SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:22]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:24]
So what are we drinking tonight, John?
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:26]
So I have a southern comfort Manhattan
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:30]
with extra bitters just as grandpa Kolmeyer would make it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:33]
I don't know that I've ever had a Manhattan with SoCo. I know that this is your prescribed way of doing it, but It's just the first Manhattan that I've ever had, and it is a Kohlmeyer family staple. Okay. See, I I tend to gravitate towards rye.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:47]
Yep. It's definitely a very different flavor. This is a much sweeter profile, but I can't stand Soco by itself,
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:55]
and I actually like it in the Manhattan. So I actually, as a general rule, do not trust anyone that likes Soco by itself.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:02]
Well, that's good. You can still trust me, Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:06]
There's there's the critical question of do you have a cherry?
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:09]
I have two cherries. Oh, there we go. Are they did you stab them or you just drop them in? I just dropped them in. Okay. That's that's fine. I won't judge as long as they got a cherry. I I think I've told this before, but whenever I order a Manhattan in a bar and they do not serve it with a cherry,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:25]
I immediately write them off as an amateur operation.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:29]
Yeah. I believe that. It's
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:32]
so
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:33]
this was my cocktail of choice shortly after I turned 21.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:38]
If you go to a typical college bar or something like that, they have no idea what Manhattan even is. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:45]
stick to airports and
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:47]
a good hotel bar.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:49]
It's you know, the Manhattan to me is like it's like an old fashioned in the sense that you have certain expectations
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:55]
about,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:57]
a place serving adult beverages, that they should be able to produce this cocktail
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:01]
in in a somewhat quality way. Like, I it's not it's really not a complicated drink. Nope.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:08]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:09]
alright, John. What about you, Stan? You drinking anything? Oh, yeah. Got
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:14]
some boxed wine here.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:16]
Nice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:17]
Box? Yep. Boto Box. This is Red Volution.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:20]
It was opened with guests,
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:22]
so it was convenient.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:24]
Got it. But You know, I was actually looking at a home wine homemaking kit.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:30]
Interesting. Yeah. A friend of mine actually
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:33]
is starting to get into that. So apparently, it's supposed to be a lot easier than beer.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:37]
Well, you just don't have to boil anything, but you gotta wait three months before you can try it. So Well, you gotta wait you gotta wait with beer too. I mean, beer is not an overnight thing. But Yeah. It's like a month though.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:47]
So Yeah. So I don't oddly enough, the time I brewed beer, I don't really recall how long the time gap was because I it was at somebody else's house. Was at a friend's house. Right. So it was kind of a hands off experience at that stage of the game.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:01]
So I'll to just take your word for it. I'm sure if we're wrong, my
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:05]
friend Joe Taylor will let us know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:07]
That's fair. I have never been anywhere around anyone brewing beer except
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:13]
at a commercial level. So Oh, interesting. So maybe that's something we should do. Here's an idea, John. Next next time you're in town, we'll do a live episode of the podcast, brewing beer with Joe Taylor. We just have to convince him. Alright. Do you think we can convince him to be on the podcast?
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:30]
Well, I mean, if if we're brewing with him, I think that will just happen. Joe seems like the kinda guy that would get behind the mic.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:36]
Sounds good.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:38]
So speaking of beverages,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:40]
we haven't talked about milkshakes in a while. We ended 2019 with 13 milkshakes reviews and two milkshake IPA reviews. I don't remember either of them being favorable, but yours might have been okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:53]
Well, I can't remember if this this constitute one of the reviews. For some reason, I think it was more of a passing review, but the one I had in Traverse City that I wound up not actually getting a Growlr of because I I wrote it off before I tried it
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:04]
Yeah. Was actually pretty palatable.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:07]
I think what I've come to
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:09]
ascertain about the milkshake IPA,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:12]
they call them milkshake IPAs, but they're really just adding lactose into the mix. Right. And and that changes the mouth feel of the beer. And as long as you're cool with that, then, you know, whatever underlying beer it is really hinges upon like, you're liking it. It hinges upon whether or you like that underlying beer before they spiked it with lactose, in my opinion. That's Got it. That's my angle. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:32]
So we are recording five days into 2020. Any milkshakes or milkshake IPAs yet?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:38]
No. And I don't have any I don't have any in the near term either. I I feel like I'm still recovering from
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:44]
weekly milkshakes for several months. So Yeah. When Stan does something, he goes all in.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:51]
Now you put this down. Did you have a milkshake?
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:54]
I did not have a milkshake, but I figured, hey. It's a new year. We haven't talked about milkshakes recently.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:00]
I'm trying to bring back our former listeners such as my mother.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:04]
And, yeah,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:06]
people loved the milkshake reviews.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:08]
So Okay. We'll see what happens. Maybe we need to dig those up, and we need to
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:12]
get a milkshake review going for 2020. That hey, John. That's a New Year's resolution right there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:18]
Hey, speaking of which, you're not on Facebook anymore for reasons. I I
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:23]
don't fully grok right now. It's a weird So that I read every day, Stan. Oh, okay. Well, sure. So you're not on and I am.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:31]
And so so I am now given the responsibility
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:35]
of checking it once a week and reporting back to you what has happened. Correct. So on the goals episode,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:43]
your friend of the show, I guess our friend of the show, but I haven't met her, Angie
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:48]
writes, very motivating episode. I'm going to slightly modify some habits of my own for twenty twenty. Great. I often listen to your podcast while bike riding or walking.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:56]
I know both of you have twenty twenty habit goals to read and bike more. How about meshing these together? Stan, you're gonna have to share this with John since he's no longer on Facebook.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:05]
So And she wasn't in the office last week, so I haven't seen her for a while.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:09]
So I I guess the
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:12]
idea of meshing these together, I think there's two ways of doing this. Right? One is audiobooks, which we talked a little bit about last time. Correct. Do
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:19]
you when you do any of your exercise activities, do you listen to podcasts?
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:24]
I do not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:26]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:27]
I would not be comfortable doing that on an actual bike riding through traffic. Sure. That would just wig me out.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:34]
But usually, put on an episode of something when I'm on the stationary bike.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:39]
Okay. Alright. That's reasonable. Like, that's how I watch the majority of Deep Space Nine.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:43]
Oh, alright. Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:46]
Interestingly, so I I you know this about me. I don't know that I've shared this here. I don't really like riding inside. I've just never gotten
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:53]
I don't know. I I haven't been able to find my my zone, if you will. So here's what you do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:59]
You go put on The Sopranos,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:01]
and you can only watch The Sopranos while you're on the bike.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:04]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:05]
it's a great idea. I'm saying, like, I I actually don't find
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:10]
like, I put my bike up on a cyclops,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:12]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:14]
I've had a couple of friends tell me that I I went too cheap on my Cyclops, and I should've gotten one that adjusts with tension or whatnot.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:20]
Fair point. But I just don't I don't actually find it comfortable. I don't know what it is. I think part of what I like about riding is being outside,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:27]
being
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:28]
like, just seeing stuff going around, taking in all the visuals.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:32]
When I'm when I'm writing inside, it's just not engaging.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:35]
Now that said,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:37]
on the elliptical, I have no problem watching TV or reading a book on my Kindle.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:42]
And I and I will alternate between the two. So, you know, I'm I think this is definitely
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:48]
worthy advice, so we should probably improve Please don't read your Kindle if you are out on your bike, like, outdoors?
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:57]
I think that would be hard. Don't you think it would be hard? I think it would be hard and dangerous.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:01]
Sure. Sure. If you're
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:03]
gonna try this, do it on a people path. Yeah. Audiobook or do it on a people path
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:08]
where you're not gonna like, only thing you're gonna hit a tree.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:12]
Sure.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:13]
Wear your helmet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:15]
Oh, make sure you have lights. Yep. So Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:18]
So there, John. I did my I did my diligence on the Facebook front. You can be proud of me. Thanks, man. How many likes did we get?
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:25]
I I don't I don't know. Just you? How how do I It's usually just you. If you go to the Life with Twisted Lemon Facebook page, there's like a thumbs up. There's three, John. There's three. Three? Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:36]
And I Did you like it as you end Life with Twisted Lemon? No. I did not. Just as me So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:44]
you know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:46]
New Year's. Right? Out with the old and with the new. Isn't that how it goes?
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:51]
Maybe.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:52]
Okay. Well, I I don't know. I guess so. That makes sense. New Year in with the new. I have to report that I retired my beloved Mac Mini.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:01]
No. Break. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:04]
So so this is the Mac Mini I bought. It's server a edition, the last server dedicated server edition that Apple produced
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:11]
Which was in what? 2,011.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:14]
I was gonna say 02/2009. So Mid mid two thousand eleven, technically. And I got it in late two thousand eleven as a refurb,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:21]
and that machine served me really well for a long time. It actually had upgradable components. So I replaced drives, upgraded memory,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:29]
and, it was great all the way through High Sierra. And then High Sierra was the last Mac OS update that it was
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:37]
compatible with. And so I kept that around. When I had the issues with my laptop this last year, it came in real handy. But I finally got to thinking, like, I I'm not using this. It's not even plugged in. So it's time to retire it. So I
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:51]
I came to the conclusion, John, that it wasn't giving me joy. It wasn't sparking joy. And so, I I sold it. And here's just a completely
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:59]
unselfish plug. And I I say unselfish because I'm not getting any credit for this. But if you ever have Mac equipment that you want to unload,
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:06]
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:10]
is the place to do it. They will It's different than the place that you used to tell me to go to. That's it. That's the only place I've ever used. Macofalltrades.com.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:17]
Yeah. Do you buy from a different site when you were?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:21]
I have I have on occasion normally, buy through Apple. There was there was a while I bought through a reseller because they had some competitive discounts. Like, I bought Sarah Laptop once. Was that Mac connection?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:31]
That could be. I don't know. There's a number of them out there. But but I've always sold old equipment through Mac of all trades, including Got it. Used iPhones up until this most recent one that I traded into Apple.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:42]
Pinterest.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:43]
Always have better prices than Gazelle. They're, like, Mac people, and I I don't know. I just I've had a great experience. So if you're ever interested in selling any Apple product
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:52]
after you've used it, I highly recommend macofalltrades.com.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:56]
They will give you the best bang for your buck, and they're just all around really great people to work with. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:02]
there you go. We really need to get set up as, like, affiliates for some of these people that we
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:08]
highly recommend and They don't get anything in return. Have at it, John. Have at it. No. So this this whole thing got me to thinking though,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:17]
I don't have a backup computer at the moment. And this is actually the first time in a really long time when I haven't had a
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:23]
secondary machine that I could go do something on in the event that I couldn't. And I was thinking about, like, why that is. And I I think
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:32]
it's because the iPad is so predominant in both my life and my wife's whole life. Like, she doesn't have a computer, hasn't had a computer in a long time. It's just interesting kinda, like, reflecting back. Right? You know, a decade ago,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:44]
because we're in 2020 now, I would have definitely had two computers. Yeah. I'm like Okay. There wouldn't wouldn't have even been a question about it. One would have been a desktop, one would have been a laptop. The desktop would have been more powerful. The laptop would have, you know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:59]
met my needs and been
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:01]
probably my go to device most of the time, but there were just there's there'll always be things that I wouldn't do on it. Right? Which, oddly enough now, it's like that's my iPad and my laptop is my workhorse.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:12]
Sure.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:14]
Yeah. So I have never had
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:17]
two computers
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:18]
that I know of.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:20]
At all? Ever?
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:22]
I don't think so.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:24]
Because I bought the white MacBook 13
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:27]
inch. That was, what, 2008
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:29]
or 02/2009.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:32]
And then
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:34]
higher things bought me a laptop. Actually, you handed down the laptop that you wrote a bunch of code on, and I used that for years.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:42]
And then Hire Things bought me one that I used up until I left there, and then I bought my own. So have you ever been totally incapacitated
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:49]
from your computer? Like, computer was nonfunctional and you were out of luck? I never have.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:55]
So maybe You are a lucky son of a gun. Did I send one in once?
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:00]
So I might have had to send one of the h t MacBooks in once, but at that point, I had a work laptop
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:07]
to get me through all work stuff.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:09]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:11]
Okay. That was fine. So there was a point in college I actually had three computers. I had this was while I was transitioning
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:18]
from being a Windows guy to being a Mac guy. Had a Windows laptop, a Windows desktop,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:22]
and then I bought my
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:25]
iBook g four,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:26]
which,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:27]
wound up being just an absolutely fantastic machine. I would have never guessed I would have gotten as much done on it as I did. But
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:34]
I had three machines for a while, and then I didn't like keeping them all, you know, lined up. And I I finally gave gave up on the Windows thing, and I was sold on to one machine for a while.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:45]
And then that machine had issues. And when it had issues, I, in a pinch, bought an iMac
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:51]
and then resumed my life, my dual life for a long time. I love that iMac. That iMac was a pretty great computer.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:57]
But You know, there are days when the iMac really,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:02]
tempts me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:04]
Like, it's a beautiful computer,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:07]
and be nice to just have it sitting here in the office all the time.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:11]
Yeah. I mean, you can't you can't beat that screen. Right? And Yep. It's
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:16]
don't know. They're they're top quality machines. So every so often, I get a little bit of an itch. I'm like, maybe I should go out and buy an iMac. But then I think about the logistics of putting it on my desk and Mhmm. Having to move it out of the way essentially for work. So that that's not gonna happen. Yep. But alas So your your Mac mini in Seymour was
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:35]
basically mounted to the kitchen cabinets?
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:38]
It was actually mounted to the drywall underneath the kitchen cabinets. So what I what I had done is I had an arm,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:44]
a mounting Visa compliant arm
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:47]
that held a monitor underneath this cabinet.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:50]
And then I took the Mac mini, I found somebody made a brace
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:54]
that because the Mac mini has a disc on the bottom that you can rotate out and then get access to memory and whatnot. And they made a a mount
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:02]
or like a a a disk attached to, a wall mount
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:07]
that fit perfectly in there. So you could take the whole Mac mini, stick it up, and then hang it on the drywall. And so I did this because it was kitchen counter and there were kids around and I wanted it up and out of the way. So then the only thing that were that was on the the countertop itself was a wireless
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:20]
keyboard and a wireless mouse. And so, you know, everybody was able to use that in the kitchen. I even used it at times. It was super convenient. We had it hooked up to a speaker.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:31]
That, you know, that Mac mini, it got a lot of life out of it, and it it is undoubtedly the longest I've ever kept a single computer. I mean, you know, eight eight years change.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:41]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:42]
Yeah. It's crazy in the computer world. I know. Right? And the thing is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:46]
you know, looking back on it,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:48]
the processor was still top notch. I didn't have memory issues.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:52]
I had 16 gig or RAM.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:55]
The I I replaced
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:57]
it had two hard drives in it. One was a solid state, and one was a a platter spinning, right, for extra storage. I replaced that one with a Fusion drive, which had awesome gains. I probably should have replaced the SSD because SSDs just got so much faster
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:13]
Mhmm. With time.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:15]
But the thing that
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:17]
was a limiting factor, and, you know, I I could not have guessed this at the time,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:22]
was the video card. And it was the server edition, so it had, like, the low end video card. But Sure. It, as as monitors got better,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:31]
it was less capable of of driving them, and so it was kind of sad.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:35]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:36]
The end of the era. Yep. Yep. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:41]
I've moved on, John. I've moved on. I don't think that it lasts long before you buy another Mac computer.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:46]
Oh, that could be a challenge. Well, hey, I will tell you. Have you been following any of this Mac Pro stuff? I have not. I just saw the announcement. Okay. So it's actually in people's hands. This machine, I think, starts at $5,600
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:59]
or whatever. Yeah. It's it's completely componentized,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:02]
upgradable at, like, every angle.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:05]
There is something highly appealing about the machine,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:08]
but I have absolutely no need for it. Like, it there's not a thing I do in my life that necessitates this computer. It's just really cool.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:18]
We could take life with Twist a Lemon video, and you can start processing video.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:22]
I don't like, I don't even know yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:26]
It's
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:27]
it's the machine video that we go on for three hours.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:31]
The machine is just over the top for anything. I I'm not their target audience. Right? It's just that it's that simple. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:37]
but But I bet Pixar is. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. But I I I fully admit to coveting just a wee bit. So Yeah. The cheese grater.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:46]
Yeah. Well, the the modern cheese grater. But The modern cheese grater.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:50]
Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:51]
So Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:53]
Well, I'm not buying any Apple products anytime soon. Yeah. Yours will fall apart. You're you're the one that will break my eight year record with the Mac and eight. That that much I'm confident.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:04]
I'm it gets to a certain point, and I lose all patience, and then I just pull the trigger. So Okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:10]
See, I used to be a hardcore two year rotation guy, and then I Yep. Then I had kids.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:16]
So that stopped.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:18]
But, I also, I think, if you think about back when we were in high school and college
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:24]
and and just out of college, right, the the rate at which
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:29]
these machines were progressing was so much faster.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:32]
Right? So there were significant gains to be had in processor and in memory and, you know, especially in hard drives as SSDs were evolving. And all of that has slowed down significantly.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:43]
Now the reason that guys like you and I replaced computers are because
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:47]
the keyboards die, you know, and silly things like that. So Right. Which is unfortunate, but,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:53]
it's it's definitely definitely a shift. It's definitely a pivot. But
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:57]
yeah. Alright. You're asking, do you use an ad blocker? Yeah. I wrote this down because I I
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:04]
I was I was at home visiting my mom,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:07]
and everything
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:08]
like, I was I was helping out with her phone, and everything felt slow.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:11]
And I was like, what in the world? And, you know, these ads kept popping up, and I thought to myself,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:16]
do normal people use an ad blocker on their iOS devices?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:22]
No. Okay. So Do you? You've never you've never installed one?
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:27]
No. I don't even run any on my, MacBook,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:30]
just because it usually interferes with something crazy going on when I'm trying to add Google Tag Manager or something like that. Really?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:39]
On your on your personal computer, you don't even run, like, ghostery?
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:43]
So I run ghostery
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:45]
simply to track what's on there. I don't think that I block anything by default.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:51]
Wow. Okay. I'm a little surprised by that, John. I assume that at least you would use a plug in like Ghostery. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:59]
in the in the course of this, I I wound up I I shifted gears in the ad blockers that I used,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:05]
over break. I switched to AdGuard. That's the one that I'm on as of late. I was using one blocker for a while. One blocker, I think, was breaking too many sites.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:13]
It's it's interesting. It's like the Wild West out there, though. There are just tons and tons of them for iOS.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:18]
Yep. And none of them to me really feel like a slam dunk.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:22]
Norton actually had a really good one for a long time, but they've they've not updated it in forever. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:28]
AdGuard's kinda what I recommend.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:29]
I would say if you were on a Mac or even a Windows computer, actually Chrome, Safari,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:34]
Firefox, you should absolutely use Ghostery,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:37]
g h o s t e r y.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:39]
As far as I'm concerned, it's hands down the best ad blocker,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:43]
out there for desktop users, and it does make a difference. It cuts down on a lot of unnecessary traffic, and it makes your whole browsing experience better too. So there you go. That's my plug.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:53]
I'm still surprised, John, that you don't have one on your phone.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:57]
Why?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:58]
I it just again I don't use my phone for web browsing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:02]
You mean to tell me you never look at a web page on your phone? I look at web pages on my phone, not very often.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:09]
Usually, when you send me a link to something, the last link you sent to me was to Apple News, and I couldn't open it because I removed Apple News from my phone.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:17]
One that one would always bother you, doesn't it? I
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:20]
sometimes I look for Apple News So I didn't read that article. Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:24]
Killing me, Smalls. Killing me.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:26]
Alright, John. Alright. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:29]
how do how's my video quality been the last month or so, Stan?
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:33]
As as grainy as usual?
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:35]
As grainy as usual? But we haven't lost connection at all. No. It's it's not jumpy. Are you are you hinting that you got something, John? I I got a new
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:43]
router
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:45]
probably probably about a month ago, and I was waiting to see if you noticed anything.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:49]
Well, we definitely have had lessons since where you cut out. So what did you get? What did you finally pony up for? So this is the part that I don't really wanna tell you because you're gonna judge me and possibly cancel the podcast. Oh, my gosh. I'm already judging you. Did you did you call up your Internet service provider and just ask for a new No. New base station? Alright. No. Although I should do that just for the modem component, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:12]
I went with an Eero.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:14]
Woah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:16]
Woah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:18]
So first of all, that is at a price point that I would not have expected you to to pony up. So I went with the regular Ero, not the Pro.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:27]
So and I got it on a Black Friday deal.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:30]
Wow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:31]
Okay. So it was like
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:33]
I don't know. I spent a 150 or something like that. I wasn't outrageous.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:37]
So how many how many individual units do you have? So I have three.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:41]
Okay. I have two upstairs and one downstairs.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:44]
Okay. So I'm assuming one is in your office?
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:47]
Yep. And then one's probably in your main living area down there? Yeah. So I have one in
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:54]
so there's two upstairs, one down here. So the one here basically gets the TV and my computer, and that's it. And I have one in the dining room kinda towards the corner so that it can get the smart garage door opener.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:08]
And then we've got one
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:10]
that's in next to the modem in Anna's office area.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:14]
Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:16]
Good deal. Well, so you said you sported at a $150
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:20]
I think so. For the three pack? I can pull it up. I mean, that's that's a pretty that's a pretty good price, John,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:27]
for
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:28]
for an Eero. I'm
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:31]
just a little perplexed. I hope I mean, clearly, by the
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:35]
experience you seem to be having it, it has better performance than the Orbi that I tried from Netgear.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:40]
Yes. I also don't have a Sonos speaker that I've had to try it with. Yeah. So right now, listed at $2.19
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:48]
as a discounted rate. I paid $1.59.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:52]
Okay. Well, that's that's some decent savings. I'm
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:55]
I'm pleased to know that you upgraded though, John. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:58]
I'll be real curious to hear six months from now if you're still loving the Eero. It's all the setup's all app based. Right? Yeah. Okay. And how awesome, and they, like, you basically go find a place to plug in one of the stations,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:11]
and it says,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:13]
hey. You did great. I mean so it covers,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:16]
like, twice the square footage of what my house is, so I didn't have any issue.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:24]
And devices seem to be passing off pretty well.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:28]
I haven't run into any issues where it was like still connected to one upstairs when I've come down here or something like that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:34]
But yeah. Cool. So for the listener that's not familiar with Era, this is what's called mesh Wi Fi routers. Right? Basically Yep. Instead of a single router, you have multiple to create kind of a a
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:45]
it's like a net. Right? It's it's like a Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:49]
Yeah. So, basically, there's, like, a dedicated line that connects them and keeps the routers all talking to each other.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:56]
And then
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:57]
the model I have has both the two gigahertz and five gigahertz bands,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:04]
and it just selects whichever one's fastest and best at that time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:09]
But, basically, it covers
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:11]
the whole
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:14]
area with
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:15]
a grid, basically, that a three-dimensional grid, if that makes sense. I guess that makes more sense. But Well and and one of the advantages, right, is that when you're in your office, your device is going to connect to the unit
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:27]
closest to you, most likely. Yep. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:29]
And it's gonna do that completely transparently. So as you move upstairs, it'll switch its connection over to another unit, and that's completely transparent to you. And so you're always getting the strongest, best signal. It's a it's a cool concept. Eero actually
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:43]
was kind of, I think, at the forefront of the technology. Maybe that's why they do a better job than Netgear. I don't know. Maybe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:50]
So the other, cool thing about this is you can
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:53]
turn off specific devices. So if you wanted all your kids' devices to not access the Internet anymore at 8PM,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:00]
you could do that. Or you could turn off the Internet for the whole house at 8PM or something like that. So I hate to break this to you, but most routers do that today.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:09]
But do they do it from a nice
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:11]
easy app?
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:13]
I don't know. I was always going into these old,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:16]
I had to type in the IP address of the router
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:19]
and go to the configuration screen.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:22]
I think so Nick Gear Warby had a nice app. TP Link has a nice app. I think I think these companies are starting to level up because they realize that experience is so much more approachable.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:32]
But yeah. So I I will say it didn't stand out to me until you wrote it down, but your your video has definitely blipped a lot less. So I'm glad you upgraded, John. So the app takes a speed test for me once a day. Oh, nice. Probably from the main point, so it's not necessarily a good indicator of Wi Fi speeds, but they've been consistent.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:54]
Yeah. So what are you getting, John? What what's your up and down? So I get 82 down, 10 up. Okay. That's that's not bad. What are you supposed to get? I only pay for 80 down, Stan, and 10 up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:06]
Oh, okay. Nice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:08]
So I was gonna say, I don't I don't actually recall.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:11]
I think I pay for a thousand up, thousand down,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:14]
and I consistently get in the 700 up and the $8,800,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:19]
$8.50 down. I know. I always liked uploading files when I was at your house. Yeah. Well, hey, what can I say?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:26]
Definitely pays a premium. But that's awesome, man. So I'm I'm glad to hear that. And I guess, would you endorse the Arrow then?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:33]
So I would. I thought you were gonna be angry with me because it's an Amazon controlled product. Well, I wasn't I wasn't gonna say anything, but now that you bring it up
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:42]
no. It's yeah. Gosh. That wasn't even that long ago that Amazon picked up Eero
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:47]
for
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:48]
I guess it was in April. I'm just looking at this up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:52]
$5,000,000.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:53]
So this explains why
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:56]
I got mine for a $100 cheaper on Amazon on Black Friday. Yeah. They they probably had a competitive edge there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:03]
Nice. Yeah. So I like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:05]
if if I think what I would hope is that Amazon would treat Eero like Zappos, right, and just let them do their own thing Sure. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:15]
continue to innovate because I think they've got some cool tech.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:18]
And, you know, ultimately, my my guess is that eventually you'll see
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:23]
Alexa powered Eros, but
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:26]
or Alexa enabled Eros, you know, basically, like double serving because that's kinda what Google has done. And I think that's the the power play there. But yeah. There listen. I honestly have not encountered anybody who has bought an Eero
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:39]
and not been satisfied.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:41]
I think
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:42]
the the price of these things have come down a lot. When I was looking,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:46]
I think they were over $300
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:48]
for a three pack. And that was about what was I think I went with the neck gear because I could get a discount and,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:56]
my square footage, it was gonna work out better. So I thought, whatever.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:00]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:01]
suffice to say,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:03]
awesome. I'm glad it's working out, and, it's it's nice to know that you're
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:07]
enjoying the full full breadth of your Internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:10]
So Yeah. It's been nice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:12]
Alright, my friend. Last but not least, streaming watch. I I managed to finish up all of my Netflix content. Netflix ends in
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:20]
two days for me, and I'm I I don't see myself coming back until Lost in Space season three comes out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:27]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:29]
with this, I'm I'm done. Like, my streaming content is completely kaput until I know, man. Third.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:35]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:39]
yeah. Mandalorian.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:40]
No new Mandalorian episode last Friday. That was killer. Did did you did you feel empty and alone? I did. I had nothing to look forward to.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:48]
It's
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:49]
so about a week or two before, the Apple TV plus shows that I had been watching
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:55]
also finished up their season.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:58]
You know, I I told you we did Netflix for one month to basically binge the crown.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:02]
We got through that pretty quick. And I also had Lost in Space that came out Christmas Eve. But I'm I'm in the clear, and on top of that, my Steelers lost
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:10]
the last three games of the season, so they're not even in the postseason. Playoffs. Yeah. So I I went bought we got this, you know, these new built ins out of the house. I went and bought a 75 inch television. I got nothing to watch on it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:21]
I think
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:23]
that it's time for you to embrace movies. You're due for another watch through the Lord of the Rings trilogy,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:28]
And it would be amazing amazing on you said you have nothing to watch. Break it up. That's true. That's true. Watch forty minutes a day. So I I
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:38]
was thinking about this whole CBS thing, though. So we're gonna, obviously, for Picard,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:42]
have CBS memberships.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:44]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:45]
NBC's coming into the fold with Peacock sometime in 2020, which is now. I don't I don't know. Did they really name it Peacock? Yeah. They really named it Peacock Peacock TV. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:55]
like, have you seen anything about this? No. I'm not on Facebook.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:00]
I must not follow the right people on Twitter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:04]
I am living the dream of being completely ignorant of anything that's going on in the world. Alright. Well, God bless you, John. So here's here's the thing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:14]
Today,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:15]
in Indianapolis,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:17]
the NBC station,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:19]
they must have, like, lower power than the other channels. It's over VHF. It's just not Mhmm. It's not great.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:25]
And so I sometimes have to hold on to the antenna in order to get the signal to come through.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:31]
You have children for this, Stanley. I I do. But they're mostly Don't you remember when you were growing up?
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:36]
No. We we always had cable. We never had antenna TV. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:41]
but I I was looking at this. I'm thinking, you know, if they would stream NBC live and include Sunday Night Football, which they won't do. Right? Because No. Like, the ESPN streaming service doesn't include Monday Night Football. But if they would do that, I would totally pony up for that in a heartbeat. So I I'm I'm kinda, like, hopeful
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:59]
just because the NBC broadcast and ton of broadcast here are so bad, but who knows?
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:04]
Yeah. I think that
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:06]
I don't know how much longer these
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:08]
sports organizations can hold out.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:11]
I mean, like, at some point, people are gonna get sick of just
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:16]
paying a subscription for something that they're watching just football on.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:21]
Maybe. I mean, here's the thing, though. I think if the NFL would do what MLB has done or what the NHL has done or what NBA has done,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:31]
I think they would make a killing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:33]
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:34]
They just they just haven't for reasons that are beyond me. And so because they haven't,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:39]
I'm over here, like, signing up for Sling
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:43]
Blue for two months and then Sling Orange for the other months to get basically one channel and doing stupid stuff like that. And then I've got CBS All Access all the time. It's just I don't know. So and then, like, even the Cubs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:55]
So the Cubs have started their own cable network
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:58]
called Marquee Sports Network or whatever, but that is gonna be the only place you can watch the Cubs. Longer on WGN,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:04]
no longer on Fox Sports North,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:07]
things like that. So now you gotta get your cable network to buy into this marquee network even if you're gonna see it on cable.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:14]
I would imagine
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:15]
they're still available on MLB MLB TV, though. Right? Yeah. Probably. But they're blacked out here. Yeah. See, that's the thing. That's what gets me I've I've told you this before. The Pirates,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:26]
we can get, but they're blacked out for the Reds two hours away, and for the Cubs four hours away,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:32]
which makes no sense. And then I I believe the Brewers are also blacked out, the White Sox. Yeah. Probably.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:37]
And sometimes the Cardinals are. So, you know, figure it out. Sometimes. Yeah. If they're on TV in your area. Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:45]
Oh, well. So something's gotta change there, and I hope it changes soon. Yeah. Alright. On that note, John, I I'm gonna go maybe
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:52]
start Lord of the Rings, I guess. Woah. There you go.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:56]
Till next time, my friend.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:58]
We'll see you next week.