no Dickens in the classic section

Brandon has the Edmund Fitzgerald on his mind. Collin is thinking about trains. We decide on Dickens.

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot, training videos, pet sitting, first visit checklist, video production, classic section, podcast, song lyrics, 1976, Lake Superior, steam engines, Big Boy, DHL shipping, family reunion

SPEAKERS

Collin, Brandon

Collin  00:00

Oh. 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, no Dickens in the classic section, ahoy.

00:21

Oh. Okay, I guess how are you? Oh,

Collin  00:24

I just realized I don't have my notes pulled up at all.

00:28

I Oh, no. It's all gone

Collin  00:30

terribly wrong. So caught up on the Chippewa on down.

Collin  00:41

You know what? They say about those gloomy November days,

Brandon  00:48

that they're gloomy. I don't know.

Collin  00:52

The lake never gives up her dead. When the sky that is true. November

Brandon  00:57

gloomy, yeah, when the Gail, no, that's not what it says.

Collin  01:01

That's the note, the opening. It's the opening. Ah, yes. This is the weird thing. It the youth, the song starts almost the same way as it ends. Okay? So the opening is, yes, the legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call get you me the lake. Just said, Never goes up to her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy,

01:23

but Oh yeah,

Collin  01:27

yeah, when the gales of November come early, yes, yes, yes. I was, man, that's a Yeah. So I was, I was listening to that. Obviously, celebrate 50 years. Obviously, obviously, as one does, I have reached that time in my life where I'm like, you know,

Brandon  01:48

I oh my gosh. I need you to know that

Collin  01:53

this is not the first time this week that Edmund Fitzgerald

01:57

has been on my mind. So that's a very

02:01

see. I

Brandon  02:04

also watched some like YouTube video. Think about it, right? Every once while. I mean, because it is, you know, you know

Collin  02:10

the time you're about like, it is a very odd,

Brandon  02:15

odd thing. And of course, you know, can't think of the Edward Fitzgerald without thinking about Gordon ladhood for, you know, reasons. So it was just a very odd,

02:29

it's a very weird thing that just happened here.

Collin  02:34

What I do? Yeah, I listen to that. So that's that's been what I've Man, what a what an interesting song. Mean,

Collin  02:43

yes, great, great true. Am I? I remember?

02:53

I remember listening to that on the radio,

Collin  02:58

and I'm like, a

Collin  03:00

very interesting song for the radio, yes, of a time. It's not like the catchy

Collin  03:09

yes there, that's for sure. Well, I mean, that's true,

Brandon  03:17

but is it a good song for the radio in the years in which it was made. Oh, yeah. Like, yes, right. So, like, I think that part of it has to do with the like, the time in the place. Like, what year did that song come out? Exactly?

Collin  03:37

Like? Because I

Brandon  03:43

that, yeah, 1976 right? So this is a very 1976 song, right? Like, it's very like singer songwriter story reality, right? So, like, everything about this song really

Collin  03:59

does sort of Scream

Brandon  04:02

1976 right? So I was like, not, yes, it's not sure. It's not unsurprising that this would be a very popular song at the time, right?

Collin  04:15

Plus, you know, relatively topical at the time as well. So like, yeah, as in

Collin  04:23

the most topical of topical things when it came out. Well,

Brandon  04:27

maybe Yeah. So like,

Collin  04:31

yes, no, but I mean, he I love the lyrics. Gonna say it's a good lyrically. I think it's a very, very well done, very well done song.

Brandon  04:45

That's true. I cannot really name for you another Gordon Lightfoot song. No, which is surprising. Yeah, surprising. So, like, I don't know if that's just. Me, or if this is like other Gordon, like people that have this

Collin  05:08

dilemma, but like, I

Brandon  05:10

mean, you know, I don't

Collin  05:13

know. I having listened to none of his other songs, I don't know how this stands amongst

Brandon  05:20

them, that's true. Yeah, I don't know how it compares to the Gordon Lightfoot discography,

Collin  05:25

because I don't know. I don't know.

Collin  05:31

Yeah, don't I'll tell you. I'll tell you. According to billboard.com

Brandon  05:34

Okay, they're relatively trustworthy, not always the most accurate, but

Collin  05:40

you know, well, they have ranked the top 10 Gordon Lightfoot best songs, okay, Hicks. Well, yeah. Now this was done two years ago.

Brandon  05:52

Has he been putting out new music? I mean, maybe he's alive.

05:58

Was as of two. Was in 1976

Collin  06:02

No, no. He

06:05

died in 2023

Brandon  06:07

okay, all right, so yeah, so he's not putting out new records. So this is probably a definite, relatively definitive list, right, unless there's like secret, unreleased Gordon Lightfoot material that's what I fault somewhere, right

Collin  06:24

for the Lori Lightfoot. Lori, Lori Lightfoot, oh my gosh. Gordon Lightfoot. Lori Lightfoot, the mayor. Unreleased. The Lightfoot, yeah. Vault to be unlocked,

Brandon  06:34

yeah. Now, yeah. Have more than Al Capone's in. It will never

Collin  06:38

this is going to be a crate. Gosh. This is gonna be That's right today, furious for us because we have self admitted that we know nothing of his discography. That is true, so I would list off 10 Songs that we don't know. Okay, let's enjoy this. Number 10 is the dream. Street rose, yeah, no talking in your sleep. Eight, ribbon of darkness. Seven, rainy day people. Six, anything for love? Any of these ringing a bell so far? No, okay. Five, Carefree Highway. Is there

Brandon  07:18

anything for love? Is that like the opposite of the meatloaf song? That's why, no, I wonder if this is in response to meatloaf, right? Like, is there, is there a secret Gordon Lightfoot meatloaf beef that I don't know

Collin  07:34

about? No, but also,

07:37

anything for love was a country hit, interestingly?

Brandon  07:41

Well, you know, I mean, he's very country adjacent, especially, like, 70s, country adjacent, 70s, right? Like, like, you know, the Merle, haggard country definitely, like, in that vein,

07:57

yeah, yeah, I'm gonna note, just note here, 70s, big year for Lightfoot. Big Year.

Brandon  08:05

I mean, yeah, I think that was the year

Collin  08:09

five. Carefree Highway four, the circle is small. I can see it in your eyes, okay, okay. Number three, interesting title, yes, if you could read my mind. Okay, okay. Johnny Cash, Barbra, Streisand and Olivia Newton, John have done versions of this. Whoa.

Collin  08:30

What? It's the Lightfoot classic.

08:35

Yes, it's become one of his most covered tunes.

Collin  08:38

So there you go. Okay, there you go. He

08:42

released it Christmas of 1970 number two, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, okay,

Brandon  08:51

I this is what I wanted to know. I was like, is there another Gordon Lightfoot song

Brandon  08:57

more popular than the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Well, I really need to know.

Collin  09:04

Well, not just popular, but like, is it deemed good by critics? Because that, I mean, that is true too, but

Brandon  09:10

like, Yeah, but also, I mean, I mean, yeah, there is a difference between like, good and popular, right? Those are not necessarily exclusive things, but like, for the billboard thing, like popular hassle has to come into it, because that's

Collin  09:25

kind of what they do, right? But, but I,

Brandon  09:29

I don't know. I bet, Okay, never mind. I bet I know one person that knows a lot of these Gordon Lightfoot songs. But I outside of that one individual, I don't I bet I only know one person who might possibly even know a second Gordon Lightfoot song. So I know I know one guy. He is a big like

Collin  09:52

folk singer dude, right? And so he probably, he may know some other. Born in life.

Brandon  10:00

But song, maybe I got a guy. I got a specialty guy. Maybe knows. I'll have that text him

Collin  10:07

later. Yes, yeah. I need to know accepting the Edmund Fitzgerald list, yeah, another song, and I'll be interested to know if he lists the number one according to Yeah. I want to know what

Collin  10:21

this is. Okay, number one, sundown, sundown, sundown.

Brandon  10:27

Also, shortest, title of these all, yeah, I don't know the only one word title of the list, yeah, interesting. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know this song, and I'm curious about what a song that is better than outside.

Brandon  10:49

That's very weird we think about this because, like I said, Because I only

Collin  10:54

know a song, a song, it kind of makes it hard to be like, okay, yeah, how does this stack up?

Collin  11:00

That's true.

Brandon  11:02

But because I only know a song, it's like the song, right? It's like the measuring stick to which all other songs shall be measured. And so it's interesting to me that there is some sort of consensus that there is a better one like that.

Collin  11:23

So, yes, yeah, and that comes right in the heart of his 70s hits coming out in spring of 1974

Brandon  11:34

Oh, well, dang Derek, there you go. Then the winter 75 hit, and he went well. Now I know what I have to do.

Collin  11:47

Six got him boom.

Brandon  11:56

After that church bell timed 29 times.

Collin  11:59

And you know what people are saying. Now it's 29 plus one. His Lightfoot died, so it's 29 plus.

Brandon  12:06

That's true. I think I heard, I think I heard that they did ring it when he died. Yes, I do. I think that's the thing that happened. So I think they rang, I think the last time they did it, I think they rang the bell 30 time they did the 29 in plus Gordon, yeah, right. So that's talk about cementing your legacy in a weird, very weird way, but

Collin  12:29

in a very interesting way, yeah, yeah, but I mean impactful to the families and the community as well.

Brandon  12:38

So, yeah, that's true. I don't know when I was reading the comments on this video that I watched. Like, again, can we be 100% sure that these comments are real and not a Russian bot farm? No, there's all these people that are like, oh yeah. Like, you know, somebody was like, Oh yeah, I remember going to see the fits as a kid, right? It was on the lake all the time, or my uncle was on the other boat, right? The one that was like, in radio contact with him through the thing was like, Oh yeah, my uncle was on that other boat, and he told me about blah, blah, like,

Collin  13:16

what, you know, it is hard to think of like in those communities. Well, yeah, because I also you get a lot of the jokers, like, I saw a post today by somebody who was like, it was one of those so and so arrested for this, like, defending themselves. And, of course, all the posts underneath it were like, Oh, John. No, John was at my house. So

Collin  13:45

I'm like, Is it, is it? I don't know, but yeah, that's true. So yeah,

Collin  13:52

you know, like, probably, I probably do know everybody knows each other. So I mean,

Brandon  13:59

yeah, and like, the shipping routes were very well established. And weirdly, like the Edmund Fitzgerald had, like fans, like boat ship enthusiasts, oh yes, that would come and, like, wave at it, watch it, yes, yeah, because you know, as you know, it was the pride of the American side for many years, yes, but

Collin  14:30

so many tons of iron ore? Yes, 26,000

Brandon  14:33

tons more than when the Edmund Fitzgerald lay empty.

Collin  14:38

Yeah, specifically, yeah.

Brandon  14:43

Like, but like, the thing was talking about how the a lot of the captains of the ship would like really play into it. They would like talk over the megaphone to people on the shore and at the docks and like, you know, they. Always like, make sure they should clean. Because people were like, would literally come out specifically to take pictures of the Edward Fitzgerald, which

Collin  15:09

kind of weird, but weird, you know, if you know, just

Brandon  15:13

living on Lake Superior, what? What else you gonna do with your day? You know, especially in 1974 like, what else are you get it to the, you know, like, go see the fits, you know,

Brandon  15:27

within all the iron ore.

Collin  15:32

Oh, man. So, yeah, that's, you know, it's just different. Talk about the train spotters and stuff. Yeah, you know, going around and see ones around. I was reminded recently that the there's an engine class of steam engines called the Big Boy.

15:53

Oh yes, I saw a thing about this way.

Brandon  15:58

Why? In what context did I read about this? Like there was a going somewhere. Maybe I don't remember,

Collin  16:03

yeah, I don't know. I just,

Collin  16:05

yeah, literally, like the straw, like the most powerful thing, like one of them, like, literally, ever, yeah, the four. It was the 4014, 4014, is still, like, in operation, like they run it around by, was it Union Pacific? And they Yes, yeah, they do, like specific tours. And it even, like, they even not retro, I guess, retrofitted, like more modern technology, slightly updated, yeah, stuff like, for the safe for, like, rail safety, yeah.

Collin Funkhouser  16:45

And it I was, we saw that come through our town as it was making a heritage run. For some reason, I forget what it was. And I was like, how long it was? Oh, it's four years ago, my goodness, Oh, dang Vegas. Just yesterday was pretty big, yeah, but I was, you know that that like draws people out to see like, people come from all over to do that, to see that and see it running and have for

Collin  17:22

like years, yeah, to see this Well, I mean, because it's so different, right? This is the thing about

Brandon  17:31

the train thing, right? Like the ones that are like, unique and interesting, those are the ones that like people want to see except for in Britain. Weirdly, when they're like, oh my gosh, it's engine 512 Yeah, I don't understand. Like, that's, that's weird, right? But like, yeah, the ones for like, that one like, it's at least just like, different enough And interesting enough that it's like, it is a thing, because when all the all the other ones are just like the normal, like, diesel electric locomotives, like, Yeah, whatever. Like, it's, you know, cool, they all kind of look the same. So whether it is something that's like, super unique

Collin  18:22

and interesting, then it's like, really crazy, and people want to go see it, you know, yeah, yeah.

Collin  18:34

And especially to see something that was just a technological marvel of its day, and still is, like, still just very realistically, of like you said, it's so unique. It's so different in and to see it in operation is just wild. And I love people. What I've been reading some people's posts about that, and they're like, how much torque does that thing generate? People are just like, Yes, Yes is the answer yes. It's really, like, the the most powerful ever built, and it's steam. So the answer is just Yes, like, it will just rend the earth to move along. So, like, it was specifically designed to haul heavy freight over the Rocky Mountains, okay? Like, answer is, yes,

Brandon  19:27

you're not. Is pretty impressive, right? Yeah, and they did it for over like, it

Collin  19:34

was built back in the 40s. Like, that's the other crazy part to me, is that it was built in the 40s,

Collin  19:40

which I'm like, wow, you like, that

19:44

doesn't seem that long ago to me to still be

Brandon  19:48

building steam locomotives.

Collin  19:53

Yeah, it's really not like, I mean, I. Yeah, it does, yeah.

Brandon  20:03

That is kind of a weird thing to think about, right? Like, it does seem like that should, is a little too modern for steam trains, right? Because this feels like diesel

Collin  20:10

should have been

Brandon  20:13

doing things, but by the end of the 40s, I think it was becoming a lot more popular, right? I

Collin  20:17

don't really know. Yeah, well,

Collin  20:19

this, this only ran for like, 15 years, yeah, like to the it only didn't even hit, I think it ran to the end of the 50s. So in that context, yeah, it wasn't, I think they, they pretty, they saw kind of the writing on the wall with it. And it was, it was the last, like, huzzah kind of thing, yeah. Makes it all the cooler to think about. Of like, yeah. In the 1940s they had been building trains for over 100 years. And they were like, all of the technology, all of the know how, all the stuff had gone into making this beast, like this, this, this crazy monster. And they were like, yes, yes, we will finally be able to like, this is what we need to haul heavy freight over the Rocky Mountains. Wonderful, congratulations. Okay, okay,

Brandon  21:15

hopefully they can travel further than 23 miles by this time, right? Hopefully they have become more efficient, and could, you know, travel further. That would be super useful. You know, that would be great if they could do that. Let's hope that is true of 1940s steam trains, right? That this

21:37

meant that they put, they built larger

Brandon  21:41

water I mean, yeah, I think they're huge. I mean, they are big, like, some of the really big I'm trying to find, I'm the reason I'm so abstract here is, I'm trying to find the name of this train thing I have, like, this vague regulation of this research I did one time about, like, big, like, 1940s trains. And I cannot, for life, me remember. So I'm, like, in like, panic mode, like, what is this thing? Like, there's, like, really big, like, the ones that are all crazy and, like, decoy looking right, like, like the 1940s like, these ones you're talking about, yeah, there's like, one that is like, insane, and I can't remember what it's called.

Collin  22:19

I love the story behind this again was they needed to haul heavy freight over the Rockies. And what the reason they did this was because they, like, up until, like, all through the the early 1900s and so the 30s, they had to have a double header. They had to have two locomotives. Yeah, like running this, and the and Union Pacific was like, no make one train to do it. And that's why they built this. That's the entire reason that they built this was because they were tired of using two trains to pull things over a mountain, and they just decided that one would be enough, so they just made it gargantuan, really, like, if there's like, everything on this is just huge, beyond comprehension to see that this is actively running down the tracks. It in itself, weighs over a million, million pounds. What is how it was this thing that's pretty crazy, yeah, yeah. Just like the thing itself. And then it will continue. They will also pill, what, 28 tons or whatever behind it, without Yeah, without

Brandon  23:27

even Yeah, I'm good, just like, whatever. It's fine.

Collin  23:31

Well, here's one of them. What's this other one? This is really bothering me, like, a lot, but, like, like, the, what is this?

Brandon  23:46

Like, how a lot of these, like, so called things are just, like, No, this was taken in Ohio. Like, that's,

Collin  23:51

I need the name of the thing.

Brandon  23:56

But, like, the big Mercury thing, right? That one, right? I'm talking about, oh yeah, that thing is, like, that is a monster.

Collin  24:05

Yeah, yeah, it's so cool. And I love and, my goodness, it looks so beautiful, too, yes, right? And so it's like, oh yeah, see, yeah.

Collin  24:24

I mean, that's another thing, like, yeah, I would, I would come from a long distance, like, yeah, to see just this cool stuff for sure.

Brandon  24:39

Yes. But yeah, they're quite large, because, again, more cars, more cargo, more dollars. Oh, wait, here you go. Got ruined, everything, right there. There it is.

Collin  25:08

Other than seeing Edmund Fitzgerald, I have not been doing very much this week. Things have slowed

Collin  25:18

down. I have been doing

Collin  25:24

some training of people, which is always fun. I went and I

Collin  25:31

we have

Collin  25:32

so I've got all these, like, these boring training documents. I know we've talked about training a lot, but like I said, we thought to ourselves, like, Okay, how do we better prepare people, make sure that they're ready. Blah, we're still gonna do in person training. But can I pull forward

Collin  25:46

any of this stuff? And so

Collin  25:51

I'm like, Well, I actually have, because this is how I am. Like, I develop these scripts that if I say things enough like I will just, I can fall into just, oh yeah, the script of things that I'm going to say, and it's this is nice, because it gets everything's consistent. And I realized, like, I say the exact same thing to every single hire across, like, the first three visits, like, pretty, pretty much, unless there's some huge variation in the kind of visit that we're doing. So I thought, what if we just take all that jargon and all that stuff that I throw out there and just shoot a video? Right? Like,

Brandon  26:31

oh, man, here we go. So we did.

Collin  26:36

We put the kids been over to Megan's folk house. We set our house up like across the yard. Wandered across the yard all the way by themselves. We set, we staged our home like a pet sitting visit, and I even, we even went out and bought, like, this really tiny bag of cat litter. And used Pan Dish thing, not a dish, but, like a basin, a plastic basin that we use for, like, cleaning products under a sink. Oh, yeah. And like staged, simulate the litter box. And I even, I even dribble just a little bit of water in that to simulate the little like piece went all out. We did. We went all out. And I told the only direction, I told Megan was, like, you are just going to follow me through the visit. I'm just going to do this like it's a normal visit, and I'm training you on what we're doing. Okay, so I'm going to talk to the camera like you're the new person, and we're just going to roll. And so the only other direction I said was you're going to be standing in the yard with the camera rolling, I'm going to pull in, I'm going to step out, I'm going to address you, and then we're going

Collin  28:02

to go, okay,

Brandon  28:03

so Okay, guys, so we got from the trainees point of view, okay, I've seen the vision,

Collin  28:08

seeing the vision. I like it, because I'm like, Well, this is like,

Collin  28:14

I because what I get a lot of is people go, Oh, I just needed to see you do that. And now I understand, right? Because taking descriptions from a dry paragraph, yeah, on your screen into like, but what does that look like in reality? So I'm like, Okay, we're just gonna pretend this is a pet sitting visit with a little dog walk and I need to check on the cat. That's pretty standard for what we do. That's going to hit, like, probably 75% of the stuff that everybody needs to do all the time, right? Like, if you need to see me do it, now you can see me do it, and hopefully then this will speed up a little bit of the like. Now I can hand the baton off to them to have them do it a little bit sooner, man, because I can clip out one of those repetition and so I we like staged the home. I got dressed, it was ready with all the stuff. I pulled up, lights, camera, action, boom, 45 minutes in one take

Brandon  29:22

look at you. Scorsese would be so impressed. Boom, like, Wow, I've never seen anything so amazing. All all tracking shots.

Brandon  29:32

Oh yeah, let's go through and my full, yeah, oh, it was great. It was great. Now we did, we did go

29:41

back and actually, cut.

Collin  29:43

Like, I did have to make one cut, so there's one cut in there. Because, I mean, that's fine. I fumbled up the transition from one thing to another. And I had thought we were done with the visit. It was a little like, so anyway, like we come in, we corrected that. But what was really. Cool was I had turned because, remember, I'm supposed to be showing Megan, as if she's the new trainee. So I turned my phone towards her, and I'm scrolling on it. And so the cut actually happens after I've shown the phone, and I'm pulling it back to me, so you don't even

30:22

know, Oh man, look at that. Because I just

Collin  30:24

started with, like, zoom in here. I'm going to say these words, and then we're just going to and then we'll cut shortly after that, so that that transition of me pulling back the phone, it's all and it worked. And so I ended up just having to cut the last five minutes and redo the ending, because I didn't quite stick it, but yeah. Like,

Collin  30:45

okay,

Collin  30:48

so we had it. We had like, we're having our the rest of the team watch it, because they've already gone through all this stuff. They, I'm hoping that, like, they can give feedback on this too, of like, is this like, a because I have this concern, and I've had this concern for a long time, like training everybody. I'm like, Have I like, Have I drifted in how I do things or whatever? And so it was reassuring to have every single one of them say, Yeah, this is exactly what you said to us, yeah. This is exactly up. This is, this is what it is, good. I'm like, Okay, sweet. So we got, like, again, like, 75% of the stuff. And so now Megan and I are, like, our brains are racing as to, like, how do we now, like, start doing like, Can I do another video to capture the other 15% or, like, 10% of stuff, and how do we arrange this to find, start finding these edge cases so that, like, I don't have to, or I don't have to, because the other part that we're working on with this process is now, like, I'm really getting serious about training trainers

Brandon  31:58

of like, oh, I

Collin  32:01

need to have team members who can consistently, reliably do that. Yeah, because there are times where it's like, because we kind of have this, it's not formalized, but like, it needs to be of like, what, where's everybody's current skill set, and this is kind of based off of what kind we know, what kind of visits every person has done. And so yeah, it tells us of like, okay, even though you've been with me for six months, you've never done an insulin injection on a cat. So I know I need to come. And obviously we would still shadow on, like, medication stuff. But if it's like, oh yeah, you know, you've never, like, we just have these kind of weird things that are these edge cases that we find ourselves having to step back in and refrain on stuff. So if I can have, we're going to be experimenting on, is it enough for me to show you a video of this or or do I really need to be there? So that's we're kind of gaging this. So this is, this is a new like, turning her home into a film set, kind of, kind of thing, like the other we did this series of, like, we have these weird checklists of if it's your first visit for if it's the first visit for a client who's traveling on vacation, right? It's a first in a series. Oh, okay, yeah. Not least, like, a one off, right? Yeah, not a one off. And it's, it's important, importantly, it's not the first time we've ever seen the client. This is just the first in their series of visits coming up. We go through a checklist. We make sure that the home is secured, that we know where things are, and that we have enough of everything that we'll need for the trip. So I know, okay, they're going to be gone for five days. I need to feed two cups a day. So I need 10 cups of food. Do I have that, where are their medications, this kind of stuff. So I was like, I realized that one of the things that I didn't cover in that big walk through, where I'd do the intro, and then we walk in, we'd do the visit, and then at the end, I do the wrap up, and I do all that stuff I didn't show, like how to document messes. So I shot a first visit checklist video. But in the first visit checklist video, I come into the home and I noticed that there's a mess on the floor, so I have to clean that up, and I go, kind of like finding where we put this. And this has been, I know it's been, it's been an interesting thought process to now, how do we capture all of these edge cases and because I could, but here's what I don't want to do. I don't want to shoot 53 minute and a half long videos, right? No, I definitely could, and there are a lot of training programs out there who who will do that. Like, I, like, Yeah, but no, no, no, that does it? No, no, no, no, what that? What that robs the person of is seeing everything in context. Text and, yeah, I think that that's really important. I think it's really important to have a context to what we're doing and how we're doing it, and so trying to find these ways of inserting it into like, Okay, I know the next video is going to be me walking a dog, but like, can I insert something about door security in that video, because it matches that setting, and that's kind of why we're there anyway.

Collin  35:31

Oh, that makes sense, yes. So

Brandon  35:35

it's just a lot of like, double checking, like, oh, I that man, how that's a lot of work to put into one thing, especially if you're gonna, are you not gonna do them all in one take? Are you no no

Collin  35:48

of like, of, of, what can I do in one take? Like, that first visit, stuff, like, there's this. So what we did as well, of, I did a first visit, a second to last, and then a last visit checklist video. So I did three videos for those, okay, okay, those were, like, each and again, I do like the intro, I do the skills, I show how to document, and then I wrap up at the end. So each of those is, like, seven minutes long. Okay, not too bad, but again. But I'm also doing other stuff in there. Of like, oh, yeah, hey, oh. We need to make sure that this plant gets watered when we water plants, a great way to document that we're watering plants is by taking a picture of you watering a plant. I know that sounds weird, but it helps reassure the community we're going to do because it is, but

Collin  36:41

it's really weird. But

Collin  36:46

it's like finding, like, oh, right, because I didn't talk about that in that first big video. So now and then there's other stuff in there, like, I know. So that's just where we are now. Like, where, where are these other little, smaller pieces, and can I shove them into a larger story as just like a, oh, hey, here's this thing. Let me take care of this, as opposed to just having a video about watering plants, because I don't want to do that one.

Brandon  37:16

I mean, correct? That is not a whole video dedicated to plant watery

Collin  37:23

you know, like, if we were more serious about plants, then, like, maybe, yeah.

Brandon  37:29

But like, your name's not, you know, the plant sitters, no, you know. So, like, this is the other thing, because I know some people are real finicky about this kind of thing. But like splashing water on it, it's fine.

Brandon  37:44

Count to 10, you're gonna be home in two days. It's fine. You can handle, yeah, nobody or, you know, maybe, potentially tomorrow, you'll be home tomorrow. So splash Reno here so you can gage how much more water the plant may or may not need, so it'll

Collin  38:03

be fine. Yes, yeah. And, and that's the idea of going, like, how, right, defining those

Collin  38:11

things, what's worth it to shoot a video on, versus what's like this is not in our wheelhouse. We are not the plant people, if they need, like, seriously dedicated plant care, like we're out. I'm not here to care for exotics or anything like that. Oh, yeah, no, you know, too weird,

Brandon  38:29

too ish, sorry, yeah, we do squirrels and groundhogs, but not exotic botanicals.

Collin  38:37

Seriously, over the summer, we had somebody who had, like, quite a bit of specialized plants. And well, what it was was it was not only just a specialized plant, but the only reason the client wanted us there was to water her plants. And Whoa, yeah, she was traveling for two weeks, and it was all outside plants she wanted. She didn't want any of her newly planted plants to die.

Brandon  39:10

And it was I had to laugh hard, because this is Pet Sitter I don't know like

Collin  39:17

doing. The reason I laughed was because my team was, like, shaking in their boots, like I had no, like, I had so many questions from people. They were so concerned. There was, there was, like, a lot of like, what, what, what, what. And I just laughed one time, because I'm like, Look, I know. Like, yes, do we do extensive plant training? No, but like, every single one of you has changed, has, like, stood your ground with, like a charging pit bull, and like, you have dealt with like these, like intense situations and handled emergencies and injuries and like, and I'm like, yeah. I'm like, Hey, can you water this Petunia? And everyone's like, ah. Ah, like, totally losing it. It's still, it still makes me laugh. It's still really funny.

Collin  40:13

I was really good,

Collin  40:16

just like, this total meltdown. And I'm like, okay, that's fine. Oh, dear. So So I did. I did. I did. Put together a training series on plants so that I just have peaceful but it

Collin  40:31

was, there you go. You should do it like. You should really go full Steve Irwin and be like, All right, guys. Look, I know it's scary, but if

Brandon  40:45

you approach it slowly from the side, right,

40:50

I should put on you should yeah, just go, Yeah.

Brandon  40:55

Put on the pin helmet, first party hat. Like, put on the khaki shirt,

Collin  41:00

right? Like,

Brandon  41:03

sneak up to it. Like, you crawl, crawl up to it, right, yeah.

41:08

Like, I should totally lean into that.

Brandon  41:14

Rocky guys look at this beauty. Now, I know it's intimidating, but

Collin  41:19

if you bro, she slowly,

Brandon  41:23

she won't harm you, right? Like, there you go. I apologize all Australians who just listen to that too, by the way, I'm sorry.

Collin  41:34

Yeah, right. Just go full blown.

Brandon  41:39

And I think it would be great. That's the best be the best training video ever. Yeah, right. Like, really lean into the fact that, like, plants are weird. We don't know what we're doing with this. And, yes, we're a little bit frightening, but it'll be okay, yeah,

Collin  41:58

yeah, yeah.

Collin  41:59

And so it's like I said, like, Megan and I are just doing a lot of thinking about trying to find these big overall categories of kind of visits, and making sure that we have things in place for that, so that I don't have to be there in person to tell you things where, like, that's where a lot of the training has Come in and and not that, not that that's invaluable, but if the more I can front load it, the more I can, because here's what, here's really the problem that we found

42:31

the first time that I'm telling you

Collin  42:35

how to scoop litter like It cannot be when you are scooping litter, because you've got so many other things going on in your mind. There may be a really cute here's the biggest thing, there's a cute cat over there that you'd really rather have a or that's rubbing up against you, and you're like, Yeah, I'm distracted now.

Brandon  42:54

Or you're or you can't find the cat because it's hiding in the sofa, right?

Collin  43:01

You're worried about time. Like, there's just so like, doing actual, oh yeah, first time training in the visit with the pressures on is, like, horrible. And so it's like, this might not be the best learning, way for this, best learning, you know, pedagogy, or way to go through this with people, but like,

Brandon  43:24

like, I stare. Like, sorry.

Collin  43:28

Like, stare. I when I taught human anatomy, it was like, we are going to spend two weeks doing nothing but learning the terms before you start finding where it is on the body. Because if you try and do both things, it goes south, really bad, because you're trying to learn two pieces of information at the same time. So, like, We're gonna do one and then another. And so really doing this, like really focusing on in the field, that's more of the practicum. That's the hands like that is you displaying things that you've learned I should be doing very little first time, educating in that moment.

Collin  44:13

Yes,

Brandon  44:16

that's true. That way you can just focus on practicing to do the thing, yes. So

Collin  44:20

be focusing Yes, and so that's where I'm really trying to move to. Plus, if I can condense things down to a video, then it saves me a lot of time. That

Brandon  44:31

is true. That's like many, many things that you don't have to go to, right? That would be excellent.

Collin  44:40

Yes, because there are,

Collin  44:42

there are times where it's like, oh man, like you, this person needs trained. Oh yeah, this, but they don't need trained on anything else that day. So it's just me wasting an entire day to go do this. Oh, no. Oh no, yeah, just like, the one thing do 130 minute thing to show you a skill that's five minutes long, right? Yeah, that's, that's what I'm trying to say. My my days from this good plan,

45:18

because I don't like, I

Collin  45:20

don't like them just saying, like, Okay, well, you'll just have to figure it out without me. So instead being able to say, here's a here's an actual thing of me doing this for

Collin  45:29

you, and

Brandon  45:32

I can watch it. You know, the old, the old, whole reason the video exists is because you

Collin  45:37

can watch it more than once. Yeah, you know. So that's the other bonus here, is that you can just, like, do that, and that will

Brandon  45:45

help, you know, that way, you know, if they have any questions, they can just watch it again, right? And then, you know, maybe if they have, like, one specifically, they can just like, text you like, hey, yeah, I need clarification about Step seven. Like, boom, yes. This

Collin  45:59

is, this is 1,000% where we are headed and what I'm trying to do. And, like I said, like, there are existing, course, things that you can do and have for people, and we may get to that point, but right now, I'm like, Well, I told Megan. I was like, I I like, talking. I'm kind of good at this. Like, maybe, maybe I just say the stuff. Could we do that? Maybe I'll just save the money, yeah, yeah. So maybe,

Collin  46:38

oh, man, so, yeah, that's, that's all.

Collin  46:42

That's what we've been Edmund Gerald and photo, video shoots, training session and the gales of November.

Brandon  47:00

I've been doing much more things me, I really done a whole lot this week, we did go to like a mini Susan family reunion situation. Thing happened? Did you say Mini? Mini or no? Like a full, like, it was not full, like, like a mini family reunion with, like, part of her mom's side of the family,

Collin  47:33

cool, like, yeah, so they, they did that. So I was there.

Brandon  47:39

Like, I don't really know these people that much, but, like, I remember them slightly. They used to, like, go, like, they haven't really gotten together since, for many years now. Like, they used to go and get together at like, her grandmother's house, right? It was like, there was always, like a fall like thing, like her Gran's house and stuff, and so that's, it's been a while since that's happened. So like they just wanted to, Susan had been talking to one of the cousins, Randy, one of her cousins, I guess, and they just concocted this plan to

Collin  48:19

do this. And they

Brandon  48:23

finally got to do it. They all went up there. Was pretty good they wanted. He owns, like, a ice cream parlor

Collin  48:29

in Springfield. And so they just went. Everybody met there,

Brandon  48:35

and just like, took over the little secret back room. She was like, she asked if she was like, so do you think we could, like, just reserve that back room and just have everybody in there? And he was like, Yeah, I know the owner. I think we can make that happen. Let me hold on, yeah. Let me talk to him. Oh, hey, it's me. Yes, that's fine. That's great. So, you know, so that it was good they were and we took her mom up there to see all them, and she was very overwhelmed by all the people that she hadn't seen in a long time. So it was good. It was good times, all right, it's fun. So, plus ice cream, you know, boom, always good. I didn't really have a lot to contribute to the situation,

Collin  49:22

because it's like, I don't really know

Brandon  49:26

any of those people, like, I vaguely remember some of them. It was like, hey. And then I just sort of sat at the corner,

Collin  49:34

let everybody talk

Brandon  49:35

to each other. It was

49:36

fine. Sometimes I'm just staying

Brandon  49:40

out of the way. You know, it's not it's not there for me. It's fine. It's okay, yeah, so I hope I didn't come off as too unsociable.

Collin  49:49

But also, like, I mean, how much glowering was going on? None.

Brandon  49:54

I was jovially eating my, like, super mint ice cream thing. So, like.

Collin  49:59

Like, boom, right, come on, there's like, mint

Brandon  50:03

chocolate chip ice cream, but with, like, Andy's mints in it, like, how, how could you be dour in a

Collin  50:07

situation like this? You can't. That's how so

50:18

tried glowering with this ice cream. No, yeah,

Brandon  50:21

they didn't, they didn't have my third favorite ice cream. There's no rocky road, so I had to go mint chocolate chip. You know, that's okay. I'll let, I let him know. It was like, Hey, man, what's up? Where's

Brandon  50:36

speaking of deep cuts today, ladies and gentlemen, is boom, an oldie, but a goodie. And then, and then, right? So the other thing I do want to talk about, right, is I

Collin  50:52

want to talk about

Brandon  50:55

delivery services, right? Oh, I want to talk about this in conjunction with our book we're reading, right? Oh, also, before we get to that, before we get to my rant about this, we did go to the newly opened used bookstore in downtown, right? Look at that. Time is real. There actually is one. It's opened. It's pretty small, right? They they do have new and used books, but they did, like, before they opened, they had like a used book drive, where people could bring in books and get, like, store credit, you know. So they stocked up a little bit. There is a lot of stuff in there,

Collin  51:38

not like

Brandon  51:42

I'm slightly worried about variety that is appropriate for me as a very niche reader. What sort of books are going to end up in the used bookshop in a small, rural Missouri town, right? So sure. You know, not a ton of books for there are some good ones in there, right? Not a ton of books that piqued my interest, necessarily. But again, that is a 100% me problem, and I'm aware of this, right? Good so they have, they did have their non fiction section, complete trash. Okay, I just want to throw that out there. Very bad. It's nothing in there at all, nothing even remotely interesting in the non fiction section. That's sad, right? I mean to somebody, but not to me, right? Not to me. There was the extra large, like sci fi fantasy section, which, again, that's very popular on the internets these days. So this is unsurprising. There was the very large Tiktok book, girly section. Again, good for you. Not I don't want that. Or they didn't have, like, your just normal, like fiction, historical fiction, like thriller fiction, Thriller fiction. So that was good. That was good. I did buy one, right? Because I did have an author that I like, and I've read her trilogy of books. And so I was like, Oh, I'm gonna buy this one, because this is not, like, it's a standalone one. I think. Don't quote me on that, but I saw, I was like, oh, Jan Harper, okay, I'll go with Shan Harper, because I did like the the other ones that she wrote right? So that was good. So I got that one right for the Lola price of $5 this one talking about right? This is why you go there. But disappointingly, this will segue into my next conversation. Disappointingly,

Collin  53:39

no, Dickens. Right?

Brandon  53:44

No Charles Dickens. Okay, so, so they did have a small classic section, kind of over on the side. There no Dickens on the classic section, right? So, yeah, it's very nice in there. It's very kind of cute, right? They do do that. They do have the school like blind date with the book things, right? Had some of those wrapped up in there. They have, like, a book club situation that they're going to start doing, right, which is kind of cool,

Collin  54:12

but no Dickens, right? And so I was forced to other means to try to find great expectations, right? Oh, no, so I

Brandon  54:26

went the next best route. I was like, oh, thrift books, right? Clearly, this is what we gotta do. So found one on there, ordered it, right.

Collin  54:36

But turns out thrift books may use,

Brandon  54:42

quite possibly the worst shipping company of all time. That's right,

54:50

they ship my book. DHL,

54:55

right, I'm sorry, what I. Right?

Collin  55:00

First of all, who does that? Right? What is that? What is going on here? And, like, it's so,

Brandon  55:06

see, you were so you were not expecting that, because nobody ships anything DHL, because it's not good, right? Like, like the Spanish acquisition, nobody expects the DHL just shows up,

Collin  55:17

right? Because have anything I've ever ordered that comes DHL, um, like, it takes forever, right? I just walk

55:31

the book here, like I don't.

Brandon  55:34

Oh, like, what are you doing? And it appears that, like, it took forever for them to get from Arizona, I guess, I don't know, to then they just dumped it off at the Kansas City post office.

Collin  55:50

Like, why did they just put it in the post office? Yeah. Like, what's the point doing it that way,

Brandon  56:02

if they're just, if they're just gonna drop it off in the post office anyway, yeah. Like, why we're good. Why would you ship it with shipping cavity and then they just go and then dump it in the post office like that should not be allowed. Okay, I don't know how we regulate this, but that is some trash. Okay? You don't need to rip on the post office and talk about how the post office sucks and then dump all of your stuff in the post office and make them do the work that you were hired to pay to do. Like, What in the world is that

Collin  56:40

so annoy. I don't understand that. I don't

Brandon  56:48

either. It's terrible. I don't know how DHL as a operates in, like, the United States, right? Like, I don't know. Like, allegedly, I don't know allegedly, in other parts, because it's like a worldwide shipping thing, right? So that it's got that going for it, but it's, it's network in the US is not really existed, right? And so

Collin  57:08

as far as I can tell, because

Brandon  57:12

it's like, so slow, okay, I don't know how it is in like Spain, right? Maybe it's better, I don't know, but like in the US so slow takes literal years. Okay, I have no idea what they're doing. So I might get this book

Collin  57:33

by tomorrow. I don't know when it's gonna show up. Oh no, right, who knows? Not me, right? I always figured

Brandon  57:47

daddy, Jeff has enough my money. I'm not gonna order this for him. I'll go somewhere else and then, no, I'm just gonna take 800,000 years. Yeah, right. It's a kid

Collin  57:57

here like waiting. I mean, I don't care about a little bit of waiting, right? A little bit of amount of waiting, like a normal

Brandon  58:04

amount of waiting, but DHL is like an in just inordinate amount of frustration and waiting and like a guessing game of, like, when could it be here? Right? Like, yeah, no, it's, it's like their package tracking is just, like,

58:22

right? Who knows where it's gonna be,

Brandon  58:25

like, you know, like, if you compare it to, like, FedEx, because not even close, right? No, or the UPS, man, right? Like, so boom.

Collin  58:36

Like, so good, right? Like, they don't, whatever, but the stinking I once had a UPS man,

Brandon  58:46

leave the thing as, like, a thing you had to, like, I don't, they wouldn't leave it at the house. I don't know what it was like, wouldn't leave it at the house, right? And so I got home, and they were like, you know, blah, blah. And then I, like, called the number, and then you just, like, routed it to the dude. And he was like, Yo, I was still in town. Meet me over here, and I'll just give it to you. Like, okay, it sounds good to me, man, let's go. He's like, if you could be there 10 minutes. I was giving it to you right now. It's like, okay, I can do that. I will be there. He was just like, I just need your ID with your address. It's like, Okay, done, boom,

Collin  59:23

oh my gosh, that's all i

Brandon  59:29

That's great. We talked about hilarious. Have you

59:34

okay? So this remind

Brandon  59:35

me years ago. I don't know if they're still I do this kind of thing that was a long time ago,

Collin  59:38

but, like, still, great. They probably can't do that. There's an SNL skit that I just texted in our super secret text channel, the of Jiffy

Brandon  59:49

Express. Have you seen this skit? Have to watch it now. Watch this now

Brandon  59:56

this, if it's been on SNL more recently. Later than 20 years ago? No, I

Collin  1:00:01

hope, no, this is, in fact, exactly something that is like 20 years ago or, Oh, okay, definitely, definitely, much later. I think when

1:00:12

was different? Was this done?

Brandon  1:00:15

Oh, I don't know, but okay,

1:00:18

the whole thing is

Collin  1:00:19

that it's

Collin  1:00:20

the it's the company that you use if you were supposed to send something but you missed the deadline. Jiffy Express will take the blame and say that they lost the package. Oh, nice. Oh, I see.

Brandon  1:00:34

Well being said, this is Yeah. Here's Yes, Rob Schneider in it. So this is very old.

Collin  1:00:40

This, yeah, it's just great. He's like,

Collin  1:00:44

it opens up with this lady being like, they told me he was supposed to send this, you know, so many weeks ago, and, oh, man, sorry. Like, the fake stamps, of like, where, yeah, around and stuff. It was like, tire tracks on it. Like, yeah. They like, yeah. They go through process of, like, fake aging it to make it look like it did something nice. This.

Brandon  1:01:07

This is, like, this is the top comment says, I wish this was real. So,

1:01:14

you know, some people right? Some people

Brandon  1:01:16

are like, dang it, hey, I really, really need this in my life right now.

Collin  1:01:25

Exactly what I that's funny, that's, that's what DHL makes me think of,

Brandon  1:01:32

yeah, that's fair. Express. I was also thinking, Oh, back when Rob Schneider was funny. But then I was like, wait, that was never a thing. Never mind. It's, it's, he has his moments, his moments, maybe look a moment, maybe yes, not anytime recently, but

Brandon  1:01:55

I didn't say recently. I you.

Brandon  1:02:03

That's great. So do you want to talk Dickens a bit? Set a game plan for if I ever get a book or if I have to, like, go the library, I don't know, like

Collin  1:02:15

what I did not come prepared to talk Dickens. Okay, so we can save that for next time. So next week, we'll set a plan. Next week will be our introduction, our

Brandon  1:02:27

inflammatory background, okay, saving the scene as it were, and then we will launch after, Okay, sounds good, yeah, maybe I'll have a book by then too. We'll see if DHL ever gets here, right? Maybe my book will just be in, yeah, they'll be like,

1:02:44

Oh, we delivered it to Arkansas.

Collin  1:02:50

Let me see. Let me see if I can hold on, let's

Brandon  1:02:54

see live package tracking, right? We'll see if DHL package tracking is updated, right? Oh, they've given it. It's they have now given it to the Springfield post office. There we go. Wow. Good job, guys. Good job. So the Springfield post office, USPS, is now doing all of the work here, officially. DHL is shrinking all of their responsibilities, right? Like, yeah, there's like, oh, sorry, can't do that. Kind of tried a little bit, yeah, they didn't even try what they were doing, okay. Well,

Brandon  1:03:38

so ridiculous. Well, in that case, if you have nothing else, all I have for you is a haiku. Collin Perfect, well, a him, inspired by finally fall edition. We have the following, green fades to reveal a hidden color palette of autumnal shades

Collin  1:04:15

thrown out all the words there, my good god, oh, it. That is,

Brandon  1:04:26

that's a barn burner of the one. Oh, hey girl. Well, Susan liked it, but she is very biased, because she loves fall trees. So, like, I don't know if she'd like the Haiku, or just that it was about fall trees, so I don't really know. Tough if just

1:04:43

happy to be thinking about fall

Brandon  1:04:44

versus Yeah, exactly right, yeah, yeah, this is probably not good. But she was like, oh yes, the falls because we did. We go to the park the other day and walked around, you know, and looked at trees. Nice. Yeah.

1:05:00

That. Well, well, good. Yes, it's finally fall. It feels good. Good. Good. Stuff going on,

Brandon  1:05:08

yes, yes, okay, next week. Okay, if you get a if I get a buck, I think Susan has a copy too, somewhere, somewhere he has a bunch of Dickens things laying around. But like, Well, we'll see. So if all else fails, I'll raid my wife's bookshelf. But okay, we

1:05:31

will go from there and see you on that bombshell. All right, I'll let you know. I'll keep you updated. Thank you Very much. Love you.

Brandon  1:05:40

Bye, bye, bye, you.