civil engineer enthusiast
Brandon went full nerd mode. Collin went sleuthing. We dive into Dickens Den!
Beaker ball!
Full nerd mode
Surprised by rocks
Sufficiently dramatic
Moodily out the window
Brandon Idea!- it was 6/8
Top 5 songs NOT in 4/4
Model train club
We were also there
Collin sleuthing
there’s a island
civil engineer enthusiast
Dickens talk
The Victorian Randi
They’re good sentences
Collin Haiku:
Endless rushing stream—
hydrant sings a baffled song,
days pour out in sound.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
civil engineer, school carnival, beaker ball, cuneiform writing, Epic of Gilgamesh, model train club, Polar Express, pond renovation, water main break, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Victorian era, serialization, coming of age, ghost debunking
Collin 00:04
Collin, welcome to Oh brother, a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts, Brandon and Collin on this week's show, civil engineer enthusiast ahoy. How's your Wednesday going? Okay?
Brandon 00:26
I guess I think, oh no, oh no, hurry, yeah, recovering, and I don't know, the last two weeks at school have seemed like very, very long, right? The day seemed like a life age of man as the stars wheel, right? It's one of those. We're here. This is where we are, right now, right? So yes,
Brandon 00:57
it's fine. Is it mine? Though? Yeah, right. I did survive the school carnival somehow. Oh yeah, so that was good. It's way too long.
Collin 01:12
I don't know what was your game this year, because I know you always come up with one, right, yeah,
Brandon 01:16
but it's the same one, right? We just iterated on the other one, right? We play beaker ball, right? We just throw things into glass beakers. It's fine
Collin 01:27
this time, though. It's soft items, right? Yeah,
Brandon 01:30
okay, like, make it in the cup. It's like a toss the thing in the cup, and you win to be Sandy, right? You just again. You just make the middle school boys stand back a little bit further because then they'll want to impress their friends. They just keep giving you tickets, right? This is look at you. Yeah, right. Anyway, I did just go like full nerd mode, and I made it like the little backstop thing that I like, have this old, like whiteboard thing. It's like when the you're supposed to hang on the wall, but the frame broke right. And so I just use this if, if I need, like, a flat surface for things. I just use this thing right. But I also use it as the background, because you can still write on it. And so I just wrote stuff about that we were learning in the science. And then I put a big post it note at the bottom said, Remember quiz on Tuesday? I don't know. I think I imagine all of the younger kids that came to play my game were like, what is happening, but all of the kids that were in my class this year or older. I thought it was hilarious. And so that's really my target demographic anyway. So it was fine. I know.
Collin 02:47
Oh yeah, right. It's you. You had, was it relevant for everybody? No, was it relevant for the
Tori L. 02:53
people it needed? Yes, yeah. And that's all that matters, right? Yes, that's fine. It's fine. So, you know, I thought it was funny,
Brandon 03:05
and so that's what we went with. Okay, that's just what we did. All that matters is if I thought it was funny, right? And some of my children thought it was hilarious, so I was like, okay, there you go. Boom, done. That's what I'm doing. That's the decoration. That's all you get kid by. So that's pretty much it. This week, just doing new things. It is time for rocks, though. So I dig out the rocks out of the closet, and they're all like, how many more rocks could you possibly have? Because I have some out on the shelves and stuff, right? But like, they're like, I was like, I'm gonna get the rocks out. They're like, what? Just go take the ones off the shelf. And it's like,
03:45
no, just wait. So they walk.
Brandon 03:48
Some of them walked this morning. Were like, Oh my What is I tried to tell you
Tori L. 03:56
prepare. And yet
04:00
they don't ever listen
Collin 04:03
they'll learn one of these days. They'll learn one of these days. Maybe
Brandon 04:07
eventually they might learn that they should listen to me sometimes it would be
04:11
useful. So, yes, that's pretty much
Brandon 04:15
it. Just trying to get through this week, trying to figure out again. It's one of those things where, like, next week is Thanksgiving, yes, so we are still our school still just is, like, No, we have to go Monday and Tuesday for some reason. And so I'm trying to figure out, what do I need to do? Like, what should I be do, especially in my social studies class, like, what? What do I need to do? Or do it? Like, what assignments like? What is my plan? Yeah. How do you like? How do Yeah, right. I want to make sure I don't end on an assignment. And it's like a two day assignment, right? Because I don't like something I have. Some assignments or they you need to two days to do them. And I don't want to end on like, day one of that on Tuesday, and then, like, be gone for forever. And hey, we're finishing that thing. You know, the thing you totally remember?
Collin 05:15
Yeah, you have all of the relevant information all still in your head from there. Yeah,
Brandon 05:19
I know over Thanksgiving, you were totally thinking about cuneiform writing. Obviously, everyone like you do, right? But welcome, yeah, so I did write my cuneiform sample on the board today. Always exciting me attempting to write in cuneiform with a
05:41
Expo marker, but it's fine.
Brandon 05:45
I found a passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh that's effectively short and sufficiently dramatic for sixth graders, right? It's like one of the parts towards the end, and the translation just says I, I sat down and wept, and over my face flowed my tears like this is perfect. This is exactly the traumatic scene that sixth graders need in their life.
06:09
So they will all relate to this. They will
Brandon 06:13
all they all know exactly what's happening here. How was
06:22
it received? Was it
Brandon 06:23
I think it's good. I think it's fine. So yeah, they seem like it's good. So just you get just trying to, like, wade through this, like, where do I stop situation? That's what we're doing, trying to navigate holiday breaks. So yeah, that's pretty much it oh and then too exciting, wanting the weather to not be hot again. It's not hot, but it's also not like, hey, wait a minute. What happened to the fall weather we were having?
Collin 06:54
Where'd that go? Ready come back? Fall weather to come back? No, it's
Brandon 06:59
like 70 degree day thing is kind of nonsense, except for it's gonna go like 70 blah, blah, 30 in snow, 100%
Collin Funkhouser 07:12
this is now what interesting I am. I spent my half of my day was down south. Other half my day was up north here, and as is, most of my days,
Brandon 07:26
was gonna say, it's not too uncommon, right? No, no, but, but the
Collin Funkhouser 07:32
southern service area was a full 12 degrees warmer than up north. Whoa, really, yes, that's yes. Yes, it we it was, I was hiking, is doing an adventure hike down there with dogs, and it was like 71 on my hike. And it I ended the hike, and it was like 69 and I started driving, and sure, two hours had passed, but I still checked, and I was like, Oh, my goodness, it's 64 was when I got home, it was 64 down there, up here. It was, it was what, 5252
Collin 08:10
degrees up here. Whoa, yeah, it was what, it was like, oh, is overcast and very, like, very moody. There's a very and I'm like, dang it, that's, I love my moody day. I missed a moody day, and I'm, I'm angry about this now. It is tragic. It is very unfortunate. I was hiking for three hours in like, beautiful, 70 degree weather with two dogs for again, three hours. Yes, why don't you cry that that's fine, like, that's good. But also, wanted to have a hot cup of coffee just like, clutch it as I walked around the house and like, stared out the cold, gray skies outside. Moodily, do I need
Brandon 08:56
You sure are emotionally ready for the conversation we're about to have later? That's for sure. That's what I guess. Moodily, yes, stares moodily out the window at gray skies. Yes, that will go well, I think, with what turns out, turns out, it'll be very important. Oh, I did have an idea that I need to share with you, and then we're gonna need to table it for some other point, since we are about to do a big dive into another thing. However, because we are, as previously stated, a professional organization, I want to harken back slightly to the conversation we had last week
Tori L. 09:35
right about
Brandon 09:40
the trail of iron ore. 26,000, tons more, Fitzgerald light empty,
Tori L. 09:45
but I think, right, because
Brandon 09:50
that song is weird. And the one thing that we forgot to mention is that that song is weirdly in six, eight, right? And I.
Tori L. 10:00
Oh. So I think at some point in the future
Brandon 10:05
we need to make a note of this. We can circle back right. I think we need the oh brother top five list best songs, not in 4400,
Speaker 2 10:16
yeah. This, this is, this is, if
Collin 10:21
ever there was an oh brother list like, Yes, this
Brandon 10:32
is exactly in our wheelhouse.
Collin 10:36
Pun intended. And so I feel like I absolutely agree to make a
Brandon 10:42
little note of this, you know. And then, you know, maybe after reading time, we can, like, circle back and we can, we can just pick this up later, but we can put this on the to do list, right? We can put a pin in this one for a little bit later. But I just feel like top five list of songs, not in four. Four would be a great
Collin 11:08
list. Oh, my goodness, yes. I'm looking up also real quick, I'm looking at our to do list, which is our topic. List has gotten quite long here.
11:21
That's true.
Collin 11:24
Did we do our top five Missouri trees? We did that one? Did we did do that? We did do that. We remembered that one. We did do that. Okay, so, yeah, I've added our top five songs for four. Yeah, this is great.
Brandon 11:36
We also, we did also, I believe, promise, an official oh brother version of the 12 Days of Christmas right
Collin 11:44
above that now, right at 12 Days of alternative song, I've
Brandon 11:47
started a scratch list of things that should be mentioned in the song, however, so just now I remembered, and all we'll talk about that later, behind the scenes for the grand unveiling at some point, The superior version of the 12 Days of Christmas.
Collin 12:07
Death, this good. So I'm all aboard this four, four thing, this is good. I'm very excited about what will what will come of this? All right, all only good things. Only good. I
Brandon 12:19
thought you might, but I wanted to, just like, make mention of that so we could draw it down somewhere.
12:24
Absolutely, I am 100% down.
Collin 12:37
Yeah, it's yeah, I missed. I missed a moody day, but So Noah is part of a model train club. I've mentioned this,
Brandon 12:50
I believe. Well, I don't know if you've mentioned there's any official club affiliation. Oh, here. I know model trains are a thing. Yes, we have them. But I did not. I did. I was, I don't remember if I was aware that there was
Collin 13:06
a club. Yes, we have joined so our parks department, holy, we'll do volleyball and baseball and pickleball and all sorts of sports balls and group clubs and all sorts of things. They also offer a model train club, and we have been a part of this. And what is cool about this is right next to where we live is the main it's like the like the OG park of the town, and, okay, okay, and it has got a big, like, convention hall. And for Nyon millennia, there has been a small train with track that you can like, they've got, like, it's basically like the conductor sits in. It's like, one of those, like miniature trains that the conductor sits basically on top of and they pull, like, a couple
Brandon 14:02
cars. Look at the fares and stuff. Have them,
Collin 14:06
yes, sometimes like, and they're like, they're like, diminutive train. Yeah, there has been, I have, I have counted three versions of this over the years. They have an actual, like, the original one that was here was a wood burning steam engine that was tiny, nice, right, okay. And then with, like, this beautiful, long blue one, but that had like a, you know, like a Corvette v8 in it, or whatever, like, it was just, like,
Collin Funkhouser 14:39
was great. That was still an operation when we first moved to town, and then, okay, during covid, everything like shut down. And this went like way underground and in the background, though, they were finally replacing the main engine. And to kick this off, that we they built a. A little like, again, it's a little train like, a little like train depot at our park that sits on top of this rail system that goes through our
Tori L. 15:12
park as well. Oh, oh, yeah, that's cool.
Collin 15:16
It's so cool. And so the depot is beautiful, and it's got a little ticket window that you can go up there and do. And during the summer, they actually offer, like, it's like $1 a ride, like you get in there and you can go around, it's a buck. Oh, nice. And, yeah, it's like an everyday thing that they offer. And you can go around and do stuff. And to this, this little train depot area is where they have model train club and and what they do is they take the train and they move it out of the train house, because it sits on the train house, they move it out, and they set the big table where they're building the scene down on the tracks. And so you're like, and then when they're when they're done, they pick up the table and they move it back into storage. But like, so like, you're sitting there, like crafting the scenery for your model train, while there's a smaller train, but larger like that can carry people over. Here you're in a train house. And there they also have, they've kept the original train and then the blue one, and now they've got this one that's yellow, right? They're all there on these three tracks in the train. It's like, it's amazing. Like, it's so that's
Brandon 16:27
pretty sweet. Yeah, that's cool. It is sick.
Collin 16:32
Shout out to Brett. He's like, 34 and he is a model train enthusiast to the max. And this is his, this is his job. Like, he manages the train house. He conducts the bigger train thing. Like, he also runs a big model train display down at the depot, where the actual, like original depot is for our town where it started, everything they still have that. Well, it's the second building, because, like, every building then you originally
Brandon 17:02
burned, yeah, right. Like, that's true, some accident has befallen it, yeah, yeah.
Collin 17:16
So, he is a he manages, like that thing. He also, like works for the school and some other reasons. But like, this is his like thing. And so he's managing train club. And Brett is amazing, not only does he have the patience of Saint to deal with six to 12 year old boys, which is all there, right now, right like in trying to get them to work with like glue and sand and like filing stuff. But this is that he builds these sets, and so that's what he goes around and does. And he has many of these on his own. And so this has been really cool, and I will tell you the one piece of information that has completely revolutionized how we are going to be approaching our train is that I thought you just built the train and you, like, put it on a slab of wood, and then you had to go around on
Tori L. 18:09
that. No, I've been wrong. You don't do it. Okay? No, no, no, you take the wood, and then atop the wood you put
Collin 18:22
the insulative board that, like blue board that's like two inches thick. Oh, and then you build a top of that so you can carve it out, if you carve it out
Brandon 18:34
and or add on to add, what is the engineering term for increasing in size, right when my brain has turned off. I was thinking slowly about transit Anyway, yes, where you add on to it additively?
Collin 18:51
Yeah. Or do you want to, like, sculpt a mountain exactly what you just, like, glue multiple layers of the board together and then, like, sand it down to smooth it, and then you put that in a corner. You can then, like, hollow out these things, and then you can go through them with a tunnel. You can then also carve down, because this is the other thing of, like, if it's flat, how do you add a bridge? Well, you don't have to elevate the track. You just, when you have the board, you just carve that. You just cut out a square. And you can put a bridge there because you need one. Like, yeah,
Brandon 19:22
like, underneath it, okay,
Collin 19:25
yeah, I just took it lower. I didn't need to go higher to get a bridge like this. This one thing has just been like, like, amazing for how we are now approaching our build, possibly, yeah, yes, let's go. So tonight was the the was a little bit different, though. So each night, it's an hour and a half where they show that boys show up at the club, and they work on this model, and they.
Tori L. 20:01
Basically they this is week three or four each week. He
Collin 20:06
kind of helps move them along. Of like, Okay, today we're going to be working on landscape, or we're going to be doing this, or this or this thing, or let's do this water feature. Like, that's the project scope. And so he's moving them along. And today, though, was a little bit of a break, because coming up this weekend, the depot there is hosting a Polar Express night for all the kids to come in. You had to, like, get, you know, tickets and stuff, but they had to do a test run to make sure that all of the systems would work. All the lights were going to operate. Because, you like, they kind of turn around that it's not just a boring track, like, put, like, fun stuff around it as you're going around, and they have elves hidden behind trees that, like, you know, you know, throw stuff at you as you go by, and that kind of stuff. So tonight was the test run of this. And so we had an hour and a half of just going around the track the engineer,
Brandon 21:08
they go home checking it out, like looking at all this stuff, yeah.
Collin 21:13
And what it was also fun is that it's the test night, so you you want to test it with people, and kind of make it fun with all the things. So the parks invites all of their employees with the kit with kids to come out and help them test, okay, so like, get a kid approved, right? So on the actual night, they're going to have hot chocolate and baked cookies and these things, and there's fake snow machines spread throughout the park to kind of make it look like so tonight they had hot chocolate and baked cookies, and they had snow machines because they want to make sure it all works, right? And because it's Polar Express too, like a dress rehearsal, right? Absolutely. They they hand out little silver bells to everybody as they come and go. It's, it's like a whole thing. And so tonight was like
Tori L. 22:07
parks department,
Collin 22:08
basically Christmas party. And then we were there writing,
Brandon 22:15
like many things on the show. We were also there. We kind of like rhyolite. Boom, cut, get them.
Collin 22:30
Definitely also there. Oh my gosh, it's so it was so much fun. It was a really great time. And basically it was funny because we have also signed the kids up to do the Polar Express this weekend, and so I was like, forget everything that you experienced tonight. Forget
Brandon 22:49
don't tell your sister about this. Don't just
Collin 22:53
act surprised for everyone. Fine. Oh, so that was, that was cool. But when we because it's like so close, we can walk there from our home, which I love, and as we're walking there, they have taken down the fencing as part of the pond rehab thing. So if we look, we think way back in our brains. There we're we. I told a story of us like we were watching the bulldozers go around in the pond, because they were, oh yes, yes, yes, working on it. Hey. So they came and I don't know, like, I have opinions about how this should have been done, but also I'm not. I mean, technically, I'm the one paying for it, because it's my tax dollars, but look like I have other things to be doing to really worry or care about this. So like, good on them. At least they did this. What they decided to do was they didn't. I thought they were going to rip up all the old concrete that was put down 53 years ago. They didn't, basically, they, like, went around and, like, chipped away the stuff that was, like, real bad, but then they poured over that. And I get it, like, looks real nice. Looks real nice. They pour it over that, and then so they're letting that set, and they have the fencing all around so you can't get in there. And like, last Wednesday, this Wednesday, so like, a week ago, okay, we are outside our house, and this truck pulls up, goes over to the fire hydrant and puts on the back flusher, puts a pipe come back flusher down into the gutter, and then cranks it wide open and leaves. And this is done like they do pressure tests these things all the time, especially because we're kind of in an older part of town where a lot of these things need to be do that, and then. It stayed on into Thursday and into Friday. It stayed on non stop. Mind you, non stop running water gushing out of this thing, down the gutter, all the way down the curb, down into the sewer thing. And I'm like, paying for this. I'm checking my water bill. You finally on Saturday, like, I go over and I see there's a little ticket stub on there, and I call the number on that, and it's, it's Jeff. And hey, Jeff. He's like, hey, it was also at eight o'clock at night, because that's what they do. And he was like, the most convenient time. I'm surprised somebody answered, but turns out the reason he answered is because he's part of a fire suppressant equipment supplier, and basically they have to be on call in case something like really bad happens. And he's like, wait, what? Where are you? Why are you calling me? Who is this? And I'm like, Oh,
Brandon 26:01
I'm really sorry. Like, yes, I agree. Why am, well, is I don't know why
26:07
I'm Collin anyway, so pizza company and click. So I
Collin 26:14
right, so I am. I was like, well, here I am. He goes, Oh, we supply that equipment to the town. Like you'll need to call them to figure out what they're doing, classic run around, right, right? So I'm like, Okay, fine. I'll thinking, like,
Brandon 26:33
that's a good question. I wonder what is going on.
26:37
You text me when you
Brandon 26:39
find that out, but yeah, just call back when you Yeah, when you figure out what's happening here. Because, yeah, I don't know, really, just
Collin 26:49
really confused. Because honestly, you know, like, the city has the stuff he they don't update him when they're using it, you know, like, so I call the city at 845, at night. And there is a the first thing it says, if you have a water emergency, press two,
Tori L. 27:08
well, well,
Brandon 27:10
beep. Meant
27:12
to button baby,
Brandon 27:18
Dave. Dave at the water plant answers. And I said, Hey, Dave. Well, he said, I don't have a water emergency, but you might, yeah.
Collin 27:27
I'm like, Hey, Dave, I'm over here at this and this intersection, and there's this fire hydrant that's been on for like, 48 hours
Tori L. 27:36
non stop. He's like, Huh,
Collin 27:40
oh, such and such. Okay, oh, weird, okay, um, oh, is that over by this other street? I said, Yeah, that's like, just the opposite side of the block. He goes, Well, they had a water main Blake break there the other day, so they may be releasing some pressure so they can work on the water main. And I was like, Oh, that makes little sense too. That's cool, okay. Well, thanks, Dave. And before I could finish, he goes, Oh, also, they're filling up the park pond because they're done with the renovations.
Tori L. 28:20
What. And I went there, what?
Collin 28:25
Yeah, they're done with the renovations, and they're wanting to kind of get it filled up before winter,
28:33
so you just opened a
Brandon 28:34
fire hydrant or, like, it'll flow down the road, kind of in that direction. It'll be fine. Like,
28:40
how that is the most inefficient way how
Collin 28:45
our little corner of this area is constructed. Park pond is a retention basin for water runoff,
Tori L. 28:57
yeah. But like,
Collin 28:59
we'll just let it off the street into the pond and the street, and it goes down this little like sewer thing, and then it disappears and goes into the pond. And so I was like, Wait a minute. So, like, we all so the next day, you're like, Dave, are you telling me? Yeah. I was like, oh. And then in my head. I'm like, that also makes sense.
29:23
I mean,
Brandon 29:24
on paper, it makes sense. Does it make sense to actually do it that way in practice?
Collin 29:30
No, but like just dumping millions of gallons of yeah, let's be honest, people treated water. Okay, yes,
Brandon 29:40
that's the real secret here. It's just chlorinated water you gotta like, then re pump into the water tower storage system, yes, to then be released back into the guys. This is a. Most inefficient thing I've ever heard it in my entire life.
Collin 30:03
It's coming. Hey, get this. Get this. Get this. Guys. We sure we the city has a well. Also we have surface water supply from a nearby river that we siphon off. We're gonna treat we're gonna pump that up 200 feet in the air and treat it with chlorine and other chemicals. Then we're gonna release it to go into a nearby pond. What if we just went from the river
Tori L. 30:27
to the pond?
Collin 30:29
So we like, what about that? The next day, we go over and we look at go to the pond, and sure enough, coming out one of the little water sewer pipe things, chlorinated water. He could smell it.
Brandon 30:48
What the heck, man, I'm sitting
Collin 30:51
here thinking like it's not an insignificant pond, like it's it's not those pictures were quite large. It it swallowed a cat, d6 you know, Caterpillar, two of them. Like, there was two in there room to spare, and it's big, and it's now, like, 15 feet deep, and like huge, like, there's an island in the middle of this. Yes, people, I think we've, I forgot to mention, there's a Island.
Brandon 31:21
Yeah, this is a non insignificant event here. Like, what?
Collin 31:28
And Megan is, like, how long is this gonna take to fill up? And I'm like, a month, like, of non stop. Like, of non stop, like, There's no way. And it, it got like, I think they ended up adding all told over the course of it shut off yesterday, so it ran for six days straight. Oh, my God, six days straight.
31:55
Oh no. I
Collin 31:57
think they may have added like, three or four feet of water to this. Maybe that's probably real generous. It's not even halfway full
Tori L. 32:10
and, well, I mean, okay, number one, you're how I need so the 111,
Brandon 32:21
of the myriad of problems with this particular solution, right is, how much loss are you getting from the hydrant to the pond? How much? How much? What percent of the water is not making it there, either because it's being absorbed somewhere, or it's running off in a different direction? You're not getting 100% of that water even into the pond.
Collin 32:45
Oh, so here's the other beautiful thing, there's the pipe, right? So the pipe comes into the pond. And I'm standing there, and I'm looking at the pipe, and I notice that there's water coming over the top of the pipe. And so you look out, you look up, there's a waterfall of water coming over the top lip of the newly poured concrete. Because, Oh, that's good. The pipe system is, is what people It's blocked. It's filled with gunk. And so, yeah,
Brandon 33:22
because all that new inflow of water has pushed everything into the pipe. And so you've, you've by doing it this way, by increasing the flow so much, and the hydraulic rate, right? The hydraulic charge, they go. That's where looking for it on the system. Anything in the system is being pushed to the end. So you've probably, by running so much water through the system, you have probably, I mean, you have definitely clogged it because of all the sedimentation that was already in the system, and then all the new sedimentation being carried by such a large new hydraulic capacity, yeah.
Collin 34:05
And so you can tell water's coming out of the pipe. Like if you just walked by, you'd look, and you'd go, water's coming out of the pipe. But when you really look, you can see there's a little water coming enough water is coming over the top, because it's flowing down over the top of this and cascading down and hitting the pipe and hitting the pipe and flowing over it. Look and above this, where this outlet is, above that is turning into a massive Marsh,
Brandon 34:30
yeah, because it's soaking into the ground, because that means the pipe is broken somewhere.
Collin 34:34
Pipe is broken and it's just backing up, backing up, backing down, and overflowing and coming up through the ground, yes, and flowing down like a spring. People, yeah, because the amount of water, I mean, yeah, it is. It's artesian welling, right? Like the amount of water that they poured to this is an ungodly amount. This system has never experienced this much water, and was not designed for this amount. Amount of water to flow through it. Like they didn't do anything to this. They just opened up the tap. And we're like, she's good to go and and I have, now, like, sure, like, just no rain system would put this amount now, like, every six days of millions of gallons of
Brandon 35:20
water. Yeah, you need, like, a hurricane, right?
Tori L. 35:23
Like, that's insanity, yes, oh my gosh.
Brandon 35:29
And so now they're gonna have to fix the pipe. So now
Collin 35:33
you got to come in and fix the pipe. And I'm sure what they're only going to do is, like, rotor rooted one way. They can't, oh yeah, they can't, actually, they're not going to dig down, oh no, to get into this, because that would mean busting up all of the concrete that they just paid lots of money to fix. Yes, because they have to get to it like and like, no, that's not happening. People
Brandon 35:58
almost like pouring large amounts of concrete over a big important
Tori L. 36:02
pipe is a bad idea, you know?
Collin 36:05
Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely bad idea. So the pond has four feet of water in it. The thing is shut off and the marsh is like slowly receding back down into the thing. But, like, it was, like, it was this big, like, huge. And because, I mean, here's the thing, like,
Brandon 36:28
I mean, some of that water's gonna percolate through the soil and go into the pond now it's gonna, like, make its way downhill.
Collin 36:36
It, right? It can't get there because there's a massive skirt of concrete. Oh, that's true, though. Oh no, it's impermeable from both ways
36:46
people. Oh no, you could have,
Brandon 36:48
yeah, undermine the concrete.
36:51
It could very well,
Brandon 36:56
because the training just could under. Oh no,
Collin 36:59
you've just turned one side into a bog, right? Yeah, and, and you've got a differential, because the bog is up much higher than the bottom of the of the pond, right? Like, where's all this slushy gonna go? But you saw you softened
Brandon 37:13
the surface under the concrete. Yes, the concrete is gonna settle and it's gonna break. No, oh no, oh no. Look at this is, look at me. I am not even a civil engineer, okay, I'm just an enthusiast, okay? Like these are the problems that we have deduced in five minutes of this, right, where, where are we?
Collin 37:44
Yep, where were the where. Where was the planner? People? I was
Brandon 37:49
the planner. We need to come. We got to send this. I know a guy who is currently going to school for civil engineering. Okay, so we're gonna shout out friend of the show. Okay, Quincy. Quincy, you gotta get on this. You gotta get on this, buddy. We gotta, we gotta, we can't allow this. I this is why we need civil engineers
38:12
right here, if
Collin 38:14
ever there was the definition of like unintended consequences like this. This is it like, I You see why? Yeah, like, it sounds so simple to start, where they started, right? It really does. But then, without, like, then how, just quickly, it unfolds and turns into an absolute nightmare. And, yeah, this is the kind of stuff that like be, like, really impacted by small city governments, and local governments really get burned by this kind of stuff because they don't have all the extra funds to fix the Oopsie doopsies, where they can just go back and fix this real quick. They they don't have that capacity. And so what ends up happening is all this money that they spent, and say, like they saved and spent went to the taxpayers to raise and all this stuff. It all just goes to waste, because what else? Yeah, you didn't think through the plan. Yeah, right, yeah.
Brandon 39:26
You didn't contact the oh brother consultation service, right? With just give us a pizza and like, an hour and tell you a lot, really, we'll tell you why a lot of your ideas are not good, okay,
39:43
like, and, yeah,
39:46
as long as the pizza is not cut too thinly, I'll be
Brandon 39:48
true. We may even Yeah. As long as there's enough pizza, we can even provide potential solutions, right? Yes, like pizza, just run the hose and put up cones there.
Collin 39:59
Like, come on. Can you find, could you have routed someplace like, yeah, like, someplace different, maybe, maybe, I don't know, like, maybe run it at half speed. I don't think I can, like, yeah, like, or monitored, like, that's the other thing is that, yeah, I turned this on and then it went into the weekend. How far away is
Tori L. 40:20
it from? Oh, from, well, from
Collin 40:25
us to the pond. Yeah, it is probably 150 I mean, I'm actually pretty close, like, it's probably 150 yards, maybe 200 yards, okay, that's not that far, okay, but, but you're dealing with an older town,
Brandon 40:41
Oh, yeah. I'm just thinking like, I'm just thinking like, if, if it, if that's the case,
Collin 40:46
surely there's a closer hydrant in the neighborhood across the street to the north, yeah, yeah, one,
Brandon 40:52
yeah. Now I know that you could have to, yeah, there's, there's closer hydrants, right? And if there's a closer hydrant, you can just run the line direct to the pond and avoid all of these problems, literally all of them, right? You just, you just have to, you'll have to have a person there still. But then you know that 100% of the water is going into the pond because you can see it, because you can look at it, yeah, you can monitor water levels. You could probably run it for a few hours. It probably better run it for a few hours, or like, a day. Pull up the line, right? Let it do thing so you kind of shut it off, right? Let people have shower pressure, right, yeah,
Tori L. 41:45
go back. You know what? I mean, like,
Brandon 41:49
be okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. This, this, this seems Yeah guys, come on,
Tori L. 41:56
yeah. So this was,
Collin 41:58
this was the great revelation that happened yesterday. Or, Yeah, yesterday, of like, and like, seeing all this stuff again, like, it just makes me go,
Tori L. 42:09
really, like, that's okay, sure,
42:13
if that's that's where
Brandon 42:16
we are. That's a plan that you have had. That was a plan you decided i Oh, dear, there you go. Oh dear, yeah, so yeah, that was my big fun time. I have a big that is a fun time. That's a a time, I guess, a time was had by all. That's one
42:39
yes, which we all love.
Brandon 42:54
Oh, dear. Well, are you ready to talk? Dickens Yes. Dickens talk, right? As we embark on our great journey. Ah, right, with great expectations, right? A book finally did show up, right? Oh yes, yeah, thanks to the United States parcel service and not DHL dumped it off on them anyway.
Brandon 43:32
So just in time for winter reading time, we decided, once again, to read some Charles Dickens. Right? We felt that it was appropriately winter revived, right? Because, you know, I just feels my dick. It just feels like winter. Now, is this partially because one of his
Tori L. 43:54
short stories is, like,
Brandon 43:57
firmly ascribed to the winter season, maybe what the overall themes and vibes seem to fit, right? So interestingly, right Dickens is definitely an author who, like,
Tori L. 44:15
kind of, maybe
Brandon 44:19
uncommonly for the time was, like, actually, super popular while he was still alive, right, right? Like, this is not always the case for this time period, like, late to 1800s right? He died in 1870 here. So, like, yeah, the middle part of the 1800s like, firmly Victorian, right? Like, the Victorian author, really Yes. Like fits the quintessential Victorian author right now, interestingly, like, probably the most interesting thing about his life in general, is. Is his, like, early childhood, right? Like he, like, when he was, well, like he grew up pretty, like, solidly middle class, until he was around 12 years old, when his father was put into a debtor's prison for three years,
Tori L. 45:24
right? So because,
Brandon 45:27
like, like in, you know, I mean, totally not like modern times, one of the biggest crimes in Victorian London was being poor. So, indeed, so classic, you can't pay so we'll put you in prison so that you can pay off your debt. Because the prison is definitely a for profit prison system that people are profiting off of to have people thrown in there, totally not like anything that would ever happen today. Thankfully, when
46:05
we talk progress in
Brandon 46:07
Yeah, five, yeah, let's take a look at 1850 to 18 to 2025, and look how much is totally not the same. Anyway, I um, right? But this experience, like, I would classify this as, like, intense childhood trauma, yeah, understandably so like this, yes, because he had to drop out of school, he had to go to work
Tori L. 46:38
when he was 12, you know, which is, again, not an
Brandon 46:43
uncommon thing for the time. But he had had to do that because his parents were well off enough that he was able to go to school and stuff. And then he had, he had to all of a sudden drop out of school and, like, be a shoeshine kid for a while. And this was a no no, no no. He did not like this. This was like the pivotal moment of his very early life. Because, you know, a lot of his other writings like this, they you could see how this experience with the sudden exposure to the extreme impoverished and the dichotomy of English society at the time, the huge wealth disparity between the rich and the poor, like confronting him so head on, was excessively trying for him, right? And it's like, super informed just sort of the whole rest of his life, and he would like, definitely, like, fight for, like, workers rights and stuff and like, all later on
Tori L. 47:46
because of this, like, a moment, right? Yeah. So if you want
Brandon 47:51
to talk like important moments in the lines of Charles Dickens, that one, right? Very, very important, right? So he became, like, a big spokesman for, like, children's rights and workers reform and, like, all this, all this stuff, because of this experience he had as a child, right? And, of course, it influenced a lot of his,
Tori L. 48:14
like, novels, right? And so I
Brandon 48:17
think that's like, when you're talking about Charlie, because I think that's really one of the most important things that we have to bring up and talk about here. Yeah.
Collin 48:25
I mean, especially when you think of the rest of like, obviously, he's, he's writing. Like, would you say, I don't know, like, would you most of his writing is kind of, like, contemporaneous with where he with where he is, and, oh yes, definitely also like, of his childhood too, like, it is very much of and not necessarily for a time, but like this really kind of draws that line of where he's going to pull from and go back to and think about and write about for the rest of his life.
Brandon 48:53
Yeah, yeah. He is definitely writing of his time, right? I think he's very similar to Twain in that regard, of like he is writing about a specific time, right? Twain would do it in a more, sometimes more roundabout ways, as we saw with the Connecticut Yankee. I think Dickens was much more like, Haha, like, right in your face. Like, was not like, there was no metaphor here, right? Here it is. So, yeah, he started writing. I think his first writing was like the Pickwick Papers, which I have not read, right? He wrote, like a bunch of books, right? He was a very prolific author, and I think this one that we're going to read was one of the last Is this the second to last book that he wrote? Is that correct? Is that right? That what this is, I think this is right. I think great expectations is like, it's one of his later, it may be the second to last book that he actually wrote. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 49:59
Great Expectations, and then our mutual friend, yeah, after this, yeah.
Brandon 50:06
So I think this is closing in on one of the last things he wrote before he did die of a stroke. Weirdly, he's very sick towards the end of his life, but so yeah, he wrote this. He wrote lots of other things too. But again, I'm interested to see because a lot of his writing, which again, is was, as was common at the time, was serialized,
Tori L. 50:31
right? Yes,
Brandon 50:33
this is the way that writing was done at this time, you would get, like a chapter a week in some sort of magazine, periodical situation, yeah, right. Coincidentally, this one was published in a magazine that he owned.
50:50
So that does help, doesn't it does help.
Brandon 50:53
When you are in charge of the magazine, you can kind of do
Tori L. 50:59
whatever you want.
Brandon 51:02
But I am interested to see, like, I have not really read much Dickens before. Have you read a lot of Dickens? No, I haven't. Yeah, I haven't either. So I'm interested to see, like, what that is like, what, what he how this like, flows together, right? Like, are there? The big question I have is, like, are there, like, like, parts that go together? Like, are, like, you know, like, like, what is the word I'm trying to, like, sections of the book that go together. Like, Oh, do these, like, seven chapters, like, really, go together really well, and then, like, the next, like, five, right? Like, they're all contiguous by, like, do they go? There's like themes in there. I want to see how that kind of plays out thinking about, like, how it was originally presented in a serialized
Tori L. 51:53
manner, right? I think will be interesting to think about, right?
Brandon 52:01
I'll talk about the other, thing that I really know about Charles Dickens that I was looking up here, is that, like towards the end of his life, he was involved in a very big train
Tori L. 52:08
crash. Oh, right. He was in
Brandon 52:13
the staplehurst rail crash of 1865, right? They felt the train went off a bridge. Oh, yeah, yeah. And the only car, only one car, stayed on the bridge, but it was like dangling off, kind of, and that was the car
Tori L. 52:35
that Dickens was in. Wow, right, yeah.
Brandon 52:40
And so like, he also, like, went into nursing mode at this time, like the emergency response team was Charles Dickens, and so he was, like, helping people, and like comforting them, and like trying to get them, like, whatever, until more help could actually get there. So, wow, that was a, yeah, that was a weird thing. And he after that, he didn't, didn't like traveling by train, shocking. You know, that's really weird. It turns out he was in, he was in a big, crazy train crash. I think the other Dickens fact that I seem to know from somewhere
Tori L. 53:36
is that he became very
Brandon 53:39
interested in the fashion of the time, which was, like, like, during this time, like spiritualism and like weird, like seancey stuff was very popular, right? And he was very into, like, critically investigating stories of ghosts, like to prove if they were real or not. Like, he wasn't like, into like, Oh, I'm He wasn't like, part of the crowd that was, like, going to the things and like, believing in ghosts. He was like, a very critical, very early ghost debunker, right? He was like, into that kind of thing. So not,
Collin 54:21
he's like, he's like, the the Victorian what James Randy, or whoever that guy was, yeah?
Brandon 54:26
Like, he's like, yeah, no, bro, it's not a ghost. Your door is squeaky, right? Like, that's, this was, he did this kind of thing, right? He was very interested in the paranormal, but not necessarily, like, as, like, a skeptic, right? Yeah? Like, he was like, he was open to the idea, but he was also like, I don't know, I'm gonna investigate this. He was curious about this guy's name. This is another, just random side note, which I think is interesting because, like, just because the only really other Dickens work that I know has. Lot of ghosts show up on it. So, yeah, I thought that was an interesting connection there,
Collin 55:08
well, but he also, like, I think he may have been known that he was writing to a title, yes, who? Well, that's true, yeah, big into that, even though he was himself, yeah, but I thought that was, that's a very random like, what?
Brandon 55:26
Okay, that is crazy. Yeah, there you go.
Collin 55:29
Oh, wow, I have to continue my brain like it. This is, like, keeping context for things and like, when they happen, and the other stuff going on around in the world while they're happening is, like this, it shouldn't be shocking to me or surprising to me when bits of information come out and I'm like, Oh yeah, that was obviously everything. But like, he was, again, contemporaneous with, like, the American Civil War, like, so, like, yes, also, again, Victorian area, civil war. It's just you don't see, like, again, this is just my brain. Like, when I read stuff, it's like, I know, and then I see this, I'm like, Oh, right. We were fighting about, you know, things and stuff. And he was, you know, writing about, you know, you know, great expectations and all this stuff like that. So it's like, it's interesting to see, and just know, like, right here is the context for where and when this was happening, what right he was writing about things that they were facing and struggling with while, you know, us, was facing this and and obviously other parts of world were doing different things. It's just, I like how some of these things come into sharp focus at times. At least for me, I have those where it's just like, and click, Oh, right. There it is. There it is, because my brain can't hold many things in in line. That is true.
Brandon 56:53
That is true. This is a this book. This was a published, uh, conveniently, Collin from its first publication in the periodical all the year round, was December 1, 1860 to August, 1861 so we're like, right in time. This is why, I mean, maybe that's why it feels winteries, because it was December,
Tori L. 57:21
yes, right, yes. There we go. Perfect, yeah, yeah,
Collin 57:26
right. I'm also curious to see how his early time with, like, kind of getting his start in journalism, to an extent, like in some of the sketches and stuff that he was doing, I'm curious to see if that plays through with how things are written and like how the story is told from that perspective. So anyway, I'm interested.
Brandon 57:50
Yeah, I do know that this is just in blatant, like, basic research. Apparently, this is only the second book he ever wrote in the first person. Oh, interesting. Okay, so this is also this may fall into our favorite category of secret memoir, right? Yes, potentially, right, although this Wikipedia describes this book with a word I have never seen before in
Tori L. 58:17
my life, that is German. So forgive me, but Bill dungs The Roman perhaps
Brandon 58:32
a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood, AKA a fancy German word for a coming of age story, story, yeah. That's yeah. That's what. This is why. Wow. That was I, I have never encountered this word ever before. No. So this is already an interesting story.
Tori L. 58:58
That's what they would start this says, yeah,
Brandon 59:02
yeah, wow. Okay, I like how that's the word. They're like, Yes, this is the category. Like, are there other books in this category? Like, what is examples? I know many things I've never heard of before. Oh, yes, of course. You know these all the how these examples, this Wikipedia page are from, like, the 16th century,
59:25
like, very clearly, scroll
59:27
down, yeah, oh, yeah. But I'm sure you'll see
Brandon 59:32
more here, way down here, the 19th century. Oh, Jane Eyre, okay, they go.
Brandon 59:42
I'm sure there'll be something in there, yeah, but like, there you go. That's very it's very interesting.
Collin 59:49
And I scroll down because I had to, I typed in a horrible phonetic spelling of this. And I mean, there. I see on this page, the outsiders.
Brandon 1:00:03
Oh, do you Let's go. I didn't get that far down yet. Yeah. Oh, there it is.
Tori L. 1:00:12
Perfect. Do
Collin 1:00:13
you perfect? Also see underneath that the Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Gwyn, which is Miyazaki film, turned into that so that that's true. I have that collection right over here.
Brandon 1:00:24
I like the tales of mercy. The earthy cycle is brilliant. I love that. Anyway, okay, oh, apparently Harry Potter qualifies. It's, it's, it's real. This is the only list that you can find Harry Potter and Jane a hair on the same.
Tori L. 1:00:41
Yeah? English authors, right? Yes. Turns out, there
Brandon 1:00:51
we go. Maybe this is we'll just have to keep this list in mind for next time when
Tori L. 1:00:55
we were picking, right, if you want to, if you want to pick, yeah, from the
Brandon 1:00:59
16th century, first edition, lazarello de Tormes, yes, obviously, obviously, that's what we're going I also almost jokingly, when we were picking books, I almost, like half jokingly, said, Beowulf, right? I forgot.
Collin 1:01:16
I Okay, however, told you so, senior year, I was in American Lit, not American Lit. I was just in literature, yeah, yeah, something we were reading Beowulf, though. So that yes, but whatever we're reading it, and I had to do, but do a report on it, and so
1:01:42
I did, because I am who I am, and
1:01:47
everyone else obviously got up and they're like in Beowulf,
Tori L. 1:01:50
this, this happened, this and this happened. This happened, right? Because we were still doing that kind of I
Collin 1:01:58
did a fake news report from one of the townspeople about what was going on. Let's go. It was reporting on the comings and goings of things. Basically, I had three different scenes. Of, like, the beginning of like, the first interaction. It was great, and that was how I gave my report was from the news anchor.
Collin 1:02:33
And so it was, you got like, that's how you knew about, like, the, you know, breaking into the hall because it was like, I was reporting on the number dead. That's how you knew, like, where I was in the story.
Brandon 1:02:49
I wrote mine as a comparing contrast to bear, wolf versus Superman. And I compared him unfavorable, like, the negative aspects of Superman, about, like, how Superman is boring, and he like doesn't necessarily have to strive to overcome problems, because he's just already so much better than everybody. How uninteresting a lot of that is. Yes, because that's kind of how I felt about parts of bail. I think Tolkien would be very disappointed in me.
Brandon 1:03:20
But anyway, maybe, right. Okay, so, so, yeah, I'm interested to see about, like you said, the what kind of input we can glean from life in the mid 1800s
1:03:35
England, from this
Brandon 1:03:38
right, just about like, how well does he capture this time and place I'm imagining quite well, because He's highly regarded as being able to do that. So I think. But I'm interested to experience that, because I, like I said, I don't think I've actually read
Tori L. 1:03:56
Dickens anything before, right? I know the Christmas Carol, obviously, but it's kind of it, right?
Brandon 1:04:08
And I know about Oliver Twist through Oliver and company, obviously. So as one does,
1:04:16
as one which
Collin 1:04:18
actually Lillian is reading through Oliver Twist right now, and so we are going to also then watch Oliver and company, if you ought to, that movie is great. Yes, I know I'm very excited about this. So
Tori L. 1:04:33
yes, yes,
Brandon 1:04:39
yeah, I would see that I am. The only slight trepidation that I have right is Dickens does have a bit of a reputation for loving him some
Tori L. 1:04:51
long sentences. Right now, we've dealt with this a little bit a little bit more.
1:04:59
Yes. Is not,
1:05:00
I don't know
Brandon 1:05:02
if you can hear them from the other room. I got a yes, but they're good sentences. I should, I should mention, I should mention here, ladies and gentlemen, that as this is really my first written exposure to Dickens, my wife is a very big Dickens fan, right? And so, ah, so that is, that was where that comment from was coming from. But yes, so I am slightly trepidation to this, because I do hear that he, he loves him some super long sentences, right? Like, there's gonna be a lot of semi colons in here. And just like comments for days now, Stevenson
Tori L. 1:05:41
did also
Brandon 1:05:43
he, you know, he would get that way too. So we'll
Collin 1:05:47
see. It's also again of a time I'm reminded of reading through, oh my gosh. What was it when I first encountered this? Was it Robinson Crusoe? I remember that, oh yeah, that one's like that too. I remember that one. I was like, I was like, I was like, man, look at this paragraph. That's an entire that's one sentence, that's us and, oh
Brandon 1:06:08
yeah, here's my question. Here's my question, is this
Tori L. 1:06:13
like literary style, or is this,
Brandon 1:06:19
Oh, dang, I have to fill up so much space in my weekly publication of this book, right? It's
1:06:25
so does High School last minute.
Brandon 1:06:27
Yeah, not like last minute, but like knowing, like my readers are expecting this many pages, yeah, in the next edition. So now I need to fill that up better, really hammer down clauses.
Collin 1:06:50
Let's go like, that's what I'm wondering. Like, are you saying this is why the semicolon was invented? Was to me, perhaps this may be
Brandon 1:06:59
why the semicolon was invented right to fill periodical space. I don't know this for a fact. Okay, this is just a conjecture only, right? So I don't know, but that's this was the other thought I was having, just as like, I wonder if these two things are connected in some way. Wouldn't be surprised? I doubt it, but part of me likes to think that they
Collin 1:07:22
are. So I don't every, especially the weekly periodicals you gotta
Brandon 1:07:27
Yeah, more actually, I don't know if it was weekly or,
Tori L. 1:07:32
well, actually, yeah, I
Brandon 1:07:35
probably would have had to been right or, yeah, it could have been, well, I don't know. I don't know how many chapters were released a week, but yeah, so yes, this is my this is my just sort of half joking question, of like, I wonder if these things are related to each other in some way,
Tori L. 1:07:59
because I just think that would be kind of funny, amazing.
Collin 1:08:07
So are we doing? So two chapters? How many chapters do we have? There
Brandon 1:08:14
are, I believe there are 59 in an afterword, yeah, but they're not necessarily lengthy, right? They do appear to be quite small chapters, yeah, right. There is no, there are no rather, pardon me, like other divisions in the book, though, there is not like Book One, Book Two like that, like the Hemingway one had, right? It's just like, chapter, chapter, chapter, but they are not very long, okay, so
Collin 1:08:51
we should probably try and do, because we have 59 we should probably try and do what, three, at least three a week.
Brandon 1:08:58
I mean, yeah, we can start off with that one. We can just, well, I mean, we can always, like, adjust to, right, but we can start off with like, three to, yeah, we try. We just do three for the first one, right? Give us some Yeah. That'll be 2020, weeks or so, yeah. But let's see what go and that'll be, at least, in my book, that will be 20 ish pages, so it's not bad. Okay, cool, yeah, we will set that. We can do that for this. We can try see how it goes. Yes, we'll see how it goes and adjust as necessary. Yeah, adjust as accordingly, right? We may do slightly more some week, if we if there's some that are, like, really short, yeah, we can do like, four. That makes sense.
Collin 1:09:50
Well, we are looking I'm looking forward to that, and I have a haiku to round us out. Oh,
Speaker 4 1:09:58
let's go. Aaron, Oh, indeed,
1:10:02
see aforementioned discussion, endless rushing stream. Hydrant sings a baffled song. Days pour out in sound. Yeah. Yes,
Brandon 1:10:30
let's go. Very nice, it
Collin 1:10:33
is. So we will dive into Great
1:10:38
Expectations next. All right, let's go. Okay, do this again, next time.
Brandon 1:10:47
All right, okay, love you, love you. Bye, bye. You. You.