses. She retired from education, a 30-year career in education. And so I was like, you're gonna be real bored if you don't come do this. So you've been doing it for how long? Since 2024. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 3:54

824 episodes? Yeah, we're we're I mean, we're sisters for a living. Wow. We're sisters. I'm pretty proud of our 240-ish in four or what, five years.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Well, we do it once a week. So how often are you guys going in there?

SPEAKER_05 4:10

We go to studio at least once a week, sometimes twice a week, and then we uh do a lot of um virtual so it's not just studio time.

SPEAKER_09 4:21

The original idea that you came up, we're gonna do a podcast and it's gonna be about what was that?

SPEAKER_06 4:27

That was the problem. We were like, well, what is it going to be about? And so we went back and forth on Sylvie sisters, you know, sisters, whatever. And then we just kept ending up in situations where we were like, wow, how did we get here? How did we get invited to a suite with Colt McCoy? How did we get in a room with Vince Young? Why are we sitting here? How did we get this? Why are we having lunch with Schlossy? And and we were like, what's going on? How is this? And it's adjacentness, how the connection. And we're like that opens it up so we can talk about anything. We can talk about our being, we can talk about uh camping and and adjacent to greatness. Adjacent all these great people and connection, and it's not we're putting the spotlight on other people, just like you guys. You are the same. It's you know, we're just in a different location.

SPEAKER_09 5:26

And you and you most do you always have guests or you occasionally have guests?

SPEAKER_05 5:30

So we have it every day of the week, pretty much, except for Sunday, because that's for God.

SPEAKER_08 5:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:36

And family. And margaritas. Maybe.

SPEAKER_06 5:42

Espresso martini from Holly.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

We pick our we pick our advertisers advertisers based on my likes.

SPEAKER_06 5:52

Bravo. I was like, I was like, new news. This is great. I can't wait to try it.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

So our Monday we do together where we tell bedtime stories. Okay. It's really fun. And it can be like serious bedtime stories history, but it can also just be funny stories. And we say something like this. We'll be like, go ahead and take your bedtime tea and your ambient or your put on your CPAP. Let's tell you a bedtime story.

SPEAKER_06 6:19

And then Tuesdays are our interviews. I have to say, our um we call it Have You Heard It, our bedtime stories. And our our theme song is sung by Ben Donnell, who is a famous Canadian uh jazz singer. And he wrote the song for us. We had him on the podcast because Jody saw him on TikTok and we just started stalking him. And so I have to shout out Ben Donnell. Please listen to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Well, well, Scotty Bennett is one of our he he really kind of was instrumental in helping guide us and teach us. And now we can teach him a thing or two. Where to go, Scotty. But I want to know about how you are getting guests. Are you going out and searching? Because Steve always says he's amazed by what my talent is, is we'll be sitting at a restaurant or anywhere.

SPEAKER_09 7:09

That cracks me up. Yeah. We'll uh I'll be sitting there and I'll be like, hey, that's JP Sears. Don't say anything. Don't look at him. And she'll just put down her fork and stand up and go, hey, I'm Michelle. Nice to meet you, JP Sears. Yeah. I'm not like that. Jody, are you like that?

SPEAKER_06 7:26

I'm very shy. She pulls her hat down. She pulls her hat down and she goes, She's gonna do it. She's gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

I did it last, I think it was last week or the week before last. We were eating at our little pig pen place that we always eat at, and we were walking in, and there was a guy, he had a car, and uh his car was sitting there and the license plate said filmmaker or something, right?

SPEAKER_09 7:44

The big black Mercedes S600 that was sparkly and shiny.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

One guy sitting in there, and I go, Hey, send your car out there. He goes, Yeah. I go, hi, I'm Michelle. I have a podcast. This is Steve. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 7:56

He's like, And then we talked to him. He he was very talking for about 10 minutes. Super nice guy, but I don't think he wanted us to be a good thing. I don't think he figured out.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

I don't think he figured out who who we were and how did we know, like, who's this crazy blonde lady that's coming up after me? So have you guys had the opportunity or to really sit and self-critique yourself and and re-listen? Was it mortifying? Because the first time Steve and I did, we were like, oh God, did we sound like that?

SPEAKER_09 8:23

Well, but I I have realized, and I've known this since the beginning, that I figured the first 10, 20, 30 were just gonna suck. And that was and that's just how it is. It's like anything you do in life, you know? You learn you learn a brand new skill. You're not gonna be good at it the very first day you try it. You go, I'm gonna take up tennis. Oh, damn it, I didn't win my first game. I mean, that's just not how life goes.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

So, how do you think that you sound, Jody? Like when you're when you're listening back to yourself.

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Okay, I think I sound really slow, and I have to speed it up to like two.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

You have to speed up your own voice. You're like, I'm gonna bump my robot too. Because I'm like, come on, Jody, you gotta talk faster, you know. I actually don't think that's right.

SPEAKER_09 9:04

If you ever if you listen to uh I was listening to somebody who was playing on the radio, uh Rush Limbaugh last week. He was very, he picked his words, he was very succinct, he he he didn't um hurry through any part of what he was talking about. I think it's good to have a slowetical.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

I think that with me, I'm dyslexic. So I I mix up my words, I say things that don't really necessarily go with the sentence.

SPEAKER_09 9:30

I make up words.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

I make up words. If I'm telling a story, yes, but there you go, Steve. It's a sign of intelligence. I tell a story, I tell a myth. I'm a freaking genius then. That's what it is. I'm a freaking genius.

SPEAKER_09 9:45

Albert Einstein.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

But I have learned to lean into it. Like I used to be very self-conscious about it. And so have you found like there's some like little quirks that you have, you're like, Oh, I didn't really understand the quirks.

SPEAKER_05 9:56

Okay, well, let me let me tell you about Shelly. Shelly is one of those people that has really good self-esteem. I'm awesome. And so she's like, oh my gosh, high-fiving herself. She's like, I just look at me and humble. I'm just like, I don't know. Um my thing is I um always have allergies and I'm always sniffing.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

And I'm like, you know, and I'm like, well, somebody in the other is somebody in the room breathes, apparently, and also swallows. Okay. There's the swallowing and the breathing that I have issues with.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

So sexy. It is so sexy. Like that. Like that.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

So let's get back to guests. So, how are you finding these guests?

SPEAKER_05 10:41

Shelley is like you, Michelle. She will like go to anyone, she doesn't care. Um, we've found people when we're sitting at a bar, we found people like same. Like, it's just the strangest stuff, but she'll reach out to anybody.

SPEAKER_06 10:55

I think everybody has a story, and I want to hear it. I want to hear it.

SPEAKER_09 11:00

We have sat down with some people that if you just met them at a party and talked to them for 30 seconds, you'd think, no, nothing extraordinary about that person. You spend an hour with them, you're like, wow, what a story. That person that's a novel right there.

SPEAKER_06 11:13

It's a it's a whole different level when you're sitting down for an hour uninterrupted, you get a whole different connection.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

What have you ever had like a you don't have to name names and uh but have you ever had like an awful guest? Well, we did early on. And I'll and I'll tell you this awful guest, but it made Steve and I self-reflect and go, you know what? It wasn't so much about the guest, it was about us.

SPEAKER_09 11:37

We should have we were we were they left and we were talking, and Michelle's like, oh, that was it was like watching paint dry. And I was like, that's on us, Michelle. No, that's it's up to us to make that interview interesting. We have to figure out how to do that.

SPEAKER_06 11:52

And so if that you've had that experience. We have. We had one early on, and we were like, oh crap, that one sucked. But then when it came back, because our Jordan Cannon, our executive product per producer, is so friggin' talented. She's amazing. It sounded great. Yeah. It sounded great.

SPEAKER_05 12:12

She did she did a great job. I think we were overcritical. We were over-critical, and then we were thinking like when we would ask a question like, what would make a great day? And they'd just be like, Well, I guess when I wake up in the morning, it's good. Yeah, we've had those.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Steve and I, I mean, I guess you guys are sisters, right? So Steve and I are sisters also. And we can look at each other, and there's just like a look.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Sisters.

SPEAKER_09 12:41

I just sometimes have no idea what to say.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

But we have this look where we can just go like Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 12:49

But you know what? Uh my wife Holly and her sister Casey, they're twins. And when my wife Holly, she works downtown. When she leaves, she gets in her car and calls Casey. And they talk for an hour every day. I'm like, What do you guys talk about?

SPEAKER_05 13:04

Yeah, they're just witnessing each other's lives. It's a lovely thing.

SPEAKER_06 13:07

Sisters are the best. It's the best. We're so lucky. Uh, we left at a recording day after recording like five episodes. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

And oh my gosh, like all in one day. All in one day. Bless.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

And our producer was like, oh, you're gonna be so sore. Sore. And we're like, we do this.

SPEAKER_05 13:26

What do you think we're doing?

SPEAKER_03 13:27

This is what we do. It depends on the guest. I think. And so out of the two of you, who asked, who will ask the dangerous questions? Who will ask the questions that you're like?

SPEAKER_09 13:39

I'm gonna say Shelly.

SPEAKER_06 13:40

No, Jody. Jody, this is the crazy thing. Jody's always been this timid little bird, and this has brought out her freak flag. And she goes for it. And it's so I'm just in awe. I'm like, this is the sister I've always known, but now the world is getting to see it.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

So that's the best compliment, though.

SPEAKER_09 14:03

Do you feel like you tapped into sort of the artistic side of yourselves? Because that's what I'm getting out of this. Is that for sure?

SPEAKER_05 14:10

I think we get to be really creative. And so we, you know, you were asking, like, well, how do you all have this many episodes? It's because we get together, we start brainstorming. We write it down, and she's such a Virgo. She's like, we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it. And she makes it happen, and I'm sitting there like fawning and well, Jody, is there anything off-limits?

SPEAKER_03 14:28

Like, is there stuff that you're like, you know what?

SPEAKER_06 14:30

Or thank you, Michelle. Thank you for the segue. She really needed this. She was like, I'm gonna talk about this.

SPEAKER_05 14:38

Which part? What is off limits? Oh, she she likes to make fun of my boobs.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

No, no, no. There was there was an episode where um we were doing Oh, wait, scratch that. Scratch that boobs. You can you can keep the boobs in. It's funny.

SPEAKER_05 14:56

Um so we were doing this segment where we did investigative reports where we would take make up a question that nobody really wants to know the answer to. And so we were talking about are you a naked person or a never nude? And we're definitely never nudes. We were brought up in a never nude family. Okay, yeah. You know, yeah. We never saw our parents naked. Used, you know, yeah. But we have been on girls' trips where there's a naked room and there's a never nude. Oh.

SPEAKER_06 15:25

And I'm like, and the naked room is fully naked. Fully naked. Naked naked. Walking around. We just walk around like they're flossing.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

No, noob. Boobies flapping everywhere. Nope, nope. I don't want to be in naked room.

SPEAKER_09 15:39

So I'm a man and I don't want to be in that room. I want to have some stuff left to my imagination there.

SPEAKER_05 15:46

Well, it's like when you go to Lifetime Fitness and you go into the dressing room and you're just like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on? This is not hippie hollow. Yeah. Okay. I I like to keep things to the imagination fit.

SPEAKER_03 15:56

And what is hippie hollow? There's a bunch of old seven-year-olds with flappy wieners and flappy boobies walking around like on the rocks. Like, no, that's not attractive. I don't want to see that.

SPEAKER_09 16:06

You ever go down to Barton Springs? Yes. Yeah. Well, they'll do the topless things. Well, there's that, but also you know, they have the outdoor changing rooms, and it's gotten weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder.

SPEAKER_05 16:19

Keep Austin weird, I guess.

SPEAKER_09 16:20

Well, it's it's pretty damn weird, though. Sometimes it's too weird. What do you what have you guys learned about podcasting that you think most people don't know?

SPEAKER_06 16:28

Um I think it's it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. People think it's just this hour and a half that you put together. But there's a lot of behind the scenes and the social media stuff's just uh I know.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

I'm a lot. I'm recently um deeper diving into social media, but it does take more time, more you know, more links. If I'm sharing the story, I gotta put another link. The change it that's and then you figure it all out and they friggin' change it, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 16:58

Um yeah. I w one of the things we learned very early on through research, but also through experience, was you have to treat this like a job. Like it's a job. It's not like you open a retail store and you go, like, well, whatever day I feel like waking up and going to the store, I'll open it. You have to do this week in, week out. It's consistent every day. Otherwise you lose listeners. They want the consistency.

SPEAKER_05 17:20

Consistency is a key. I love that y'all drop every Tuesday because I think people are like looking forward to it. Yeah. And it's very intimate for people to have your voice in their ear all the time. Especially your heavy breathing, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Steve's breathing and swallowing. So, Jody and Shelly, I want to go go all the way back. Okay. Wanna go back to where you guys were born and raised. You were born in San Diego-ish, and then it said Vietnam? My dad was dad was Vietnam. And you are born, raised here in Austin.

SPEAKER_05 17:55

What was your Austin like? Our Austin is the same because she was. I was an Austin when she was born ago, but she was here because she I don't think y'all were there for very long. Our dad was stationed in San Diego, and then she was born there with our brother and sister, Casey and Tim. They all came back together.

SPEAKER_09 18:13

Is he a Marine?

SPEAKER_06 18:14

He's uh he's following her with us, and he is uh Marine. Yes. He was a Marine. For Purple Hearts. He was a drill instructor during um Vietnam. Really?

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Was he a softie with you guys though? No, no. My stepfather was Marine CIA agent. Oh wow. Yeah. That's why I'm not getting away. This is trauma response, right?

SPEAKER_06 18:37

That's all you're gonna trauma bond over.

SPEAKER_09 18:41

100%. Going back to the question though, what do you what do you guys remember from growing up in the street?

SPEAKER_05 18:47

We loved it. Um we lived on 407 Traysway in the 405 in the four five. We um there were seven of us because there were five kids, our parents, and we lived in a two-bedroom, which became a three-bedroom, one bath. One bath. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 19:05

Jeez, wow. And then four girls, one boy. Your poor brother.

SPEAKER_05 19:09

I know. He moved to Houston. We feel like we love him, but he's like, peace out, ladies.

SPEAKER_09 19:16

Did he move when he was nine?

SPEAKER_08 19:18

Right out by that little home.

SPEAKER_06 19:22

He was, yeah. And we reflect back on our childhood and we were like, did he even live in the same house with us?

SPEAKER_05 19:28

Because he was the only one with his only room. There were four girls in one bedroom, and he had his only room.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Well, of course. The poor poor guy. He needed a break. So did you grow up in a very strict household or kind of a half feral household? Feral. It was until dad came home.

SPEAKER_05 19:46

There were a lot of rules, but nobody watched us. So we were sneaking.

SPEAKER_06 19:50

Oh, you were Gen X. Yeah. I mean, yeah, same. Yeah. Yeah. There were a lot of rules. I never followed. She followed every single one of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 19:59

She was like, you know. She's a rule follower. She's like, well, there'll be a sign, and I'll be like, no, we can ignore that. She's like, no, there's a sign. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

No.

SPEAKER_09 20:08

You can't do that.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

There's a sign, and I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go rabbit side. What is it? It's always asked for forgiveness for permission.

SPEAKER_05 20:19

She's very much like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

For sure.

SPEAKER_09 20:21

For sure. So somewhere along the way, you started shoddy media, or did you start shoddy media right in the beginning?

SPEAKER_05 20:28

Um We started it right at the beginning. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 20:31

And what is shoddy media?

SPEAKER_06 20:33

It's shoddy media, Shelly Jodi. No worries, no worry. Shorty, shorty, shoddy. Shodi, shodi, shodi. Oh, Shelly and Jodi. Shelly and Jodi.

SPEAKER_09 20:43

Now I feel bad so much. No worries. No, no, no. It was my fault. I watched happens.

SPEAKER_05 20:48

I'd like shoddy because it reminds me of shoddy. Don't mind. We started. Well, first off, we started brainstorming. Yeah. We started brainstorming and we were like, okay, we're gonna put a podcast out once a week. Okay, Jordan, can you help us with that? And then before we know it, we have 10 podcasts.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Like so, okay, explain to me the umbrella. Yeah, how does how does all of that work? So you have your podcast, the adjacent podcast, and then when I go down here and I go into all of your oops, sorry, let me get on the YouTube, all of your shows. I think I go down this way. Oh, whoop, whoop, whoop.

SPEAKER_09 21:25

Anyways, when you go down there, ladies, well, I just want to go. Yeah, we'll go through it with you.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

All right, so we have um Ladies Left Field. That's an all-female uh source uh commentating. So they mainly talk about Texas sports. Okay. Um they're so good, they're incredible. So there's Jordan, who's our producer, she works for ESPN, she knows everything about sports. Our good friend uh Katie Benya, and she is uh a longhorn through, they're all longhorns through and through, but um she's a principal, but Which she knows a hell of a lot about sports. And then we have Casey Johnson, who was just right there. There she is. She was basically like Mac Brown's personal assistant. She's worked with all the coaches, Augie, and all that. So they bring their incredible expertise into it. Then we have Conspiracy Farm, and that is Vincent Lacurne. And he talks about um, you know, conspiracies.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Oh, they so he probably like my little tinfoil hat. No, when we're together, we put on a tinfoil hat.

SPEAKER_06 22:31

I do this. Yes. Yeah, okay, okay. So you have matching ones.

SPEAKER_05 22:35

Oh, good, good. And then we have mom's favorite. That's a Cassidy and Kim, a mom and daughter team, and they talk about everything, and everything is up for discussion. Really? They're so funny. They're so great.

SPEAKER_06 22:47

Um let's see, who am I missing? Share Male. Um Good Enough Today. And um, she talks about living with medical conditions and how she gets through each day.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

And are they all consistent as well? Or are they just kind of not as consistent, but they're incredible.

SPEAKER_05 23:06

We have Pammy out loud, and she's an uh woman talking about being a woman of a certain age and all her connections. We have datable AF, and uh they are one therapist and one who does um research on relationships. And Kim and Friends, she's all the way over in St. Louis. Yeah, really? She talks about being a mom and her life. Now we're starting a new one. That dude is my brother podcast. It's amazing. That's cool. Yeah. Um and then we have uh the V. Shady B hilarious.

SPEAKER_09 23:44

So there's like a lot of Isn't that hilarious? I started listening to that. I'm like, oh, I'm blushing.

SPEAKER_06 23:49

Yeah. Well, Shady B after dark.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

That is an after dark, and then she has one that's not after dark. So, okay, I'm I'm a little confused. So you started Shody Media. Did you go in just thinking, okay, we're gonna have this umbrella, we're gonna have this LLC, and we're gonna have all of these other podcasts, but we're just gonna start with you just thought, okay, I'm gonna start with ours, but you've only been doing this for two years, right? So now was it because of the notoriety of your podcast people were coming to you? Or how how did all of that transpire?

SPEAKER_06 24:22

Once I started it and you know, the funding and everything, all the expenses of it, I was like, it doesn't matter how many podcasts you have, it's the same cost. So, how do we help other people get their voice out?

SPEAKER_05 24:33

Yeah. So they would come to us and say, Oh, I want to start a podcast. How many people have told you that? Yes. Oh, so I want to start a podcast. Tell her to call it. Yeah. So then it's like, oh, how do I do it? Well, let's let me teach you. Let me so like let's sit down with you and we'll show you how we did it. And some people have put their podcast under our umbrella and some have started their own. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 24:55

And then do you help them with everything like from the artwork to production to distribution? Do you help them with all that?

SPEAKER_05 25:03

Yeah. We do. Um they and then our Jordan, they pay her a fee for producing and editing and you know, does it be?

SPEAKER_04 25:13

And then you're really a girl. I know. Girl. I know. Not yet. We're gonna go to lunch.

SPEAKER_09 25:20

Well, I mean, you're you're getting to the point where this is a job. You have a gift. Yes. Do you do you get them to the point where you're like, okay, you've got your wings, off you go, or are you just are you constantly working on it?

SPEAKER_06 25:33

They own the right to their show and they can come and go as they please and do whatever they choose. It's their show. Um we don't do day-to-day. They record on their schedule, they schedule all their interviews. We are just the platform and we help get it on, you know, out to all of the places.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

But it still gives them, I guess, legs and credibility because they're they're part of ShowDB? Yes. Part of that. And I I want to talk about advertisers for a second. So the first year, year and a half or so, we just kind of did this on our own. And and Steve, through Mallet Integrity Team, this was a marketing arm for that. Shouldering all of it. Now we've been very blessed. Um, Capital Farm Credit was our very first advertiser, you know, Mark.

SPEAKER_09 26:20

Which was an interesting thing. We had had this whole pitch plan with, you know, slides and we went and sat down with him at a restaurant and we were ready to pitch it. And we go, we want you to be a sponsor of the podcast. And he goes, Okay. He just climbed it. He was like, Where do I send the check?

SPEAKER_03 26:36

And now we have people that are in, I guess, in the waiting, in the wings, waiting to be advertisers with us. But we want to, you know, we don't want to be a a podcast of advertisers, you know. So we're very clear about our pre-roll, our mid-roll, and um, you know, because you listen to podcasts a lot, and when you do, you're like, oh God, I freaking advertise. And I think that's why Steve started doing the little intro that he did. It kind of gives us another little spin, another little touch.

SPEAKER_09 27:03

I try and make it fun so that it's actually something that people will want to listen to versus, oh my gosh, I just got to fast-forward patch.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

But are you guys do you guys have advertisers that kind of advertise just with Shody Media or just with your podcast? Or do you kind of share the love just with you guys?

SPEAKER_06 27:20

Um we have advertisers that will go across the board. Um, but they have to do the podcasts have to do certain things. And some of them are like, no, I don't want to do it.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

Or the analytics are they want to share all the analytics and and we've kind of figured out also, you know, with our with our analytics, and you look across all of the platforms, you know, with your social media and everything, we've got a really good reach far and wide. And um You do. I know what you were talking about as far as your hosting platform. We host ours through Buzz Sprout. And we have learned over the years, even through message boards or Reddit or whatever, is that sometimes your listenership, you're like, because we're out every time we're out, especially in this town. Every time we're out, people are like you get this too. Oh my gosh, I heard such and such or whatever.

SPEAKER_09 28:08

And well, so like the numbers are skeptical. She called me Speedo Steve because I was talking about my morning swim. Do you wear Speedo?

SPEAKER_07 28:17

I eat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 28:18

Where do you swim? Jammers. I wear jammers.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

You might be in the naked group.

SPEAKER_09 28:26

But the the point of all that was for like a year, uh people would come up to me and go, hey Speedo Steve. Because I knew there were and I go visit my mom like a year and a half later, and she goes, Hey Speedo Steve. But when you think about it's actually uh kind of intimidating because you think, man, people are really listening to the words that I say.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

So talk about that being out in public and somebody coming up to you that you don't know. It is it is kind of nerve-wracking, but just repeating a story or something that you thought because you know, Steve and I, when we start to get to talking, we're like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. We're like, oh yeah, we're recording. So that happens to you. So tell me about it, like a moment when somebody came up to you.

SPEAKER_05 29:12

I did love this moment. So we were doing this investigation of where is the best chicken fried steak. Yes. Oh. And uh so we were going to different restaurants and we went over to Hayes City Store.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Oh, Hayes store, Travis. We've had Travis on here.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

And we were talking to our waiter. His name was Blazen. Blazen.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Blazin and Hazen.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

And uh I think he was maybe 20. And we had our adjacent stuff out, and he goes, Oh my gosh, I know y'all. Uh-huh. My mom listens to you, and she has me listening to you because when I moved to Austin, I think he's from North Dakota. North Dakota. And he goes, My mom listens to you in North Dakota, and she said, When I moved here, I needed to listen to you because it would give me some information about Austin. That's what we say about Drip, too.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah, we we tried to do it. It was so cute.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Did you get an autograph? Because Steve carries a big sharpie. He carries it in his pocket.

SPEAKER_09 30:11

I haven't used it yet, but I got it. What about haters? Have you had anybody?

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Oh, yeah, the haters.

SPEAKER_09 30:16

We had an we had one early on. Have you had somebody that Dustin from Austin? Yeah, right. Have you had somebody that's that's uh that been real has been real negative?

SPEAKER_08 30:26

Where does he live?

SPEAKER_06 30:27

We're toilet paper in his house for you. Dustin.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

He said he said at the very end, she seems nice though. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_09 30:37

He railed on me and just and then uh said, Oh, she seems nice though. But at first we were kind of offended because we were new to it, and and then we leaned into it. We did about a 10-minute segment where we talked about, you know, him living in his mom's basement and being afraid to start his own podcast, so he hates some podcasts. You know, we just made but have you had those experiences with the biggest.

SPEAKER_05 30:59

I will tell you the main thing at the very beginning was the sound. We could not get the sound correctly. We don't have a steam. We don't have a we didn't have your setup. We were doing it basically from the basement of our mom's house. No, don't but um our sound was off, and we got roasted by our husbands. They could not handle the sound because they had their You actually woke up next to the haters. Yeah, the haters live at our house. I know I told Shelly not to live in the comments. I was like, we're not gonna live in the comments. People can think what they like. Um if they don't want to listen, they can not listen.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

But you were learning. You know what? That's constructive feedback. That is. And so there had been times where Steve and I were like uh this was a couple of weeks ago, and quite honestly, I had just found out about Steve's heart surgery and my brother, he's my brother's ill, a lot going on. And I just wasn't, I wasn't into it that day. I just I really tried, I've walked around the building before. And I said, I just felt like I wasn't, I I felt like I didn't do a good job because no, you did a good job. But then there's been times where like he is he's given me constructive criticism. I've given him constructive criticism because I want to grow. I do for sure.

SPEAKER_05 32:13

We tell each other what we think. Yeah, yeah. Um, like I'll say, Shelly, I need to talk faster, or I need to stop snorting, or I need to stop interrupting, and then I'll put little sticky notes on my on my keyboard.

SPEAKER_07 32:24

When I say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 32:28

We did that early on. Yeah, the filler words, we were really we had to work really hard on the on cutting out the filler words. The uh um uh yeah, yeah, oh yeah. So I still do this, so but have you had somebody that's been a hater on you that you didn't know that just posted a really nasty comment?

SPEAKER_06 32:46

Oh, we're waiting for it. We're waiting. I'll be right back.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Okay, let me shoot. Jody speaks best words. What was the other one? Stop snorting. Stop snorting. Hey, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:57

Um I just I I think because I've heard so many people like on reality TV talk about how harsh it can be. I was like, I'm just not gonna feed into it.

SPEAKER_06 33:07

Yeah. And we're not really social media people. She's definitely not a social media person. And and so it's I I I don't know where we would find it.

SPEAKER_05 33:16

Well, also this we are not politics, I was gonna ask you about anything off off limits. Like, I mean, pretty much everything is on board. We will talk about pretty much anything, but um the politics, we feel like that's where the haters come out.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Well, I you know, you've listened long enough. You are absolute because let me tell you some of my haters in this talent.

SPEAKER_09 33:38

We're not we're not a political show by any means.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

But you know where I stand a little bit, do you know?

SPEAKER_09 33:43

We're open about who we are because we want our listeners. Prothically, but we're not, we're not, you know, hey, vote for this guy, blah, blah, blah. We don't do anything.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

They've tried to cancel me a couple of times, and I have just leaned into it. You know, you can call me whatever name you want, and I'm just you know what I love to do more than anything is when I see him out publicly, I will go over and hi, how are you doing? Because I know it just irks the shit out of me.

SPEAKER_09 34:05

You know what? The people that were hating on Michelle, we actually invited him on the show.

SPEAKER_06 34:09

Of course. Sit down. Come tell us, yeah, coach.

SPEAKER_09 34:13

Come talk to us. We if you'd look me in the eye, I bet we can find some things we have common ground about.

SPEAKER_04 34:18

Leave your cats at home, please. Yeah, yeah. Leave your cats. So you're like, Dustin, we can come to your basement. Yeah, Dustin. You know, Steve has actually asked me, he goes, Did you write that?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

And I go, I wouldn't give us two stars if I wrote it for sure. So you talked about the social media aspect of it. It's such a pain.

SPEAKER_09 34:36

So who does it? Are you both doing it together?

SPEAKER_05 34:40

She does it. But I have to tell you, it's really funny. As a teacher, I was not on social media because you don't want you really don't want to. And so I was like, when I came onto the podcast when we started it, Shelly was like, You're gonna have to get a Facebook. And I was like, Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Yeah, I do that to Steve. When I do stuff, I go, Steve, I just made you a collab. Get on your phone and collab right now. Yeah, accept it.

SPEAKER_09 35:09

I'll go. Do you remember my login? Because I'm brother. Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 35:14

Gosh, you guys are like, y'all are wins or Steve. Yin and yang, yin and yang. That's right. There you go. We could just like that's the perfect combo.

SPEAKER_06 35:24

The yin and yang. You have to have the opposite. She was like, I don't want to go on social media because what if I get a creeper? Like a stalker.

SPEAKER_09 35:32

Well, you probably will, Judy.

SPEAKER_05 35:34

You will get uh some people asking some weird questions. Or boom pictures which just talked about your books.

SPEAKER_08 35:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

You know, when we're out there socially, Steve Steve has perfected perfected the Irish goodbye. Like a lot of people. Where the hell did Steve go? And I'm like, oh, he had diarrhea. He had to get out of here really quick.

SPEAKER_05 35:59

Tell him out somehow.

SPEAKER_09 36:01

Thank you very much. I will put my drink down and I go, where's the restroom? And then that's it. I'm gone.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

There's same, same thing. But I'm the little butterfly, right? I'll go around and beep bop booping around and saying hi and doing whatever. But I think that that the yin and yang, I think that's what makes yeah, because who wants to be exactly the same? Because you then if you're bringing the same thing to the table over and over again, you don't really kind of grow. What is in store for you guys in the future? Well, besides getting paid.

SPEAKER_06 36:33

Getting paid would be great. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 36:36

How come you haven't how come uh sorry, but how come you haven't monetized it yet?

SPEAKER_06 36:41

Well, we have some monetization. Because everybody has a voice and we want to share it. I mean, that's how we're gonna do that. We're getting there. We're getting there.

SPEAKER_05 36:51

Uh we do have Patreon and we have some members that pay into Patreon and then our ballers. We do have sponsors, and usually they give us like a cut of if somebody uses our Shody Media or adjacent. Okay, so we get cuts that way. But it's just, you know, we need more.

SPEAKER_09 37:07

So it's a labor of love at this point.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

Well, yes, you are. Your time, treasure, and talent. You're you're spending that, you're sharing your gift with others, and therefore they need to share their wallet with you. So what's in the case?

SPEAKER_05 37:20

Join us on Patreon. Okay, so we have been collaborating with Moderna and different restaurants where we go in and we do their Tuesdays once a month where we pull in people to come and eat and have happy hours in a restaurant. A lot of uh business to them. And then we level. We are just gathering. Okay. Um but we have something really big coming up.

SPEAKER_06 37:43

Yes, and it's in y'all's backyard. And we want y'all to join. Oh, we'd love to. Please do. Um at on October 18th on a Sunday, we from 10 30 until 1 30, we are having adjacent podcast variety show where we have a comedian, we have a DJ, you're gonna be able to dance early in the morning. And at Buck's backyard.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Oh, at Buck and Steve can get in his Speedo, please.

SPEAKER_06 38:10

Oh, please. Let's do a cutout of Steve and a speedo so everybody can take pictures with that. Doing it. Doing it.

SPEAKER_09 38:20

Chat GPT, I can catch you in your speedo. As long as you get the speedo and the big new scar in my chest. I got a better idea.

SPEAKER_03 38:28

How about I get a cutout of just a speedo, and everybody can just do a Steve Speedo. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_08 38:35

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

There you go.

SPEAKER_09 38:36

I was making up a story somebody asked me the other day, and I was they were I was gonna tell them that my scar story is I I was I was walking out one day, and there was this guy mugging this person, and he had a knife, and I ran up and the guy stabbed me in the chest, but beat the hell out of the mugger. Too long.

SPEAKER_03 38:52

This story's too long. You gotta you gotta shorten it.

SPEAKER_09 38:55

Okay, I'll shorten it.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

It's like when people ask me about my neck, they were like, what happened to your neck? Because I had neck surgery years and years ago, and I said, Oh, I I just was talking too much, and they were like, shut the f and that was it.

SPEAKER_07 39:06

Like, oh there you go, mom.

SPEAKER_09 39:08

So the the get togethers you're doing, those are that's sort of swinging away from the podcast, right? That's the thing.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

Well, our whole thing is bringing people together. Okay. Just like you, y'all were talking about this in one of y'all's recent episode, and I loved it, where people are starting to come together and have good conversations. And and that's really what this is all about for us is bringing people together. And it used to happen at the tavern. Everybody would come and have those great. Because there was an AC there.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Yeah, there was an AC. There was AC, AC first A C. Um, do you feel like that just by accident you're connectors? You're not dividers, and in the world right now is by accident. Well, people, people, the media, social media, the media, social media, just nutjobs out there. They just want all of us just fighting and dividing. And you're not sure.

SPEAKER_05 39:59

We talked about this recently, how everybody's algorithm is to them. So then you don't understand other people's point of view. Yeah. Because you're not seeing the other side. Yes. You're only seeing your algorithm. It's feeding you.

SPEAKER_09 40:11

Yeah. That's it is a problem right now. Yeah, you don't hear anybody else's point of view. That's why we like doing this. I have sat in this room with other people that have completely different political views, lifestyle views, and and found places where we all went, yeah, that's right. That's right. That's what I'm talking about. That's that you that I don't think there's many places you can get this anymore.

SPEAKER_06 40:33

Agreed. Agreed. I think it's a treasure.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Well, I want to talk to you.

SPEAKER_06 40:37

And we are connectors. That's the one. That is our whole thing, our like little group we call adjacent connectors.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

That's our well I'm what I want to talk to you about right now is about your son. Okay. And you are in a very small circle of parents, and you want to talk about being connectors. If you want to mention that, I mean, if you're okay talking about it, your son has autism. He does. And um Steve.

SPEAKER_09 41:04

How old is he?

SPEAKER_03 41:05

He is 26. Oh.

SPEAKER_09 41:08

Very close to the age of my son. Oh, Tyler.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Yeah. And so you mentioned that he runs 10 miles a day. Walks 10 miles. Walks 10 miles a day.

SPEAKER_06 41:17

So tell me about that journey.

SPEAKER_09 41:19

Is he?

SPEAKER_06 41:19

Yeah, he's so fast. That's why we do the great outdoors, is because we're outside all the time. Uh his he was diagnosed very, well, this is a sister story. Uh Jody, uh, I would call her every day and report what was going on in his life. Yeah. And and she goes, I think he has autism. And I was like, What? And he was nine months old. Really? Because he was hyperlexic and then he lost his language.

SPEAKER_05 41:46

And that's usually the first sign.

SPEAKER_09 41:48

What's hyperlexic?

SPEAKER_05 41:50

When you he was saying God.

SPEAKER_06 41:52

He was saying Aunt Tristan. At nine months. Yes. Wow.

SPEAKER_09 41:58

But then he lost that ability.

SPEAKER_06 42:00

He lost his language. Yeah. And so I'd call her every day and go, and she's she was a special ed teacher for 30 years and working with you know people with autism. And I would call her every day and go, this, this, this, and she goes, You need to get him diagnosed. And we lived in Georgia at the time, and he was quickly diagnosed and received services. And then I was like, life started lifetime support. What is his lifetime support gonna be? I have to move back to Austin because it's gonna be her.

SPEAKER_05 42:29

And so um and I don't play as big a role in uh his, but we support each other. So that's how she's getting.

SPEAKER_09 42:37

Did he graduate from high school?

SPEAKER_06 42:38

Uh I mean he finished school. That's what yeah, Tyler did as well. Uh huh. He finished school and then he the 18 plus. How old is your son?

SPEAKER_09 42:48

He's 27. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 42:50

And where is he?

SPEAKER_09 42:51

He's in he lives in Bassdrop with his mom. Okay. I don't get to see him as often as I'd like. But he he graduated from Dripping Springs High School. What does your son get out of the 10-mile walk every day? What is that? Self-regulation. Is it self-regulation? Yeah. So that's he signed he finds his peace right there and does he is he still nonverbal?

SPEAKER_06 43:14

No, he can tell you what he wants and needs, but not conversational.

SPEAKER_03 43:20

So what about when he was younger? Did you have any scary moments about him just kind of disappearing and and he's a cling-on.

SPEAKER_06 43:28

He's a cling-on to me.

SPEAKER_05 43:29

When he would climb things.

SPEAKER_06 43:31

Oh, but he we would find him like I don't know how he got up there. Like he would be sitting like a big thing. Yeah, it was like, how did he even how did he get there? Yes. And windowsills. We lived in a two story house in South Austin. And at one time he tried to uh recreate Monsters Incorporated when they're swinging on, but he was swinging outside the window of the second story. Goodness gracious. And it was a straight drop. Oh my goodness. And we were like, we're buying another house. We cannot live here. I get one story. You know, we can't you can't lock the windows and stuff like that. And so we secured it until we found another house. And we'll always live in a one-story home with him.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

What do you see his future looking like down the road? Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Well, I'm gonna tell you, Shelly and Adrienne are dreams. They are amazing advocates for their son.

SPEAKER_09 44:25

You have to be, huh? Yeah. You have to be a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 44:27

It's a full time to have a real team.

SPEAKER_06 44:29

That's my other job. Yeah. Also unpaid.

SPEAKER_09 44:33

Right? But paid in other ways. Paid in other ways. Paid in other ways. That's the pot of gold right there.

SPEAKER_05 44:38

Coulter really likes to live independently, so he does have a house that he lives in, but they people stay with him throughout his time. But I think probably eventually. What are you thinking for Coulter? Who knows? Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 44:52

Coulter, that's a great name. In the bio, uh, Jody, there was it says, What keeps you awake at night? And it says Jody Survivor's Guilt. Yeah. What is that?

SPEAKER_07 45:04

Did I write that or didn't she write it? I wrote it on your behalf.

SPEAKER_09 45:08

I know what survivor's guilt is, but why why is that written?

SPEAKER_05 45:11

She wrote your bio for you, Jody. Okay. Well, I don't know if that keeps me awake at night as much. But when I stopped teaching, I was teaching in a behavior unit at Silkir Elementary. Um, and those are kids, they can be on the spectrum. Uh they have multed, you know, just different abilities, but a lot of them had behaviors that were sometimes extremely violent. Yeah. And so when I left after 30 years of teaching, um I felt horrible leaving my team because we were a family. So it was very difficult to leave that. So I did have survival survivor guilt, but now I feel like things are moving in the direction that they need to go, and those kids are doing great, and everybody's thriving. So my survivor guilt. Sometimes you just need to get out of the way and let somebody else. It was time. My time had been, you know, exhausted. You know, teaching had been changing, and I am a little bit of a Luddite. Technology.

SPEAKER_09 46:09

That's the Hades. Social media. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

My least favorite.

SPEAKER_09 46:14

Did you was it at AISD that you taught for that? Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_05 46:17

I taught for 30 years. I also, Shelley and I are graduates of AISD school. Yeah. And we went to Johnston back in the day. Like we were blessed to start at the HI and we loved it. We had a great time. Yeah. And when I went to UT, she went to Texas State and Southwest.

SPEAKER_03 46:32

Yeah, Southwest, actually. Yeah, for sure. So do you feel like the teaching profession has really changed since when you first got in, as far as you know, is it the parents or the students or the administration? What has changed the most?

SPEAKER_05 46:46

I I think it's just the movement of like you have to work uh so smartly in that job. And it moves really rapidly, and it's just it's a lot to keep up with. But I the educators that I still keep up with are incredible humans. They are givers and they work themselves. Well, they're not doing it for the money. Definitely not.

SPEAKER_09 47:10

But you were in the special needs. Were you in special needs your whole 30 years?

SPEAKER_05 47:14

Uh well, basically. I taught uh my degrees in SPED and then um I taught inclusion classrooms where a majority of the kids in there would have special needs. But when I moved after, I think for twelve years before I retired, I moved into the behavior unit and finished up my career there.

SPEAKER_09 47:29

Was that a rewarding thing? I loved it so much.

SPEAKER_05 47:32

It was like my favorite job I've ever done. But it was the hardest for sure.

SPEAKER_09 47:34

Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Oh, it was so awkward. You can't go to work any day not feel 100% like you've got to get it. Yeah, you have to bring it every day.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Just like y'all do with your podcast.

SPEAKER_09 47:44

Yeah. I want to circle back to the the Shody Media and ask you. Uh you probably get approached by people all the time. They say, I want to start a podcast. What do you think stops most people? You think that's what it is?

SPEAKER_06 47:58

It needs to be perfect. Yeah. It needs to be perfect sound. And it needs to be the perfect guess. They don't want to have the perfect subject. The perfect subject. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:08

The perfect intro. But that's what they want. I think I think listeners want that kind of raw. They do have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_09 48:15

I actually think if it sounds too scripted, too perfect, that turns people off. We uh we get people ask us all the time, and uh they you know give what kind of equipment? What should I buy? You know, when should I start? What should I do? I go, I uh just get a mic and start doing it tomorrow. Figure it out.

SPEAKER_06 48:35

That's how we were. We were like, start it, like pin me out loud, right there. I mean, we had one conversation with her and we were like, you need a podcast. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 48:44

Um most of those people have they are they're passionate about something and they just want to speak about it? Is that what's the motive?

SPEAKER_05 48:53

I would say um most of them are either passionate about sports or sharing things that they love.

SPEAKER_03 48:59

Sharing their stories, or it's there's a niche and genre for kind of everybody. You know, like everybody can kind of find their little their their little thing that they want to talk about that they're good to talk about.

SPEAKER_09 49:11

Is there a podcast called Michelle Likes to Talk Shit? There should be.

SPEAKER_03 49:17

It's actually called Corner Crazy. So that's well, that's in the works. That's in the works. It's been it's been kind of crazy. It's been uh Rita Balou and I have uh um kicked around the idea of uh Rita Balloo and Mama Lou because I'm Mama Lewis. And so we've we've thought about it, but gosh, that girl is on so many shows and she records so much. Oh yeah. Um so yeah, it's just it's finding the time, and that's the thing. It's like it is a labor of love. And you know, Steve and I, we talk about this. We have an actual job that we do from you know Monday through Friday, even if podcast is when we have our guest on, that is our priority. But if, you know, in the middle of recording a podcast, we have a fire we have to put out for real estate, that is that is what pays the bills. That's what our passion is, and that's what that's what we take care of.

SPEAKER_09 50:16

Same. How many people have you helped get started and they do 10, 12, 15 episodes and then they go, yeah, it's just not working out.

SPEAKER_05 50:26

Well, I think right now, like most of them made it through a year.

SPEAKER_09 50:31

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_06 50:31

And then we had we had two that only did less.

SPEAKER_09 50:35

Why do you think they stopped?

SPEAKER_05 50:36

Perfectionism. Yeah. And then also, I think when they were trying to coordinate with an ensemble, it was harder. If you're recording, like trying to get interviews, that's very challenging. Yeah. But if you have more than one host, that can be really challenging.

SPEAKER_03 50:50

Well, if the chemistry's not right, right? If you're not working on the chemistry. We um I don't know if you I guess you listened to it this morning, the one that we released today. Yeah, it was wonderful. Um we were talking about Thank you. We were talking about how where we rank as far as in podcasts. Yes, I love it. You said it so well. Thank you. Congratulations. Very well. But you know, it it did surprise me that it is the consistency and the perfectionism that gets most people. It's that stepping stone. And if we had to go back and listen to the first fist 15 episodes or so again, right? And we would say, okay, if that was our metric for continuing to do this for five years, we probably wouldn't have done it. And so I really just stopped listening at the beginning. I had to stop listening to myself because it's like, okay, I'm passionate about this. There's so many people. We were coming right off the tail end of COVID. People were hungry for conversations, they were hungry for community, they were hungry for fellowship.

SPEAKER_09 51:48

And oh You know what? We we had one of those moments where we were like, God, why are we doing this? And then it hit me one day in one of our episodes. Early on, we weren't getting, you know, we'd get like 500 people would listen. And I'd be like, Michelle, where else could I stand up in front, or we stand up in front of 500 people and talk for an hour and have them pay attention to us?

SPEAKER_03 52:12

Every week. Every week where you're standing up, and now you look at our metrics and you're looking at them, it's like grow, grow, grow. And I'm like, you know, the guy from Bangladesh must really like me because he listens every week.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

Well, and if y'all have anybody that's listening from Antarctica, can y'all please listen to Jason? Antarctica.

SPEAKER_03 52:33

Yeah, if y'all know anybody in Antarctica. Antarctica, Antarctica, because then the SEO will pick it up. Antarctica, Antarctica. Antarctica, Antarctica.

SPEAKER_09 52:40

Are you ever gonna you uh do video? Have you been talking about doing video?

SPEAKER_06 52:44

We do some video, um, stream yardage video, and we are yeah, we put those out, but that's not at this level for sure.

SPEAKER_05 52:52

We're not video. We are definitely email faces and uh stop. Stop. Stop for sure.

SPEAKER_09 53:00

We don't get a whole lot of traffic on our YouTube, but we do have some people, they listen every year. Yeah. So it's I'm especially the elderly.

SPEAKER_06 53:09

I think it's easier for them to use YouTube first.

SPEAKER_03 53:12

Well, that's why we have our website. So when you go to our website, so like we always say, you know, if if your mother or grandmother wants to listen, we have all of our episodes on our website. But then, you know, sometimes the Apple, Spotify, all what was it, Stitcher when we first started. And you're like, they don't they don't understand all of that. We're like, just send them to the website, they can they can attach that one episode. And so what I was talking about earlier is the numbers game, right? And if you get caught up in the numbers, like, oh my gosh, this one, so many people listened, and this one, not a lot of people listen. But what we've discovered about our podcast is that people will go back, if they listen to one, then they'll start to go back and then pay attention to like, oh, I really like it.

SPEAKER_09 54:00

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_06 54:01

I'm I'm glad you brought up the analytics. Excuse me. No, no, go. Uh have you noticed how everything's so manipulated?

SPEAKER_08 54:10

Oh, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

And and what I was saying about uh Reddit and these message boards is they're saying the numbers are skewed. Don't get don't get hung up on them because you're like, wait a minute. I know when people come see us, I know that so and so and so-and-so and so-and-so, you know, uh the this episode was very widely listened to. And then you'll look at one of the analytics and you're like, this doesn't this doesn't make sense. But then weeks later, it's almost like it catches up. It catches up. But I I don't know what it just depends on the hosting that far.

SPEAKER_09 54:42

It's been a big change for us. I actually started I stopped watching the numbers years ago because I want to focus on doing the best possible podcast. I want to make the audio right and I want to make the content right and the video right. And you know what? If 500 people listen, okay. That's it. But then when you're I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_03 55:00

When you're trying to attract advertisers, right, with the very beginning, you know, you're you want to be um as transparent as you can be, right? But now we have people that we're turning away as advertisers because tell them to call us. Yeah, I will.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

Well, when they draw by the low, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 55:20

Well, you probably have experienced this. Uh when you give a recommendation to somebody, it's just like your friend texted you and said, Hey, I guess you know, I need a roof or who should I talk to? Agree.

SPEAKER_06 55:31

It's and speaking of that, can do you have a picture of Hunter? Because you said he's gonna bucking.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

Okay, we're gonna we're gonna pull up Hunter. I think Hunter's in there.

SPEAKER_09 55:43

Hunter has a girlfriend, though. I know, but Hunter has a girlfriend. There's Hunter right there.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Hunter's the sweetest guy. He's helping me navigate the VA grant system, which is an absolute effing nightmare.

SPEAKER_06 55:56

Oh, we know all about VA. Oh, it's so much fun. My husband's a veteran. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Yeah, yeah, it's it's been a fun time.

SPEAKER_09 56:05

It is not uh the best example of how our government works well.

SPEAKER_03 56:09

I am going this Friday to the VA to, okay, so we we asked for a power scooter or some sort of power mobile. And so I'm going to the VA Friday in Temple, Texas, because they have to show him how to operate it.

SPEAKER_06 56:26

Okay, well, if you can't get up there, we uh work with an organization called CPath. Oh. And they have an equipment closet. And if you need equipment for somebody that has mobility issues, please. Oh, that's wonderful. We just had the director on our podcast, Noble Craig, how can people find out about that? CPathTexas.org. Yes. And um it's you know, they do so much for people living with cerebral palsy. I'm on the board. Oh wow. Um reach out to us for sure, and we're glad to share it. And and I'll I'll send you the video. Oh, that would be wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 57:00

Yeah, well, we'll let you know Friday if I drive my car through the uh Temple VA, you'll you'll see it. You'll see me on the news or I'll be killing you.

SPEAKER_09 57:10

Jody, I'm gonna put you on the spot. Um Jelly's. Oh yeah, Jody says that you have a beautiful singing voice and you can't. Oh my goodness, you can whistle.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

And you can whistle and you can sing.

SPEAKER_09 57:20

So come on.

SPEAKER_05 57:21

I love it all. I love it. Because one time I did it at church and it sounded like you were beatboxing. Also, when you're smiling, I cannot whistle.

SPEAKER_09 57:33

Give us a whistle. Just look the other way. We'll all frown at you for a minute, you're like, I can't.

SPEAKER_06 57:41

Jody has a Jody has a beautiful voice and can whistle. I'll send you a video.

SPEAKER_05 57:45

She did a whole thing, like, guess this song. Yeah. And it I just whistled the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 57:50

I was driving and I was like, and it was Ella Lingley. It was so good. And she won't do it on the mic. And I have, I'm tone deaf, I have hearing aids, I have a horrible, you know, articulation and crap. And I'm just like, I'll sing it.

SPEAKER_08 58:06

She sings it all the time.

SPEAKER_06 58:08

And she's like, stop it.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

The cats are meowing all the time.

SPEAKER_03 58:14

Are you guys each other's biggest fans? Yes.

SPEAKER_08 58:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 58:20

For sure. I know you get to watch it with your wife. I'm so excited. We we want to interview them. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:27

That would be fun. Sister love is the ball.

SPEAKER_09 58:30

That would be fun. I would love that. Yeah. They're so good.

SPEAKER_03 58:33

And they're redheads. Ooh, Jenny. So a fun fact, a really like obscure fun fact. I mean, are you a redhead? I I'm I'm redhead adjacent. I like it. My my brother dated for a hot minute. Casey. Casey. No, one of the sisters. Brandy. Brandy. There's more sisters. Yeah, there's four. There's five sisters. Back back in corpus. They went to the same high school. I'm older than Holly, but the and I think my brother, I guess they went to the school at the same time. Corpus? I'm Krapis Christie. Okay. The Bay. The Bay. Well, I'm actually uh Wedita Barbie. I'm from down from the valley. Okay. Nice. Yeah, Wedita Bar. I just kept going up 281. So it's like Weslico, Harlingen, then I went to Corpus and then San Antonio and now Dripping Freeze. The drip. Okay, can we talk about Pound Town? Oh my gosh. Isn't that hilarious? We had so much fun when that one went around. The Pound Town. So it all started on social media where when that all happened, the Pound Town. And uh yeah, oh you would have the Karen's and the Nilly Willies on so we have some are they taken too seriously. We have something called the Dripping Springs neighbors. And if you've lived in Dripping Springs long enough, it is the next door like uh mega mega site where they're gonna post your license plate or they're gonna think I hate.

SPEAKER_09 59:56

Oh yeah, and there's half a dozen people on there that watch they watch for posts and they go, Oh, I can get something going here, and they'll say something real, you know, out there and people start, oh, that's just crazy. What are you thinking?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

But Amanda Anderson, she is the one that started it, gosh, eight, nine years ago, maybe even longer. I gosh, I can't even remember how long ago. And we had her on the podcast very, very early on, and obviously social no, gosh, it must have been longer because I've been with you almost 13 years, right? 12, 13 years. So it was right around that time. Um, I think that's where I have my own shit. Steve says, but she said that the original intent wasn't where it has been, and that she has had to police this thing over and over again. And people get pissed off at her because people will post things that she has nothing to do with. And so I'm sure it's frustrating, but she has offered a service, you know. My one of my favorite is you can almost clockwork. There, the favorite ones are the rain and people cannot drive when school starts, and then when poop in the park, but yeah, when it's when it's uh freezing outside and everybody waiting for because dripping springs is notorious the last school district to say when they're yeah, to shut down or delay school, and it'll just be post after post after post. I'm like, dude, you know, you'll know if school is closed. But we have some pretty amazing people in our community. Do you have a a guest or an episode that really kind of stands out that touches your heart?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:35

There's so many, but um I guess well, one thing that we've really opened up is having people with special needs on our podcast. Yes, and people living with autism um in their wheelchairs, or we have people like M with MS, and so those have been really incredible. C P M S A A U.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Y'all should listen to his sister's podcast. She has MS.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:59

Very advanced MS. She lives in California, but she called in. It's it was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:05

And she's she's uh quadruplegic quadriplegic. And so, but listening to her and her story, she's the happiest person. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:13

Like the happiest person you have ever talked to. That's so incredible. Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:19

So I've enjoyed those, but my favorite was Travis uh Roselle. He was he's 95. Oh. And he was here before I-35 was built.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:29

Oh, goodness gracious, really. And we have this group that we call um a beautiful life. Yes. And it's older or at the end of their lives. And we had a dear friend that passed away with brain cancer. Right. And we had uh the opportunity to speak to him before he lost his communication. And so it's like this beautiful love letter to his family.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:52

Well, that's the thing, is that people I've I have often said that as you know, sitting across from people and saying, Okay, this is your this is your time, this is your story for asking the questions.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:04

This is gonna be on the internet, your kids, your grandkids. Yeah, this it can be special to people.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:09

It's such a gift. It is a gift. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:12

Yeah, we love those. Those those are very touching to us.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:14

We interviewed um Jody's mother-in-law um before her dementia. Yeah, her dementia's pretty it's taking over, so it's advanced.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:21

But um, she was able to speak about it. And play the piano and everything, and we were able to record that quality auto is another great buttons. But we were learning.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:29

You know, exactly, but it's still, I mean, imagine back in the day when you'd have a little cassette table.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:34

Play and record and hit it out. What about what about dream guests? Like somebody that you can. Adam Sandler.

unknown 1:03:41

Who?

SPEAKER_09 1:03:42

Adam Sandler? That's on her bucket list. Oh, Adam Sandler.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:45

That's on her, what is it called? Your laminated list? He's on my laminated list from the list.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:49

Who else is on the laminated list?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:50

I think that's the top guy. Yeah. She just likes people that's like.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:53

Teddy Swim.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:54

Yeah, he's very tough.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:55

Teddy Swim? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:56

He's a musician. Yeah, I know who he is. Yeah. I I got I got a smoking hot deal on tickets before he blew up, and then I was like, I could sell these for so much money. And I didn't know.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:06

I snuck into a Stubbs concert. Oh.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:10

Shelley loves straight. I did too. That was Michelle. You guys are so alike. I I asked Michelle Mondays, I'll go, what did you do, Sweet? Oh, I snuck into a concert. Oh, I snuck up into the George Strait box party. Like, hey, you just I snuck into the Ducati party at the F1 thing and she would she's talking to this. Same girl. And then she looks him up later. It's the CEO of Ducati party that she's talking to.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

It's like, hi, hi, uh, it's me again. Yeah, that's uh why not? Why not? You know what? The answer is always no unless you sneak in.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:48

And we're a generation of women that nobody sees us anymore, so it's a perfect time to sneak in. I'm invisible. I'm invisible. You don't even see me here. I'm not here.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

These are not the joystick wearing my clothes. Uh I'm sitting there and I was talking to the band members that were that opened for her, and we're just having a good time. And and he goes, Okay, wait a minute. What was your name, Michelle? And I go, No, it's Boseepus. And he goes, I'm gonna remember that. And so then every time I'd walk by, he's like, Boseepus. Because if I tell him my name is Michelle, you know, like, that's boring, right? Like, okay, Bosefus. Nice. Be memorable. Be memorable. There you go.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:29

There's the there is the title of your memory. No, that's yours. Memorable Michelle. Everybody remembers. Everybody call in with your favorite story of Michelle. That's right. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:40

That would be, we'd have to have the expletive on that.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:43

You can text Steve at 512. I do that to her all the time.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:49

Um send your um dick pics to 512413.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:55

Send your dick pics to 512 67. Jeez.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:01

Wow. I know, huh? I know. It's so good.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:06

Maybe you and I could have a podcast together. You and China.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:09

Sorry, sorry, bye, bye, bye.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:20

I think we should try and do this again. I agree. No, we are going to bring y'all up north.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:26

We're going to bring y'all north of the river. We would love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:29

We would love that. Thank you guys so much for sharing your gift with us, sharing your gift with Austin and worldwide, except Antarctica. Damn you, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:39

We're going to get there.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:40

We're going to get there.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:40

Maybe we'll get there.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:41

We're going to just put it all over our algorithm and hopefully that that we get somebody else.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:46

Somebody said you just get one scientist that's doing weather up there, and then you'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:50

You need to just figure out an email list and send them all to the scientists down there. Well, you two are a gem. Thank you. Oh, it's amazing. It's been so fun. And you know, sometimes we're in here just slugging away at this, and it's a it's a thankless job. But it's nice to see that there's other people doing it, putting in the work, and you two definitely are. You put in the work. And we can tell you love it. You enjoy it. Yeah, we love doing it.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:14

It's super fun. We would be doing it with or without a mic.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:17

You know what? That's how we started. We would sit in the like Monday mornings, we would sit in here and just talk for like 45 minutes about things that were happening in the media. And I'm like, there's a podcast right there.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:29

Christine's like, I'm freaking paying you for this. Let's get a microphone. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:35

When we first came up, she goes, Are we doing a real estate show? I said, How boring. I don't want to do a real estate show. That's what I said too.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:40

Who wants to listen to a real estate show? That's stupid.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:43

No, but but do call us if you need to if you have a transaction that you need to.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:47

Hey, we'll just build a referral partnership.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:50

You'll be our north side, we'll be your SAS side. Yeah, we don't go down to Poundtown. You'll have to talk. We are West of Weird, Shelley. West of Weird.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:03

Well, you two are wonderful, and we really appreciate you both spending.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:06

Well, thank y'all. You're amazing. Thank you. Texas, Texas Yeeha.

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This show is brought to you in part by the Mallet Integrity Team. Serving Dripping Springs, Austin, and the surrounding areas of Central Texas since 2004. When you need the best real estate advice and service, give them a call at 512-829-2062. Or email them at malletintegrity team.com. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:21

And we're back, man. They were a lot of fun. Shelley and Jody from the adjacent podcast. Wow. They have they're it's funny to me. They are exactly like you and me. Jody's me and Shelly's you.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:34

Yes, we're we're all sisters. We should go on the road together.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:37

I'm not a sister.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:38

You are. You're a sister from another mister.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:40

I'm the uh stepbrother or something. I don't know what.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:43

Your step no, you're a sister now. We've you were indoctrinated into the sisterhood of it.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:48

No, no, no, no. But it was fun. They are really, really good at what they do, and uh they are all about community, which is what you and I are all about. Bringing people together, hearing people's stories. That's exactly what they are. And so I think you'll he'll hear more about them in the future from us.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:04

I think so as well. I think we're doing a collab in um October or so for sure. Hey, I am a big supporter of the Hayes Caldwell Women's Center, um, which talks about um or or supports domestic violence. Um victims. Victims.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:21

Not not supports domestic.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:22

Not supports the supporting it's not supporting the actual domestic yeah, it's a training center.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:30

It's a training center for it's like fight club.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:32

Oh my goodness. It's fight club in Hayes in Caldwell County. No, um, and they just had a big back to school drive, but they they sent me an email and I thought that this was wonderful that because of everybody's support with the Hayes Caldwell, Caldwell Women's Center, they were able to send 75 children back to school with new school clothes, backpacks, and school supplies. And these children were able to face the first week of school with a little more confidence because of your help. I think that's wonderful. You know, you give in your own backyard. I love giving abroad and you know, around the United States, but there is something tried and true.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:09

I'm gonna agree, disagree with you a little bit. I you know what? I don't like the idea of sending money to another country, even though they need it just as much as us when there is so much need right here, right in Austin, right in Hayes County, right in Dripping Springs. There are people What did you disagree with? That uh sending the money to like Salvation Army. Oh, I thought you were saying you are all about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:32

No, no, no. I said I I'm I'm all about spending it in the back of it. You know, even um on my Sunday service, Pastor Clay Barton of the First Baptist Church, he talked about the same thing. He said, for a moment, he said, do not think about what's going on worldview, state view outside. He goes, let's think about what's going on right inside of Dripping Springs in Hayes County, and we have a lot of hungry candidates.

SPEAKER_09 1:12:58

Within a mile of where we sit right now in this studio, there are people living in abject poverty right here in Dripping Springs. And you don't have to drive very far off 12 or 290 to see it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:09

And you don't have to donate to Hayes Um Caldwell Women's Center, which I do. I give I give a monthly donation. So honestly, I it's it's an automatic donation. I barely even think about it in that sense until they they send me an update. But we have places right here in Dripping Springs Helping Hands and Foster Village and everything else you can get.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:39

Wow. Community on purpose. They got a new logo. The name's changing, but the mission is actually gonna be the same. Springs of Hope will continue serving students, families, dripping springs ISD employees, and neighbors throughout our community. They've done a lot of work. They started with Tiger Santa. I think that was what got them uh off the ground.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:59

I I would wrap many a presence around December.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:02

Yeah, the rebrand isn't about becoming a different organization. It's about choosing a name that better reflects the organization's expanded impact and future vision. And they are in in uh they're in preparation for an annual online silent auction September 29th through October 4th. I imagine if you do Springs of Hope uh search on Google, they will pop right right up. Springs of Hope Tripping Springs, uh starting uh August 25th.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:32

And one of our friends who we've known for a long time, fellow real estate agent, um Lisa Little, is heads this up.

SPEAKER_09 1:14:39

And I know Dean Dana um are very And Martin Garza, who's uh has been a guest on the show. They're all very involved. This is one of those organizations that does so much in the background of our community. They're not out there tootin their own horn all the time. They just go take care of people, and that's what we need.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:57

So that's what you need to do. This what are we we're gonna about to go into Q4, aren't we? Or September. Oh no, almost. Almost. But uh, okay, so this this story may be a little inappropriate considering what we just talked about. But you know when you were a kid and you'd go to somebody's house and you're like, oh, they're rich. Yeah right? Oh, they're they're they're rich or they they got money. Well, I thought it would be fun.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:22

Green shaggy.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:23

Green shag avocado refrigerator matching dishwasher. Yeah, yeah. I actually had that when we were a kid. But I thought it would be fun to go through like kind of little list of things you thought were rich were when you were a kid, because right now we take so much for granted and how privileged we are. Okay, so one of the things was stairs. If you lived in a two-story home.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:46

Oh, I never thought of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:47

Ooh, you were hot on the hobby. How about a pool? Obviously, that's kind of the standard.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:56

Yeah, you were like the 1% if you had a pool.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:58

Yeah, well, now I'm gonna get now I'm gonna get a little personal. How about name brand cereal? Because real honey nut Cheerios or real Lucky Charms instead of the generic or like the stuff that came in the bag. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:10

Oh, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:11

Yeah. Well, my kids would eat like a box of cereal a day. And so what I ended up doing, and they were like, oh, I don't want to eat bag cereal. So I would buy the rubber maid and pour it in there.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:22

Oh, what I did was uh I stick it in the bag. They would have a lucky like Lucky Charms, and I would go buy the bag cereal and pour it in the bag of the lucky charms.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:30

Go, hey, we've got lucky charms. They didn't know there's a lot of it. It was called Lucky Harms.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:36

No false food dyes in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:37

How about a fridge with an ice maker? Oh, good. Think about that. How like remember you used to have to fill the ice, the little ice trays up and you'd break them and then God bless you if you were the last one.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:47

Anybody under 40 probably doesn't even know what that is. The little aluminum trays.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:51

The aluminum ones and how about this this one always got for me. You remember the international, oop, the international coffees that came in the cans with the different flavors.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:03

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:04

I always thought that is before Starbucks, before Summer Moon, before all of that. That was that was something special. The other one was having two phone lines. So if somebody had two fine lines, I had my own phone line because when I was in high school, my boyfriend joined the army and he went away to Korea. And my stepfather said if I wanted to talk to him, I had to get my own phone. Oh shit. And I did. But the how about cable with every movie channel? And I'm talking HBO Showtime. And you ready for this? Cinemax. Cinemax.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:36

Oh yeah, it's funny because I was living overseas and I remember this kid, he moved from the States, it was in Spain, and he said, Yeah, there's this new thing in the States. So they have this like tube, it comes into your house, and you can get like 12 channels of TV. And I was like, whoa, blew my mind.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:52

Well, then along that, along with that came the remote with all the buttons. Now the older I've gotten, I want a remote with three four buttons. That's it. Channel up and down, volume up and down, on off.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:03

That's it. All I want.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:03

Well, and now that school just started, I'm sure kids can still relate. And I don't know if this is still popular. The 64 box of Crayola with the built-in shape.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:16

Not not the what did they call them? Not the Dollar General.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:19

Yeah, not the Dollar General one. Okay, here was another one. Tang. Because I mean, come on, astronauts drank it, right? That was pretty good. A station wagon with faux wood paneling. That was okay. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:32

Yeah. People are buying those and doing resto mods on them now. You know, putting like great big powerful engines in them. Those things are hideous.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:41

Oh, they are hideous. Well, you want to know about how blessed we are. This was something bougie back then. Taking an airplane for vacation.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:51

It's true.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:52

And you would dress to the nine, not in your jammies, no.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:55

Yeah, no. You would show up, men would have a suit and a tie, ladies would wear a dress, maybe a hat. And you were it was like big time. You were fancy.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:04

Um the other one, eight-track or cassette player in your car. Not in your home, but in your car. And then we had uh a CB radio breaker breaker. 1990. And it look, it was shaped like a phone. My mom got one like a yeah, that was pretty cool. Um I don't know if you knew what this was because you lived in Spain and you're a little bit like maybe 40 years older than me. An Atari 2600.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:28

I do remember those. I had one of the original Atari 64 computers. Maybe that's and you just I you couldn't really do much on it, but I had one. One nerdy kid on our in our 85.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:39

In my little circle had one, and we were all friends with that little nerdy nerd.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:43

You just went over and played Pong.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:45

Donkey Kong or whatever it was. How about a push-button telephone? Can you remember when you first got a push-button telephone?

SPEAKER_09 1:19:51

I remember, yeah. I was living in my apartment in Homestead, Florida, and I went down to Southwestern Bell and got my first phone. It was like we had to get our phones. Yeah, you had to go down to the store, and then they would, I guess I don't remember how assign a phone to you. And then when you were there to get your phone, they would go, okay, call this number, and they'll set up your service. While you were in the store, you called on one of their phones.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:12

Oh, I forgot that you'd have to go. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:15

How about cuckoo clocks? I remember being a kid and going to somebody's house that had a cuckoo clock, and I'm like, whoa, they got a lot of money with a cuckoo cuckoo.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:24

I have I have a cuckoo clock right now. It's inherited from my grandmother, and it's sitting. My brother goes, Let's hang it up. And I remember when I was a kid, I hated that thing. And it's from um it's from Germany or Amsterdam. I can't remember. Maybe from Germany. It's from right around there. And like the little people kind of move around. Um Sears catalog, not only just having a Sears catalog, but being able to go through and you'd like flag it or turn the pages and and you'd actually get something from the Sears catalog.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:54

When we lived overseas, the Sears catalog would come and I would have to tell my folks what I wanted for Christmas in like September so that they could order the Sears because it would come, you know, APO, FPO, and uh it would take a month and a half, two months to get to Spain. But so they'd have it ready for Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:12

I ordered Logan, who is my oldest, 30 years old, I ordered his crib bumper, quilt, sheets, everything from the Sears catalog. I found that they were had an old Sears catalog.

SPEAKER_09 1:21:24

That's sad because I used to love that. You you know, after about a month, you'd come home every day. Hey, did that Sears package come in? You know, you I I ordered uh Minnesota Vikings poncho, this plastic poncho, purple poncho. Why the Minnesota Vikings? I was a Minnesota Vikings fan. I have no idea why, but I was, and you know, it was like three dollars or something back then. But when I just waited for it to come in, waited for it to come in. The first day I probably I wore it to school, it wasn't raining or anything. I just wanted to wear that poncho. But that feeling of anticipation is really cool. We don't have that now. You order it and 27 minutes later it shows up on your front porch of Amazon.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:01

You were waiting for your Ovaltine decoder. Now, this was the one thing, the last thing that I always thought, I always wanted, I never got it. I got knockoffs, and I gave my daughter, and I'm sure I will give my granddaughter one of these, which is the Barbie Dream House. The absolute Barbie dream house had a little elevator in it and everything else. I made everything else Barbie dream. Well, it was like Barbie ghetto land, I guess where my Barbies lived, because I had shoe boxes and whatever else. But so the the boy equivalent was the G.I. Joe headquarters.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:34

Oh, see. Now I remember the G.I. Joe. It was the uh what do they call it? The commando, the G.I. Joe commando. It had this little inflatable boat, and he got like a machine gun and a little little stocking cap. And I that was my I I actually think I still have it somewhere in a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:52

Is that why they called you Speedo Steve? Because you wanted to be G.I. Joe commando.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:56

What about wet bars? Remember you go into somebody's house and they'd have a wet bar with a couple of bottles of some kind of scotch or something there. Interesting, yeah. Yeah, and have a mirror behind it and a couple of glasses up there, like, whoa, they're rich.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:09

When I went to elementary school down in the valley, um, my entire elementary school never even had AC. And so we had the and I lived in the valley.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:18

So it was like we survived these days.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:20

They are soft kids these days. Like, what is it, the USS Lincoln, they're all bitching and moaning that I haven't been home in nine months.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:29

I haven't been home in nine months. And I lived 20 minutes from home. Not even that, two minutes from home.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:34

You signed up to serve the United States military. You do not belong to yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:38

I used to be tours of duty were at least a year or something. Yes, or more. Or more.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:43

So so yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:44

Um I have a story here. What do you think of when I say hot dog?

SPEAKER_03 1:23:49

Um, is it a sandwich or is it a hot dog? That's I always think of that.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:53

But most people think of, you know, just your regular old hot dog or a or a Costco hot dog. There's think they're still a buck and a half.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:00

I have a favorite brand of hot dog that I will only buy. Hebrew National. Hebrew National, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:05

They're beef, right? Beef. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:07

They're kosher.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:08

Well, hot dogs originated originated on Coney Island, which most people know. But lately the Humble Hot Dog has been experiencing a cultural awakening. There is the rise of the hundred dollar hot dog. Uh some places have it on the menu as um fine dining. I know. So there's this place. Uh actually, it was at the Formula One Miami Grand Prix and Miami Open Tennis Tournament. They served a hundred dollar golden glitzy, which featured this is the second week I've done food. Creme frechet.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:45

We usually do the monologue after lunch too, Mallet. Yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:49

So $100 hot dog, creme frichet, marscapone, 30 grams of Ocetra caviar, and 24 carat edible gold flakes served on a fresh croissant bun. It also involves a hot dog. That that's the hundred dollar hot dog. And then at Breckenridge, you can get the hot dog tower, which is a $60 tower of hot dogs, which comes with waffle fries.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:13

I'd rather have a seafood tower. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:14

Well, that's what they're saying. You it's dressing up oysters isn't Breckenridge. You've got to have a hot dog tower if you're going to be a break.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:21

It depends on how high or drunk I am, whether or not I'm going to have a hot dog tower.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:27

So my takeaway on all this is that you know, you hear we see all these media stories about how everybody's poor and nobody can afford food. Yeah. Apparently, these hundred dollar hot dogs at the Formula One race in Miami, they sold out. There's plenty of people buying a hundred dollar hot dogs.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:42

If you're at a Formula One race, you got some coin to throw around.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:45

But still, $100 hot dogs.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:47

So I Steve, if you go to one of those events and you want a bud light, it's $30.

SPEAKER_09 1:25:53

Well, that's true. That's true. But I feel like the, you know, the media sometimes makes it seem like we're all living hand to mouth, check-to-check. There's plenty of people out there with money. They're buying hundred dollar hot dogs. They got plenty to do. I'm poor. I'm poor, for sure. I read through some of these other ones and I'm like, well, that first one, the caviar dog, actually sounds disgusting to me. I'm I'd rather have a Costco uh $1.50 hot dog.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:18

Well, let me tell you, when I was a kid or in college, I had my dad's Exxon card, because I was only supposed to use it for gas, and I would eat gas station hot dogs. Hey, but you're like 18, 19 years old. Your stomach is upset. Well, that's true. And if your stomach was upset, you would never, you'd never think, oh, it was something I ate. You never thought that.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:36

That's not true. You could go out in the yard and eat dirt and be just fine. There's a at the Coors Field in Denver, they're selling a 19-inch hot dog for 45 bucks. That's what she said. I was waiting for that. That sounds painful.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:50

Uh, that's what she said. Um, Steve, have you ever been flocked?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:55

I actually don't know.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:56

Somebody told me there was flock cameras here in dripping.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:59

Flock it a flock flock. Okay, so there is a website called have I been flocked.com, and you can go search your license plate to see if you have been flocked. So I went out to the parking lot earlier and I got all of our our license plates, like four of us that are that are here in the office. Not one of us came up. So I don't know if it's just driving traffic.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:23

Maybe the website doesn't work.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:24

I don't know. It they've been the news has been talking about this all over. But um, you know, there's people talk about the pros and cons of of flock cameras. The pros, uh crime solving, real-time um, what is it, real real time alerts uh for stolen vehicles, amber and silver alerts, evidence gathering. Um they also say that they're solar powered. There is no, as of today, there's no facial recognition on these um flocking. But the data, the data privacy, they say it deletes after 30 days. So some of the cons, they talk about the privacy concerns, critics and Civil liberty groups are pissed off that it tracks everybody, uh like mostly innocent people. Okay, and my my position is if you ain't doing nothing wrong, why do you care? I disagree.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:11

I don't know if you're not the government looking over my shoulder, watching to see if I'm gonna make a mistake.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:16

That's because you're a speeder. Okay, well, I I can kind of understand that.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:19

But that's the that's the society we live in. I mean, you know, if I want to go 59 miles an hour on 290, I don't want cameras everywhere going, hey, you got a ticket. You got another ticket, there's another ticket.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:30

But you have an Alexa in your house, just saying. So there is potential to I I won't have one. You had something in there. Oh, I won't have one. You use your phone.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:38

I use I have Siri, and it lists.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:40

You don't think it listens to you? Okay, so potential for misuse is what they call, and then the public backlash. But let me give you some some pros, okay? So there was um 2025, the impact census results from 700 law enforcement agencies. And so they went all around the country. It was like 43 states to get this knowledge. It was the largest study of police ALPR usage and outcomes ever conducted. Um, law enforcement agencies tell us that flock is one of the most impactful crime solving tools available. So, how does Flock solve crimes? In communities where Flock is deployed, roughly one in five cases are cleared by law enforcement involving Flock technology. So across all these communities where Flock is used, approximately one in five cases that they're they're being able to be solved because of these cameras that are up there. But this accounts for both serious incidents, including assault, robbery, motor, motor vehicle theft, homicide. It said that in 2025, 10,000 missing persons, 27 per day, more than one a day was was were found. And that that is only that's not only little kids. I mean, that's like, you know, grandma with dementia that they're able to find. Um which I think that's that's pretty interesting. I I don't know. I've I had to take care of my dementia grandmother. She had a um uh wrist uh bracelet where I had to alert the neighbors that if she just like walked out the door.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:12

This is different to me than like CCTV, where you know, maybe there's a crime in the parking lot and s and and the cameras aren't being actively monitored, but you can go back and look at the footage and go, hey, show me the footage from 1132 last night, and you go, Oh yeah, that person was in the parking lot, they broke the window. That's different than me than somebody watching you, actively watching everything you do.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:34

Okay, let me give you a little real life scenario. We come out here, you you go outside, you're gonna go home, and your car is missing, right? Oh my goodness, your car is missing, and everything in your car is missing and never come back if somebody steals it. Well, nearly half of all customers, 42% report that Flock was involved in recovering 50% of or more of the stowed stolen motor vehicles in their jurisdiction, which means if you reported that to Hayes County and if we had Flock over here, that they could pull up your license plate and they could say, Oh, there it is. This camera just packed it, passed it, it just passed around this time.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:14

Oh, I'm sure there is, but they just can tell every place you've been and every place you are at a at a drop of a hat, they can tell. The technology is already there.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:23

I can track it, but not a lot of people have that kind of technology. Some of them still have old old cars or whatever. I'm saying I'm serious.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:29

I'm serious though. If somebody steals your car, I don't want it back.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:33

They are also they're they're getting craftier and they're knowing how they know how to dismantle those tracking things. Um they say that flock technology has supported law enforcement investigations in approximately one million cases nationwide. So I know there was a big push in Hayes County to get rid of these flock cameras. I know uh Sheriff Hippolito is a big proponent of them because he sees it. Yeah, absolutely. He sees real-time um in in crime solving and how it benefits the community. You and I both saw it uh at Founders when a child went missing and it wasn't a flock camera, it was a it was a drone.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:13

It was a police uh drone, and they were able to locate that child fairly quickly.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:18

So, yeah, I when I was talking about the missing persons, it was 10,000 missing persons, roughly 27 per day and more than one per hour. Sorry, I got the I got it wrong. Um it said the estimate is derived from two independent statistical methods that that converged at the same range with bootstrap testing producing a confidence range of 8,000 to 19, 19,600. Um meaning there was like there was like a whole whole range, like 20,000 uh people and that went missing and how how many people were stopped.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:50

I'm I'm just concerned about this incrementalism where, you know, like you said, we got we got Siri and it listens in, and then we got an iPhone, yeah, and it listens in, and then you got you know other devices, and now you got cameras, and then Dude, you go to H E B.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:07

When you those RFIDs, they're even putting RFIDs in your clothes.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:10

Yeah, I I get it. But at some point, it's going to be where they're looking, they're actively looking for things that you do wrong. And I guaranteed you and I do things wrong all time.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:22

You don't think though those RFIDs and because I know this because Todd, my husband was had had something to do with RFIDs. You are passing H E B, okay? You're passing through. They're able to timestamp what time.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:36

But you don't think at some point we have to push back on that? Because here's the thing You should have pushed back along the way. No, no, no, no. I I guarantee you, you make 12 mistakes a day. I make 12 mistakes a day that are some kind of breach of the law. I turn wrong in the case. Can't catch us all. I yeah, I make a turn without my blinker. Uh you know, I I write a receipt that the I that I say I had uh a business lunch when it wasn't a business lunch, I never never would do that. But there if they're actively looking for crimes, eventually, if somebody wants to get you, they will find the crime to pin on you.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:09

You don't think they can do that now?

SPEAKER_09 1:34:11

I think 100% could they that's my point though. At some point you have to push back. I think I think the flock cameras were where people now, I don't think they're gonna win. I think those cameras are coming, but I think this is where we've reached the point where people are like, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:26

You can sit there and over talk me, but I'm telling you, if your two-year-old granddaughter went missing in a crowd and a flock camera found it, found that child, you would change your tune really quick. So what's the hill that you're gonna die on? What is it? Is it your car? Is it your kid? Is it your father? What if your father went missing from Jovi?

SPEAKER_09 1:34:45

So do you have it your your scenario uh is a good one, but that's not a flock camera. That's a drone.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:53

No, no, no, it is a flock camera. 10,000 missing people.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:58

I just it's a slippery slope. I see I understand why people are upset. I get what you're saying. That if yes, if your granddaughter went missing, I'd want every camera in the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:08

But let me let me tell you something. Most people, and I know this from my safety and security audits that I did, and I went through this FBI training about missing persons. Most children that go missing are non-custodial parents. It's not some creepy guy that comes and gets it. And so if you were able to catch in real time a car that is passing by a flock camera. Okay, so but the other thing is if Hayes County doesn't have one, Blanco County, what if Blanco County has them? What if Travis County has them?

SPEAKER_09 1:35:36

You go into San Antonio, they'll have them. You go to Houston, they'll have them.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:39

I totally understand what you're saying. Or you're going through a toll road. They're they're they're flock cameraing you too, and you're paying for that flock camera.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:46

Oh, I know. I it's a battle that we're not going to win, I guarantee you, but I understand people's hesitations to sign on to it. You make very good points. There are times where and everybody on the planet would want cameras, but there are times where you do something and you don't want to be caught on a camera because if there's somebody out there that doesn't like you, they can use that as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:09

Oh, yeah. And I I think they can do that anyway. I mean, I look at I look at some of these uh real crime um things that are going on right now, and everything has a freaking timestamp. Like even when you're you're looking at your computer, you even think that you've deleted it, or um you go into there's a nothing's deleted. There's a famous there's a famous uh or a very popular right now crime um what's the word, jury or what's the trial that's going on right now. It was a mother who apparently uh strangled her three children in the in the basement, right? But then her husband, there's like some weird timestamps that are happening with him. They found him like two weeks after his children were murdered, giving a Yelp review at a national park. Okay, look how beautiful and lovely this is. Okay, so like if you think that flock cameras are your biggest problem, you are still.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:03

I don't think they're their biggest problem. I don't. But I but I'm saying I think this has reached the point where some people are saying, no, I'm not aware of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:13

I agree. So this website right here, have I been flocked.com, some of the things, the cons that they're talking about is the First Amendment um activities.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:22

This looks to me like a website that was designed to fight against flock capital.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:27

And immigration and scanners. So if you think about it in that sense, yes, there are pros and cons about everything. But I think along just like AI, there's going to have to be stronger protections all across the board, across all of these applications, all of these apps, all of your phone and everything, how they're tracking you, even Facebook or whatever.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:48

Well, I know everything's tracking you right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:52

I actually told you the other day because I couldn't find you. You were doing something, I don't know where the heck you were. You were a dentist or something. I was like, um, I'm gonna need to uh find my Steve. I need to find my Steve out.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:02

I don't want to be tracked.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:04

But no, that was a good discussion, though. I I get I get it.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:07

Yeah, I and it's something that's on the the a lot of people's minds right now. Uh you know, it's very timely. Uh I don't know how it's gonna play out, but I know it's a big issue.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:15

I think uh next time you say set your timer, how long does it take to dissolve a body? You're gonna be busted.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:21

Oh, yeah, they'll come find you. Uh I got a little lighter story for you. You go to a lot of weddings.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:26

Oh, yes. I go and I'm going to three this year.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:29

Yeah. Oh, well, here you go. So would you know how to dress if you got the wedding invitation and it said the dress is Hollywood Western?

SPEAKER_03 1:38:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:38

Or Catskill Sheik.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:41

Catskill chic. Okay. Yeah, the Catskills. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:44

Italian summer vacation things. Would you know how to dress for those? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:49

I think I would.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:50

You're an anomaly.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:51

I think I would, because I just one of the weddings I got invited to was Texas Tux Tuxedo. Do you know what that is?

SPEAKER_09 1:38:57

I would say that's a tuxedo with boots and a hat.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:00

Yeah, it's like party on the top and business on the top and party on the bottom.

SPEAKER_09 1:39:05

So is that jeans and it's jeans and boots and a tuxedo. And a tuxedo. Yeah. That makes sense. I the other ones don't make any sense to me, but this story I have, Danielle Dwarzik of Creative Touch Party Design says more than half the couples that are hiring her to do weddings now, they want location-specific dress codes. So this one couple was having their wedding and the cat skills came up with this cat skill chic, and most people had no idea what to wear. And um what's the way that they're these uh wedding planners are are handling this is How do you spell chic? C-H-I-C. Oh C I just totally. Uh they are offering like websites for places for you to go buy the stuff that they want you to wear.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:51

And uh that would be Catskill Chic. What was the other one while you're talking?

SPEAKER_09 1:39:55

Uh Hollywood Hollywood Western.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:00

I would think that's oh movies. That's uh no, that's uh Hollywood Western attire.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:07

Well, so the uh Catskill Sheik was described as a campy, nostalgic, upstate vibe with a mix of Met Gala. And I read that and I went, what?

SPEAKER_03 1:40:18

Do you know what the Met Gala Gala is?

SPEAKER_09 1:40:19

I do, yeah. It's where people wear $10 is a good thing. Yeah, I think pretentious.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:25

And and what came up on my search is Sheen and Mayberry. Of course it did.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:30

Uh here you go. Um They said uh dresses, jumpsuits, pantsuits, sets and separates, vintage treasures, bold accessories, and unexpected comb combinations. Stilettos aren't gonna work. Wear your funky footwear. And then Hollywood Western was embrace the Western spirit, dress to impress like you're walking the red carpet, or go for old West saloon wear.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:54

Oh, like Ginger Rogers or something. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:40:57

So they these people, the Rinaldies they were, booked their wedding at the Brush Creek Ranch, and they had an on-site hat bar where guests could buy custom cowboy hats, which started at $235. So that was that was uh Oh, they're not giving them away.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:14

They're they're making them buy their own cows.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:17

Yeah, so that's where I'm going with this. There was another one, Hollywood or Hawaii Formule. Hawaii Formula. I like get Hawaii formal.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:26

I just had a I like get trashed Mexico.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:28

You go What is that? You're on a resort, you go to a destination, you just you know, you wear something slinky and Palm Beach Chic was uh shell-shaped purches, perch God, what happened to my voice? Shell-shaped purses, crochet and feather pantsuits and a beaded flamingo clutch.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:48

Oh yeah, that would be fun. That's palm beach. Yeah, that would be palm beach.

SPEAKER_09 1:41:51

But my I started reading through this and I thought, what happened to the old days where you were like, hey, we would we would love to have the pleasure of you attending our wedding. Now everybody's got to make it these huge fancy in fancy Instagram events, and they're getting and they're making people go buy a lot of clothes, not not just like a jacket or a shirt, a lot of clothes to attend these things. Like, I think at some point I would go, nah, I'm not going.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:17

Deep dive into well, it is cut, there is kind of it is kind of fun to be.

SPEAKER_09 1:42:21

It would be fun if it's if it's $200 or $300. They were talking some of these outfits, people at one person had to spend $2,500 to be outfit for this thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:31

Wait until you deep dive, if you ever do, on bachelorette parties and etiquette. There was I saw one Reddit where um the maid of honor sent it out to all the girls on this bachelorette party, which you know, they're all destination bachelorette parties now. And she said, um, Annie would prefer nobody, please, everybody leave your engagement and wedding rings in your room. She wants to be the only one in the party wearing her ring. And somebody said, No, not doing it. Sorry.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:00

I would that would be a line I'd cross. I would draw I'd draw the line too. I go, no, I'm not crossing that line. That's no, that's you you can't ask me to to be a part of your event. You can't ask me to do things that go against who I know you're doing. Yeah. I I I understand everybody wants that perfect day. I think what's being lost though, for the sake of the right Instagram video and pictures, they're imposing all these things on the people that they're just supposed to enjoy their special day with. I would leave a bad taste.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:28

Okay, well, okay. So I'm gonna push back a little bit and I'm gonna say, okay, I understand. No, I'm gonna still push back. So like we had um one of my kids had a black tie wedding, right? Which, well, black tie esque, you know. I mean, it was okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:43

Well, everybody esque I could go with. I got a black polo shirt.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:46

Well, no, but you know, like you don't want, you don't want to have everybody tuxedo and you've spent fifty thousand dollars on this wedding, right? And somebody and and Uncle Joe shows up in his shorts and his crocs, right? So some people don't get the whole um event appropriate attire. So you have to be specific a little bit.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:08

If Uncle Joe is your favorite Uncle Joe, do you care how he comes dressed? I don't care. Uncle Joe came to my wedding. That's the most important thing to me. I don't care what he's wearing. That's that's where I think is this is getting lost.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:21

I I think that there is a line that Uncle Joe doesn't care what he's wearing when everybody else is wearing black tie.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:28

Well, if you if it's your favorite Uncle Joe and you invite him, you're probably gonna know what he's gonna wear.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:34

He won't be my favorite if he's wearing Crocs.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:37

I don't think I've ever seen anybody wearing shorts and a t-shirt and Crocs to any kind of a normal wedding.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:43

Dude, I I was I I've been to a lot of Krapis weddings, crappess christy weddings. There was there was this one wedding that I went to one time and I went to go get her her um re wedding registry, and she registered for paper towels and toilet paper. I swear to you, I swear. And I went to the wedding and my kids were all dressed up and there were people in shorts and whatever. I can tell you this. At my father's funeral, there were there were a couple of people that showed up that were look like they what would my grandmother say, rolled off the turnip truck. Oh my gosh. That I was like, you're at a funeral, you know, like have a little show some respect.

SPEAKER_09 1:45:25

I get that. I think uh if I get invited to somebody's wedding and I care about those people, I will make the extra effort to dress nicely. Yes. I may not dress the way I may not dress in cat skill chic. I'll I may try a little bit of that, but I'm not going out and spending two or three thousand dollars on a on an outfit I'm gonna wear one. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_03 1:45:49

And uh I'll you know, to kind of circle back to Kendall's wedding, I went round and round with her because she was like, she wanted a putt on her invitation, no blue jeans allowed. And I said, girl, I said, look, you're in Texas. There's in dripping springs. Well, there's and you're yeah, you live in dripping springs, Cinderella. Summer down. I said, there is such a thing as a Texas tuxedo. Yeah. And so people are gonna wear a suit jacket with nice jeans and with boots. You cannot stop that. Well, that's so and I said, look, again, is that the hill you're gonna die on? This is we've spent a lot of money on this wedding. Enjoy your portion of the wedding. And you're right.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:25

If somebody shows up, focus on the day, focus on your event with your new spouse and how that makes you feel, and the people that love on you, and the people that care about you. It doesn't have to be about the pictures on Instagram.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:37

But don't be a jackal female and show up wearing white to somebody else's wedding.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:42

No, don't do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:43

Yeah, don't do that. This was a fun little sassy.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:47

Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:47

You're sassy today.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:49

Hey, I'm gonna go have my heart surgery, so you'll uh have fun while I'm out.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:53

But man, I'm gonna get so much work done.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:55

No, you're not. The little disco ball's gonna come out of the ceiling and the music's gonna be turned up. Michelle's not doing anything.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:03

Who would like to take Michelle to lunch? I'm open every day. I'm open for lunches. I will, I, I'm, I, I welcome, I welcome a lunch invitation.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:14

Well, I want to say publicly uh before we sign off, thank you to all the people that have reached out now that the word's out a little bit about my upcoming surgery. It's been it's been it's been a little humbling. I know I say that all the time, but it's been humbling, and I uh really appreciate the outpouring of affection and people let me know that they care about me. Means a lot. So y'all have fun. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:38

You like me. You really like me. Yeah, Steve, you'll be past this by the time this comes out. And uh the surgery will be over, yeah. And God bless Holly, because she's gonna have to put up with your whiny ass for weeks. Okay, mark my words. I'm gonna yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:54

Hopefully, she won't give me so much drugs, I'm just passed out in bed. But that might be the best thing for me. True, true. You guys are gonna be fine. I can't wait to get back in the chair and do the next podcast, and it will be sooner than you think.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:06

And also, again, I just want to let you know I put on the website if you'd like to sign up for SpongeBathing Steve, you just email me and I'll get you on the schedule.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:15

Yeah, there you go. Okay, I got that to look forward to. Well, thanks everybody for joining us. We'll talk to you very, very soon.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:22

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