production pipeline
Collin is working on CEUs. Brandon is working on CEUs. We’re staying continually educated.
production pipeline
Collin and CEUs
Brandon and CEUs
Things every weekend
Finally fall
Mixer failings
ding. you did it.
continually educated.
Brandon Haiku
Cold air descends
From the clear night sky
Leaving white wisps upon the earth
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Podcast production, CEUs, Continuing education, Automated quizzes, Google Script, Professional certification, Pet sitting, Conference approval, Networking event, Business mixer, Workplace culture, Halloween party, Fall foliage, Book proposal, 12 Days of Christmas
SPEAKERS
Collin Funkhouser, Brandon
Speaker 1 00:00
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. Production, pipeline,
Brandon 00:17
Ahoy, ahoy. Not a lot. I was having trouble loading, and then all of a sudden, was like, Hello, here you are. It was being sneaky.
00:31
That's good. How are you I am, well,
Collin Funkhouser 00:34
I am. They've been working around with some Google Code. I'm trying to work on some Oh, that sounds fun. Okay, so, so here's what I'm trying to do. Okay, this is, this is what I was like. You know, what I need to spend my life doing is I need to figure out a way to have an auto, a quiz automatically generate each time that somebody when I create an episode for the other podcast, what I want to do is I want to have a quiz generated based off of the content of that that will create an auto form in Google that when they fill it out, if it's over a certain threshold, it sends them a completion certificate that they can turn in for CEUs with professional organization. Okay, because here I was and this is what happened, okay,
Collin Funkhouser 01:48
there was this conference last year that we didn't go to, but they were announcing, okay, so it's a big conference. Prior to the conference, they came out and they were like, Hey everybody, just so that, you know, the entire conference has been pre approved for CEUs continuing education credits by these organizations. So if you attend, make sure and get your little completion cert, and it'll be great. And I'm sitting here going, how in the world did you get a conference pre approved for CEUs? They don't know the content of these things, right? You haven't even made them. This is, this is weird to me, this, this, does this make sense to you? I mean, have you? Have you encountered this? All right. So, like, I don't,
Brandon 02:41
okay, so in, I don't understand why people attending a conference like this would need continuing education credits, right? So I'm, I'm double flummoxed here, like, what are they what? What are they getting them for,
Speaker 1 02:58
right? So some of these individuals, they are like they are certified professional pet sitter, okay, so in order to maintain that certification, they have to submit so many CEUs every year.
Brandon 03:15
Okay, so this is, this is this is why I didn't know this was a thing, because I have to do this too, okay, right? Well, I mean, not like, I mean, I don't have to submit anything, but like, I have to have like, as a teacher, you're supposed to have so much like, Can? You have to have so many hours of like that? And that's what a lot of our PD days count for, right? Like, when we were signing in for that, because we're being professionally developed. Allegedly,
03:46
yes,
Brandon 03:47
that goes That's that, that's part of that continuing education to like, to make sure that you're like, stuff is up to date. Now, I don't remember, there's some funny stuff with, like, in the first five years specifically, you have to have, like, a huge number of them, but then, I don't remember, like, after you've achieved your like official certification for the state of Missouri, I don't know if that number matters quite as much anymore, because, like, it's not until five years where you go, Oh, okay, now you're officially like, you get your like, normal certified, and then I don't remember what they call they call it something else, but, like, when you get your after five years of teaching and doing all that stuff, then you get, like, you upgrade your certification to something that I did, but I can't remember what it was, because I just fill out A form and then had the lady at work send the facts to the people. I was like, Alright, there you go. Yeah. So I don't know, like, in that context, like it doesn't really matter,
04:54
like, what
Brandon 04:57
it is, it just matters that it's really. Related to the field that you're in, right? So, like, I would imagine that the way that they're doing this is, like they're just saying, well, it's related to the field of pet sitting, because it's a conference about pet sitting, therefore close enough. Counts It's fine. Don't worry about it, sure, right? Yeah, because, like, in our PD days, like, it doesn't really matter what you're doing, or you can go to some people go to conferences, you know, because they like it. But like, whatever, as long as it's like, related to education, it counts as your continuing education thing. Like, I don't think it has to be like, Oh, it has to be in this, like, super specific thing. I think it's like, yeah, it's related to the con. It's related to the field. So it's fine. So I think that's what's happening here, is they have said, well, it's related to the field, and that's good enough. Like, it's a conference about pet sitting. You're a pet sitter. It's hunky dory, right? Like, I think that's kind of what's going on here. It's just, I think
Speaker 1 06:12
it's the language of, like, we've been approved for CEU, as in, like they've because that gives the connotation as in, like they have rubber stamp that it's awesome, instead
Brandon 06:22
of, well, I mean, that does Yes. So that does kind of send the message that, like, Whatever, whatever we're doing, it's good enough for them, right? Like, that's kind of what it feels like they're saying yes, maybe not so many words, or maybe exactly those many words. I'm not sure it
Speaker 1 06:38
probably is that, because I've also heard of it kind of like what you're saying of like, Hey, you can go do a bunch of stuff, and then you kind of gather the evidence and the information, and then you submit it, and then they kind of say, okay, yeah, this qualifies, or this isn't good enough, or this, I don't understand what this was like. That's also a method that I think some organizations do yeah as well. I think it's because this little world is so small that I'm a part of that, like there are two organizations,
Brandon 07:07
and that's true, it's quite a niche environment you found yourself. So I
Speaker 1 07:13
got a burr under my skin and was like, Well, I'm sorry, I have 21,000 hours of educational content and interviews out there. Can I get that approved for CEUs, right? And I took it
Brandon 07:38
to can i What a weird thing to get a burr under your skin for but fair enough,
07:43
because I don't have enough on my
Brandon 07:45
plate. Yeah, right. You're totally not busy at all. I says to myself, you have all this free time.
Speaker 1 07:51
Let's go tilting at windmills. And so I just started to contact these organizations. It was like, and I found a couple other ones that were kind of like on the fringe, like maybe one of them, if you want to submit your stuff to be approved for CEUs, you have to pay have it reviewed. And it's, it's like, it's 20 bucks for every hours of credit that you are applying for.
Brandon 08:21
And I'm like, No, I'm not no. Like, did you not hear the previous number? I just said, No, it's
Speaker 1 08:28
not in my head. I'm kind of thinking maybe I'll select, like, three, just to have over there, like, just to have to say that you can get it. But then the other one I went to and they were like, No, we don't. I mean, like, one person said quote. I mean, how would you even verify that somebody listened to a podcast? And I'm like, Well, how did you know somebody went to the conference? Like, it's signed in, it's no, they just hand out little pieces of paper, and then you're like, oh yeah, this certification definitely guarantees that I was here for the full conference. Wink, wink. They don't have to sign into the conference. What a rip. They get a little gift certificate, right? See, this is what I'm talking about. I'm like, Are you serious? I'd have my friend to grab it for me, and then I toss it over, like, oh, yeah, I was totally there. Yeah, right. Well, the only way that we do this is if we could have, like, a quiz where somebody does and I'm like, Are you bleeping kidding me, like a quiz. I have to make a quiz to prove that people have listened. Oh, my goodness. So then I was like, Well, how would I go about doing this? Because I like, they need proof that they listen to this, so I have to make a quiz to fit their parameters. In order to make a quiz, I have to come. Questions or questions, I have to my content, but then I also have to have find a way to automatically send them the email with like, congratulations, you passed, or whatever, send this over to your people. And I'm like, oh, okay, so I have been going around. There's a thing called script.google.com and I have been working, yes, with everybody's favorite AI coding, and I've been playing around and around and lots of Reddit to figure out, like, what a
Brandon 10:32
great combo AI coding and Reddit, what could possibly go wrong? I really do
Speaker 1 10:38
great things if the NSA starts knocking at my door again. So I really am sitting here being like, Okay, I need to get this information, this information. I need to make sure the email says XYZ, and I need to make sure I pull this form and this form, and I'm trying to have it like all. So I am just like, I think I finally have one thing that works. And the problem is, is that like, it's just, you know, just never really stops. You've got to figure out like, anyway, it's got to be consistent. I have to do this for like, so I have to submit the episode to to the organization. Then I have to, like, it submitted to them and say, Okay, this episode's coming. And then I got to go and I got to make a quiz to make sure that it says, like, you've just listened to Episode 644 and you passed. I gotta make sure that's just this thing. I'm like, Why? Why? Yeah,
11:42
my question is, why are
Brandon 11:44
you pursuing this as a thing? Why have you decided that this is something that is necessary for you to take on? I
Speaker 1 11:54
think, I think what this is, are you, or are you powered by spite?
Brandon 11:58
This time, like little bit. I mean, it's powerful. That's powerful.
Speaker 1 12:03
We're allow it. You know, portion of this as well is like another step in legitimacy for what we're doing. Okay, fair, I think that's an aspect so, so what I really need to just do is I really need to pick like in my brain. I have this world where every single episode that we produce is eligible for this, and I just go through this process for every single episode, but I know what I need to do is just go like hand pick 10 to start with, right? Yes, you're a 10 of the best. And then I can just start with those. Promote those like, Hey, if you want, if you're looking for this, these have been pre approved by these five organizations, or three organizations, being honest. And like, there we go. And just have those that sit there, and then everything else is just produced and free, and you don't have to take a quiz for it. But also I'm like, can I automate this so that it's all done? Like, I can click and button and it all just like, like, Can I do that? Like, oh, maybe I can. And the answer. Answer is actually no, I can't. And it's still not yet. I've got curly brackets, and I'm going cross eyed here, so that's what I'm doing.
Brandon 13:30
Yeah, you can't do it yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's coming. It's coming full blown automation,
Speaker 1 13:43
yes, I think it'd be like, I don't know. And then it's like, the production pipeline, kind of like, smoothed out. Everything goes, and that's a phrase that I've got.
Brandon 13:52
I was not prepared for that phrase either. Production pipeline, I don't really know, sounds like a little too official,
Speaker 1 14:01
really, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna let you, you talk. Now you could take over. I I'm done. I might
14:10
go down this big,
Brandon 14:15
very humorous me for myself. I mean, yeah, someone's got to, because this, I mean, I applaud the like, wow, the idea, right? Everything sounds good. But like, on the other hand, like I still am kind of struggling with the what in the world are you doing this for? Because this is a lot of work for, like, a very little payout, it feels like
Speaker 1 14:51
for, for a podcast we do that I give away for free.
Brandon 14:56
Yeah, right. Like you're not even making money off this thing at this point. Like.
Speaker 1 15:03
I know, like, what, where I catch myself. I'm just like, right, oh, yeah, oh, I can't do this that, yeah.
Brandon 15:13
Like, it's just, I mean, it's cool, I guess. And like, it would be a neat thing if it was accepted in that kind of environment. You know that it's neat, right? Yeah, but I don't know what you get out of it. Specifically, I don't, I don't get anything out of it, yeah? And that's the problem, like, You're doing all this work to for other people to get something out of it and, like, that's slightly backwards, just like, a little bit from how maybe it would be good, because, like, yeah, you know you're not an Education Service at this point. Like, you've got other things happening, like, you know. So I feel like, while a neat idea, perhaps this could be tabled as the workshop through and figure out, like, what
Speaker 1 16:21
is going on here? Like, forever, yeah, yes, yeah, and that's true. Like, anyway, so this has been, like, it's been on the back burner. I'm sitting here looking at an email from scroll down, yeah. What's this? September? Like September 17, saying, hey, go ahead. Fill out our application that we request. I love this. Go fill it. Go fill out our application form that we request. Anyone requesting CEU approval, use and we'll follow up. Like, okay, fine, do this? Haven't filled it out yet because they didn't have a back end in so now I'm like, okay, kind of, kind of back end, Megan, I just have to sit down. Can you select, like, five to 10, make it manageable, and then we'll just go from there. Yeah, it
Brandon 17:26
could be like, and then you can make this, then you package them together as like, if you want to do this, right? Give me $10 and then I will send you the link to fill out the stuff for these episodes, right? I'll give you access to the thing for a monetary contribution, right? Nothing exorbitant, right? Not like, not like those like, crazy dude bros on the internet. Like, oh, $800 you could teach you my man to man, course. Like, none of that, none of that stuff. Okay, no grifting here. But like, you know, you could do that. Like, oh, if you want some continuing education, you know, here is the dollar amount, and that will get you access to the quizzes for my episodes. Boom, you can listen to them, and then you get the quiz. You had to pay for the quiz. You could listen for free, pay for the quizzes you see, and then your certification of like, oh, look, I did X many hours of continuing education and development, yeah.
Speaker 1 18:36
Considering how, like, people will pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to go to a conference. I'm providing a conference in your pocket, like, pretty reasonable price,
Brandon 18:47
yeah, yeah, potentially, yes, and so, and then, then with a little rate of, you know, potentially, like, 10s of dollars. Yes, they could just, like, go, oh, here go, right? So, like, I'm not saying you actually just make it, like, $10 but like, you know, I mean, like, something normal, like, reasonable, and then they could do that way. I think that would be the only way, so far that my brain can make sense of how to make this a viable endeavor for you. Because, again, you don't want to give the whole thing away for free, right? Like that would be kind of nuts. Like, I don't, it's very altruistic, but potentially not sustainable. So
Speaker 1 19:35
I think it's something that I need to, like, I make a little, I made a little bit of headway. You caught me just as I was running a new batch of code to see if I could make it work. And so now I'm gonna, like, set it here. Gonna be fine. You go and I'm gonna redress it. We come back. We're gonna come back to it late.
Brandon 19:57
Just keep my keep my plane in mind. Yes, it's a this made this makes it viable and potentially worthwhile for you, not just so you're banging your head against the wall for no reason whatsoever. You just like the sound of your head banging against
20:14
the wall. You know what? It's in. Why? Fine. I Huh?
Speaker 1 20:30
So, yeah, that's great. My latest, it's
Brandon 20:35
pretty exciting, not really, but like, it's a thing that is happening and it's confusing. It's okay, weirdly, it also is the exact same thing that I did this week because I had to go to that thing on Monday, about for my continuing education, about, like, youth mental health thing, yes, yes. How? How was this? Well, it was exceptionally long, right? I was not really sure about how this is going. It was so long that there was not one but two presenters that would just tag team in and out because they had talk so much. Oh no, right. I was sitting in a room for
21:17
like six hours.
Brandon 21:21
They at least had breaks. So that was nice. It was very professionally done that I did have timers and everything, and so they were like, Okay, I'm done with this section. Boom, time. Move on. So, however, it was an obscene amount of information to condense into that amount of time. And like, they gave me a book, right? So they gave me a like, some sort of, like, follow along workbook, slash note taking thing during the presentation, this huge, stapled together thing, right? And then they also gave me like a book to the it was like the companion book, but when I say book, it's like a textbook, like, it's enormous. And they were like, Oh, you can look over this when on your own time. And it's like, look,
22:15
oh, what? What
Brandon 22:18
do you mean? Wow, look over this Moz I have. It's like a size of a college textbook. That's what it's like. No, yeah, it's massive, right? So I don't you know. So they were blitzing through a lot of this stuff, and they were kind of hitting the high notes. So like, on the one hand, like I said, it is very good that we were actually talking about this kind of stuff, right? And like, for once, it was a bit too old for the lower elementary people, but it was, like, just right for like, me, so like, but they are doing this with like the whole school, so they just, like, did the elementary half this time, and then they come back next time and do like the other half. So it's not like a huge room of people. They can have like, small groups and stuff that helps, you know, especially so conversation, yeah, so that that's why they like because these aren't, like, some of these topics are not things that first graders are dealing with and talking about too much, right? I mean, it's not out of the real possibility, obviously. But like, Sure, some of the stuff, like warning signs start there and everything, but like, some of the other things we talked about, it's like, oh yeah, they don't really need to. They're not talking about substance abuse in right, six years old, right? That's not really what's happening. So it was all right, but it was a lot. And so it was so much that it was sort of hard to process everything that was happening. And also, like, some of it was, like,
Speaker 1 24:07
very base level things, right?
Brandon 24:11
Like, and I'm sure that was just done for brevity sake, right, but it was kind of weird. Like, okay,
24:21
yeah, I think we probably,
Brandon 24:23
or maybe again, this is maybe me. I'm being biased here. I don't, not really sure, but like, oh yeah, maybe, like, I already know that. Like, I already already got that part. Like, I know that. Like, what else you gotta do here? Like, I don't know. So it was kind of a lot, right? However, my there's also a quiz that I have to take that I forgot about. So thanks for reminding me that, that I have to go do for the I also get a certificate. I think I don't know why I need that, but like, I guess I'll print off black and white printer paper and stick at my drawer. I don't know, but like,
Speaker 1 25:02
maybe I'll put it in the front page of the textbook. I put it on my shelf. Date on it, yeah, yeah.
Brandon 25:08
So the only problem was, right during the icebreaker, there was, of course, there's an icebreaker, right? Of course, we had to write our name on a placard and put it on the thing. And I don't think they thought it was really funny when they were like, You need to write your name on this. And I was like, well, these people, I was like, Look to the people at the table, like they already know who I am. They're like, well, I don't I was like, well, that's fine. I don't care.
25:35
I'll just introduce myself to you. Then, hi, yeah, and then we'll be good to go,
25:39
right? I don't need this. So I got
Speaker 1 25:40
a placard and everything, but they were talking about, they
Brandon 25:46
were doing, like, the icebreaker thing, where, like, talking about stuff, but on, it's important to know that on the screens behind them,
25:52
they had words like,
Brandon 25:56
you know, when you're talking to youth, it's important to listen and not judge what they're saying, right? You know when they're trying to tell you things, right? And so and so, that's on the screen behind them. Okay, I need you that's important to set the scene here. Yeah. So they asked everybody my least favorite question of all time, what is your favorite holiday food? I Right, right? And it was well known by all people that I do not like, yeah, Holiday Food Fair, right? I'm not a fan. And so everyone was like, oh, yeah, blah, blah, and again, this is not a very good question, right? Mayhaps, I was overthinking things. But when they're like, you know, what's your favorite holiday food, right? And someone's like, green beans, like, that is you you can have that on Tuesday, sir. Like, I don't know, yes. Like, they didn't say, like, green be casserole. They just said, green bean. Was like, Okay, first of all, this is a poor question, because clearly our answers are varying widely. And so it got to me as as you do. And of course, I said, I don't like holiday. And the lady said, Well, why not? And I was like, Excuse me, ma'am, that
Speaker 1 27:20
no, there's no follow up question here. Yeah, you didn't say. You didn't
Brandon 27:27
make her defend herself when she said mashed potatoes. You didn't question that, right? I don't know, like
27:38
you didn't say to her,
Brandon 27:39
you know, you can just have that on Wednesday. You don't have to have that for holiday right? That's now we're talking
27:47
about here, no, like, I
Brandon 27:48
don't like holiday food. And she said to me, why was like, because I don't, I don't care. That's That's not important, right? Now, move along. No, no, you don't. That's the follow up question. I gotta be real like, that's, that's not okay. No one else got a follow up question, right? Just because you don't like my answer doesn't mean that I need a follow up question, right? That you didn't say that in the rules. Okay?
Speaker 1 28:14
This, this, this happened to me tonight. We're in a group, right? It's a, it's a prayer group meeting for church, and the guy turns to me and he says, What's your favorite sports team?
Speaker 2 28:29
And yes, go sports ball. Did you say you should have just said Boston
Speaker 1 28:36
Celtics. Go, Larry Bird. Go. Larry Bird. That needs to be my go to answer now, because be so weird. Like, it'll be like, I have who, who has a connection, and I have to sit there and like, I'm not going to make something up and be like, Oh, those chiefs, how about them? Like, I'm just, I'm just not like, so, so I have to say, Oh, I'm not really that into sports. And, like, the conversation is, whoa, like, there's nothing else. There's nothing. I'm sorry, you know. And then they're like, no, oh, somebody said, Oh, not even like College. And I'm like, you know, it's fun to watch. I just, I don't,
Brandon 29:26
oh, my gosh, I hate this again. See previous conversation. We should be like, Oh, it's
Speaker 1 29:33
handball, handball. And then just like, don't say anything else. Like, yeah, yeah. I should
Brandon 29:41
just say biathlon. Skijoring, like Yes. Joring, obviously,
Speaker 1 29:49
next, next who's what are we doing here? Yeah, next question, please, please for love, everything I need to move on. Oh, so after you were grilled with a. Follow up question, how did the rest of the time go?
Brandon 30:04
I was fine. They didn't ask me more questions, though. No, they did. They I just inserted myself a random conversation. It was great. But, like, Well done. Well, they were just asking room questions, so it was fine. That was like, yeah, it was fine. It was fine. It was just really long. At one point I did look at my watch and go, Oh my gosh, it's only 930 so you know it's gonna be a good day. Yeah? Proto people never, yeah, when you get that, when you get that one, you're like, Oh my It's Oh no.
Speaker 1 30:39
Never look at you watch, especially in those because it's like you can go nowhere. You know you're locked in. You know
Brandon 30:46
this, yeek, you could take excessively long bathroom breaks. It's what the kids do, right? And they don't want to go to class, right? They just go bathroom and hang out. Okay?
Speaker 1 31:00
I'm just living the life of a student right now, really,
Brandon 31:04
yeah, they're channeling my inner 10th grader, just like skipping class. Let's go. Pretty
Speaker 1 31:10
cool right now, really liking it. Gonna give them a pass next time they do this, because I totally get it.
Brandon 31:22
Yeah, that was fine, except for I forgot that I have to take that quiz and I have to figure that out. It's thing there. We'll see if it's I don't know. We'll see if I actually have to pass it, or if it's just like, you have to do it. And then, like, okay, good enough. Like, I
Speaker 1 31:39
don't know, yeah, yeah, I was present. It's basically a way to prove you were present. In that sense,
Brandon 31:47
it's true. But now it's like, a week ago, so now I'm like, so there's so much information that's like, who knows what they're gonna put on this 10 question?
32:02
Yeah? Because you were there for how many hours,
Brandon 32:04
you said, ah, it was started at eight, ish, and we left it three. Oh, yeah, there was a lunch break in there somewhere. But you did. You said it was a working lunch, right? Yeah, it wasn't, though, so that was a lie. That's good, that's good. We got through enough material that we did. We just got to have lunch for like 30 minutes. So that was handy. But So yeah, that's that, yeah, that's what we did all day, all day. And the rest of these pretty uneventful, really, except for yesterday we went, somehow I've managed to have things to do every weekend for like, a whole month. And I don't really know how this happened. I don't know who this person is. They keep scheduling these things to me. But, like, I don't it's past me and past me, yeah, yeah. Like, every weekend so, and there's all, like, bad things, right? And, like, a couple of these things occurred, like, at my very own house, like we had, like, friends over, right? So whatever, we're still doing things right? It's okay. Seriously, we went Springfield. We hung out with Dusty, right? Nice and shout out dusty. We just kind of did some hanging out. I went to the old bookstore, went to flea market thing, right channel, their intermediate and went to flea market, and Susan wouldn't let me buy the raddest picture I've ever seen. Well, actually, there were two. There was two of the greatest pieces of art I've ever seen in my entire life. One of them I actually wanted. The one is the funniest thing, but one of them was, like a, it was kind of like a retro painting of, like a woman astronaut thing, right? It was kind of cool, right? It was kind of like a, like a very, like retroy vibe, like painting of, like a woman in like a 60s era, like spacesuit. So that was cool, right? Like, orange and stuff, right? It's pretty rad. Okay, so that one was cool. That's what I actually kind of wanted, yeah, of course, right? Is really neat. The other one, though, other one was, like, this landscape painting, like a field with like cows. And these are, like, they look like pioneering people, right? It was like old timey, okay, like, I don't know if they're like pilgrim me or like someone is like an old timey, like that, right? And then one of the cows is being abducted by an alien. Flying sauce,
Speaker 1 35:03
yeah, and it was awesome. This is amazing. That is perfect.
Brandon 35:17
Like, oh, I need that. Like, real bad. How could you? How could you not just hang that in my room right here somewhere? I just move some of the stuff I should go on the wall, on here? Yeah, I really wanted spacesuit lady. She was kind of but how painting was so funny
Speaker 1 35:34
and such a non sequitur, like, like, so like,
Brandon 35:38
I know, and it was done like it was done in like the style was like a realism style, right? So it was not, Oh, right. So it was like a very like realistic painting of, like cows in a field, you know, like Dutch masters style, right? But like, flying saucers and one of them up in the tractor beat, right?
Speaker 1 36:06
You can't get any better. I like the fact that it was also, like, you said, it's kind of like painted in a realism style, like, that's even better that they did go like, goofy or weird, but they're like, No, I'm really gonna study this Collin. They're really going with it, and I'm really gonna imagine what it would be like.
Brandon 36:25
Because there was some other ones that were like, you know, they're like, wacky like that, but they were like, cartoon style, you know, yeah, and so that, you know, that's like, that's a different type of vibe altogether. But this one was like, so like, hyper realism. But with this subject matters, what is happening even better, it was great. So yeah, I kind of wanted that one too, but just because of hilarious, but I, yeah, I didn't buy either one. So it's fine. I did buy a copy of the Iliad. Though that's important. That's good because we were also at Barnes and Noble, and the same copy is like the Penguin Classics edition, right? Knew this book is like $22 at the Antique Mall. It was like $8 so even better, that's what we like to call winning. That is, sounds good. We just hung out. We got to eat. Got some ramen. It was a beautiful day for, like, hot noodly soup. She was really cold yesterday. Yeah, so hot noodly soup is the best. When it's really cold, it's like a great it's a great time. This is the
Speaker 1 37:41
very best. It's a good time of year for hot, newly soup. It is,
Brandon 37:46
right, like, it's good all the time, but, like, when it's really cold outside, that's it. There's something really good about that. Maybe I'm very biased, because, like, I think the first time I ever had, like, legitimate ramen, like, actually, like, real life ramen. I was in Sydney, I think, right, it was really cool. And so it's like, Ah, here's a small noodle shop close the hotel, bang, let's go. And so I have very firm memory of, like, boiling soup. And it's like, really cool outside. So it's like, ah, imprinted on my brain. This is a good thing to do. So, yes, pretty good. And then today we did go, excuse me for a stroll, not a walk. We didn't go exercise. Today, we went for stroll through the park to check out foliage action, right. Fall foliage alert time actually happened. Finally, finally, fall right continues, even like frosted last night for realsies. Oh, pretty late, but you know, we'll take it. We'll take it, not like a super hard one or anything, no, but there was frost on the pumpkin. I checked, I checked this morning.
39:05
Thank you. Thank you.
Brandon 39:15
Yes, we went on the fall foliage, walk through the park, check it out, see how it's going. You know, some pretty good ones, right? Susan was very pleased, right? So, there you go. She's pleased with this year's showing. Yeah, so far, so far. It's kind of weird. Some of her, like, faded. He looking, I don't know if that's because it was so dry for so long, right? And it's only started raining in the last like, month. It's like, oh, yeah, rain. We forgot. Yeah, here it is, all of it, right now. Yeah, there go. But it was actually cold. I had to wear coat. It was great. Yes, yes, so I've been waiting for coat weather. Yes. So yeah, that's pretty much all you've done this week is learn about and. Mental Health
40:02
stroll in the park.
Brandon 40:05
That's good. Eat noodly soup. These are all important things to occur.
Speaker 1 40:13
Yeah, we also did a fall stroll today. We did a little we did a three mile hike north of us a little bit, and marveled in the fall colors. So I'm right there with you. It's finally fall, and it feels good to be out. It was 51 degrees and sunny today, so it was, like, absolutely perfect to be out hiking. And outside we hadn't hiked as a family, and, like, in a while, though. So I was like, oh, man, this feels really good. I'm really like, I've missed this getting out, because we were used to go either every weekend or at least, at least twice a month, and it's been a little bit longer than that. So getting out and hiking today was very good. And with it being so cold, the all the animals were kind of like not very active, so they were hanging out. So we were kind of cool to be spotting them in some of the undergrowth or under the big cedar trees, and kind of pointing them out being quiet you walk,
Brandon 41:17
you say, all the animals, most of them, the squirrels, are still going ham today, like crazy, like they do. They always do that. They just can't.
Speaker 1 41:27
So this year, we says to ourselves, selves, we've carved our pumpkins every year. I don't want to carve this year because my hands get tired because it's a lot of work, because I ended up having to carve a few other people's No, fine, no. Who seen that coming? We've never, we've never painted our pumpkins before. So we painted them, and this is, this was good. This was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed them, and they were on our front porch. And then within three days of us painting them, Noah's had a giant hole bored through it, like four inches in diameter. Hole through it just appeared overnight and and then it kind of grew and consumed the pumpkin and the side of the pumpkin, and
42:28
it makes it look even spookier that way.
Speaker 1 42:33
The squirrels are, are angry that we didn't carve the pumpkins. This is what I've
42:36
Yeah, they just,
Brandon 42:38
they just took matters in their own hands, like, Fine, you're not going to carve the pumpkin. I want to do it for you.
Speaker 1 42:43
Squirrels decided, no, this is unacceptable. You must carve pumpkins. So therefore, like we are a pumpkin carving community, and you must abide. So they're keeping us in compliance with the HOA. I guess in our little area, we don't have an HOA, but they are carrying us in compliance with the community, and are carving our pumpkins, so much so that what started on Noah's uncarved pumpkin. Now carved pumpkin has turned into Megan's pumpkin is being slowly eaten and bored into as well there's going consumed by pumpkin, by pumpkin, making sure that all of them are carved to their liking. This has been, it's been fun watching them. That's hilarious. I didn't just, like, get bigger and bigger and like, flux of paint on the ground and all this stuff, and you're like, okay, okay, that's fun. That's fair. But whatever, we'll just do it. We'll just do it. Do
Speaker 3 43:53
you guys get a lot of trick or treaters up by you this year? Well, this so it depends,
Brandon 43:57
right? This year we had a pretty good amount, but also Susan, some of Susan's parents as teachers. Children came. Oh, fun. So we had a couple bonus ones. Yeah, right. So she was here. They, they came by to do this too. So we had a was a pretty good amount, I think, and which is couple extras. So it's kind of like a It's not like tons of people come over here, but like, we always have
Speaker 1 44:28
some right? So, yeah, we are pretty it's pretty slow by us. The gravitational force of our neighborhood is definitely sucked up by the block party that happens half away, like people just, they just don't even care. They just go right over there, right? And it is. It's done in conjunction with the city, but it's a part of the historic down area, the district that we're a part of, that it doesn't have like so it has few. Were homes on the street, but they're all the big old home, and they block that off, so there's own on that block, like, there's only, like, I don't know nine homes or so, because they're on these big lots, but they maybe even eight, and they all go crazy with the decorations in their on their yards and in their homes. All the owners of the homes dress up in these crazy, outlandish costumes they do. They do free hot dogs and chips and waters for everybody, and obviously lots of candy and stuff. And it's very it's really fun to go to and we so we love getting to walk there, and we walk there this year, but I stepped out. So my costume, I typically just go as you know me, or as a competitor fair. But this year I had my little safari hat. I was just gonna throw my little safari hat on and, you know, whatever, like, I'll just say I'm, you know, on an adventure or whatever. I don't know, not very adventurous or inventive here, but we were all kind of like, low key. The kids didn't want to dress up as anything to go to this thing, because it was going to be dark and cold, and Megan was going to be wearing a big coat anyway. So she's like, I'm sure she's not going outside because it was below 60. So she's like, I'm not we're not just enough. But like, I throw my hat, I'm good. But her neighbor was going with us. This neighbor, his wife and this their little baby is gonna be pushing a stroller. And I step out of my front porch. Look to my left, and he's standing there, and what is he wearing? Is he also wearing a
46:47
also wearing a safari bag. Wild THORNBERRY is going on around here, and he's
Speaker 1 46:53
turned and his shirts, this is, this is why I am friends with them. Is because his shirt says, pretend I'm a zookeeper. Nice, kind of, at
Brandon 47:08
least hit him with the DR Livingston, I presume, right, like you gotta get
Speaker 1 47:14
it was great. And then I look at their little baby buggy, and they have a lobby, and they got these big fronds from a palm tree and put on the over the buggy so they like, kind of like, nice, you know, it's got that little shade that you can pull up over the baby, but they've camouflaged that with these palms. And they've got some like lays to make it look like, you know, exotic. And the baby is dressed and Flamingo onesie Nice. Well, we kind of did the like, he's looking at me, I'm looking at him. He's pointing at me. I'm pointing at him. And we're like, I'm not taking my hat off. Start walking over anyway. It was, it was a good night. We saw our other neighbor, this other guy, and I am, I am going to be ordering because he didn't have a costume either. He's just kind of like whatever, but he's out there with his kids. I'm going to be ordering him a safari hat for next year. Nice, perfect. I think so. My hope is, is that we're just gonna make this like the thing that the three of us do on our little corner here, yes, jungle safari through the neighborhood on Halloween. This is necessary.
Brandon 48:40
Oh, you should just, no, okay, well, hold on. I almost said, okay, at like, you just take your binoculars and you could, like, look at all the kids that are dressed up as animals, but then you're looking at kids through binoculars on Halloween. That's a little creepy, so maybe don't do that. I was like, maybe the police will come. So don't
49:01
take the bit that far, but like,
49:08
dude, no binoculars, no big cameras.
Speaker 1 49:18
So we survived another year and are going, but, yeah, been, been it that's been our week. All we've done nothing, nothing,
Brandon 49:32
not too bad, though, pretty exciting. I was going to say something else, and now I can't. I got distracted by your safari hat, and I can't remember what. Totally fine.
Speaker 1 49:41
Drat. Think about it. I went to a business mixer. No, another
Brandon 49:49
one, no, Say it Ain't So, yeah, I go in. Did you wear your safari hat? I did not, dang it. I. Because it feel like that would first of all, that's a good way for people to stop calling you Larry guy. Larry guy, the business mixer.
Speaker 1 50:11
Now this was one in our new service area. They do these things of once a quarter, called party on the patio where you can alliteration and everything. Oh, I know it's great. So the party on the patio was in the basement of a bank. Wait a minute.
Speaker 3 50:34
Well, because, man, well, lies not even an actual patio, is
Speaker 1 50:38
what I told them. I said I have been lied to, and I'd like a refund, and a bank of basement is way worse and creepier. Like Whitney said, Collin, this is free. And I was like, Okay, fine, where's the food? But yeah, still, they come on to host it outside. They do have a little like, patio s, okay, but it was cold, okay, okay, it's cold, it's a little damp. And they're like, Yeah, we're gonna
Brandon 51:01
do this. Like Collin, it's raining stop, turns out,
Speaker 1 51:05
so we went to the basement. And I don't know, staging these things is so hard, and I definitely understand this of like, how much? Because it's supposed to be a mixer, right? And this mixer thing, so how much, how much seating Do you provide versus standing tables, right? Those little weird like,
Brandon 51:28
oh yeah, like a cocktail table situation, yeah. So
Speaker 1 51:31
how many actual seats do you provide the cocktail tables versus, just like mingling areas, yeah, and they definitely leaned heavy on the T, on the like, sit down tables, which just have an absolute gravitational force to them, like you can That's true. People won't leave, though, right? They just like, stay. They find a sit. They see, stay seated, and you cannot move them or make them go somewhere, yeah, but I'm like, what? But I don't want to sit down, like, because then I'm going to be stuck talking to you. Talking to you for like, long time, and that's weird. If I'm like, Well, gotta go and I take three steps away and turn my back to you. So I It also turned out that like, nine people were going to show up to this. So I'm like, getting my water, and I go over, and it's, you open it up, open the cooler, and there's just so much booze. And I'm like, oh, no, I know where's the water,
Speaker 2 52:37
like in the cocktails, that's where ice.
Speaker 1 52:40
Yeah, what's the ice is for? So finally, I find a water bottle like at the bottom of it, which was, at least it was really cold, true. But now I'm like, Oh no. Like, what else? No, I as soon as I turn around, there are merely two people there, and they're just like, hey, what's going on? I'm like, so high.
Brandon 53:08
I'm just mixing, you know, so with water, yeah, yeah, and it's noon. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 53:18
Why are we doing this? Yeah, I'm really confused. Oh, but it was one where, like, they were from the same business, and they were like, work besties, and they were here, and they were basically like, we're only here because we're on, I guess, the marketing department, and this is part of marketing, and
Brandon 53:38
we're here for our continuing education, and we're once,
Speaker 1 53:43
oh my gosh, oh my gosh. So I'm just like, okay, and I have been to good mixers and bad mixers. I've been to good networking and bad networking events and the good ones. Here's the thing, I think, in the ideal world, people in chambers of commerce, in business and in marketing, have the idea that the only kind of networking event is just, you need to provide food and a space, and people are going to show up and they're going to do their thing. They will take over. This is not happened, because
Brandon 54:25
the people, no, of course, it doesn't happen. If you met a lot of people in business, no, like, not everybody is the sales team, right? Like, oh, like, a few of the people are going to be like, Yeah, let's go. Everyone else is going,
Speaker 1 54:40
oh no, oh no, I have to what? Yeah, yeah,
Brandon 54:45
exactly. So,
Speaker 1 54:49
so the best ones have a structure and have a and have a purpose of even if it's the dumb thing, like put the question. On your shirt. Say, what's my doppelganger like? It gets people asking questions, and they know they have, they have an assignment. They have to ask questions. And so, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a project for them. And they can lean into that, because they know, hey, I don't know what to say to you, but I know I'm supposed to mix and mingle, and you have a question attached to your shirt. So I'm just going to ask you that. Like, it gives them something, then it goes all the way to like everybody. We're going to rotate every third minute. And when you hear the bell, and whenever you I hear that, when the blue like a speed dating, speed dating kind of style, right? Like, and everything in between. But like, they everybody has this romanticized version of like, Oh yeah, it's just gonna be great. We're just gonna get a bunch of people and there's gonna be like, oh so much. I don't think
55:49
everybody has this vision. The
Speaker 1 55:52
people who put on these events can have that mindset a lot of the time, of like,
Brandon 55:58
just like, people will go, if you put a bunch of strangers in a room, they will just all start talking to each other. I don't think that's how strangers work. No. That's not
Speaker 1 56:07
No no, no, no no, because then it's like, well, what are they going to talk about? How long are they going to talk about it? Like, so I What if they don't have a
56:19
favorite sports team, then what?
Speaker 1 56:21
Like sports, ball even, what if their favorite sports doesn't involve balls? The kid in it's, yeah, like, what? Yeah,
Brandon 56:28
it's true. Triathlon,
Speaker 1 56:34
whatever. So it was, I got stuck talking to one person because I made a comment about how I was, like, oh yeah. You know, we're trying to figure out how to make culture work in our business. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they would, like, lean forward. They were like, I love talking about culture a lot in my where I work. And then they spent the next 35 minutes trying to brainstorm ways to make my culture better in my business without understanding how I operate or why I operate the way they do. Because they were like, what you need to do is you just need to shut down for a day and have everybody come to your office. And I was like, yeah, no, but then all the pets won't get fed. People work for me at different times of day because they can't or don't want to work it for me at the other times of day, right? Like, and you could just, I hate being that guy that's just like, No, no, that doesn't work. But I also can't be the guy that just goes, Yeah, you know what? That's a great idea. Thank you so much for telling me that I just can't
57:44
the most obvious thing in the whole entire world that you
57:46
just said. I'd never thought of that
Speaker 1 57:48
before, shut down. That never has a day off. And I'll just get everybody together for pizza and we'll, like, play games together.
Brandon 57:58
Oh yes, of course. Pizza party, yes, just like third grade. Oh, man, lovely. All your nine year old friends birthday party. You get the cheese pizza. You get sauces pizza, boom. And then all that's going to be left is Canadian bacon. It's all it's ever left. Yep, and, and
Speaker 1 58:21
we've solved and we've solved culture, congratulations.
Brandon 58:25
Because, for some reason, people always buy like they think, they think that you need an equal amount of all those things. Yeah. And that's not true, because No, why would you do
Speaker 1 58:40
well, and I'm talking to this person, and I'm in like, they are, they are the ones who is in charge at their business of, like, making culture happen and, like, making a team thing and blah, blah, oh no. And
Brandon 58:50
were you sitting there going, Oh, this is the lamest thing I've ever heard.
58:53
Oh no. So bad.
58:57
They're really so crazy. Why
Speaker 1 58:59
this? Like, this, feed them. And then I made the statement of, yeah, and you know, What's hard is that, like, I'm just not a culture person. I'm not like, like, I didn't do school spirit week, I didn't go to homecoming, at things I didn't like, like, no, like, I wasn't that wasn't me. And in my past job, I did the job because the job I wanted to do, and they were paying me to do it. And anytime that they would have, like, outside functions, I'd kind of be like, No, I'm good. Like, I want to go do other stuff. So it's hard for me to, like, get into this mindset that it's important when I myself would never want to be involved in that. And they looked at me, and they went, I'm the exact same way. And I was like, why are you doing? Why are you forcing? Why are you the culture person? How does this happen?
Collin Funkhouser 59:51
Talking about and basically their whole point was, yeah, but I know it's important and and here. My brain broke because it's like, you don't even believe all this stuff. Like, you don't you just you think it's important because people told you
Speaker 1 1:00:11
was important. Now I am not saying that workplace culture and all that stuff is is not an important thing. I think, well, yeah, but like, but also, like, just, like, bear, like, Okay, everybody make sure it's not a toxic place and that you like, like people, okay, let's like, done. Okay, got him.
1:00:34
You saw me. Collin, Good job, buddy. You
Speaker 1 1:00:37
did it. But like, like, ridiculous, like costume contests and like pizza parties and like game nights and like all this stuff. It's like, no. Nobody wants that. Like, no, oh, the culture person is even like, yeah, I put together the Halloween party and I don't want to dress up in a Halloween costume, going, why
Brandon 1:01:01
did you do a Halloween party?
1:01:04
A good question of why
Speaker 1 1:01:12
they took up the rest of my time. Oh no. And then, well, I gotta go. I got get ready for the Halloween thing. And I'm like, okay,
Brandon 1:01:24
okay, enjoy your time, I guess.
Speaker 1 1:01:30
And then, of course, by the time they're leaving, everyone else was like, Oh man, I should go. So it's like, I did get oh no. So I'm like, trying
Speaker 3 1:01:39
to No, I did, I did do the mixing thing, like I just, I just got stuck in a table with one guy for 14 years. Wow, who could have seen that one coming? Oh, literally, everyone realized, like I,
Speaker 1 1:01:58
I was their excuse to not mix and mingle with anybody
Brandon 1:02:03
else. Dang. Like, that's true. That's tough, man. Yeah, you were, oh no, I don't know how I
1:02:14
feel about this, because I was used so that I was used. What?
Speaker 3 1:02:23
Oh no, oh no, it's right. Oh no, it's right. You got, got, got, I did, dang it.
Brandon 1:02:31
Got it dang that's
Speaker 1 1:02:36
harsh, man, here I was I was annoyed that I was talking to this person for so long. Meanwhile, they were so happy that they were talking to me for so long so that they could just say, Well, I went to the mixer, check out
Brandon 1:02:47
and buy Yeah.
Speaker 1 1:02:52
Oh, man, the social interactions, I tell you what they
Brandon 1:02:55
got. You so tough, like, I Oh, I'm glad you survived awkwardly mixing with random people who also don't want to mix. That's very yep, yep, Oh, no. I yeah, I don't, I don't know what that's very confusing, that that's the thing that people like want to do on purpose. And again, I would there's just a lot of baffling things that just happened in all of this context.
Speaker 1 1:03:44
I I know I'm accessing this in this conversation with this person. I'm like that still, still angry.
Brandon 1:03:57
Yeah, there it is. All right. I can't remember what that thing was. I was gonna tell you, but that's all right, maybe I'll remember for next time suspense for next time suspense for next time right? I do have though a haiku for you, somewhere, yes, somewhere. Aha, yes, here we go. All right. Are you ready? Indeed. All right. Cold Air descends from the clear night sky,
1:04:34
leaving white wisps upon the earth.
Brandon 1:04:40
Wow. There we go.
Speaker 1 1:04:43
Yes, it was good, because it's been, oh, it's that time of year. So nice. I know it's great. I like it
Brandon 1:04:53
so don't want to get sneakily hot again, then I'll be sad. Well, I. We'll just watch.
Speaker 1 1:05:02
Yes, cold. Yeah, very good. I'm looking forward to more of it, or same you can get. Okay, well, we will see if you remember the thing that's true, and see what the weather holds out if it's still cold next time
Brandon 1:05:21
it's true. Oh, we do need to talk about book situation. Yeah, and, and, I do believe that we promised to rewrite the 12 Days of Christmas for this year. So I just thought about that while I was walking in the park today. Oh, I'm gonna break good. Start brainstorming that one too. Yeah, for the big reveal, the big over other 12 Days of Christmas Extravaganza, right? Maybe you can get continuing education credits for that. Oh, right. Maybe we'll just send you a thumbs up picture. Maybe that'll be it. There's a that'll be Okay, that'll be your certificate.
Speaker 1 1:06:03
Yeah, when the kids were learning their letters and numbers and colors, things like that, we had these, um, this, like Montessori style apps on our phone, which, okay, go with me, because that kind of breaks a lot of what you're supposed to do with Montessori, whatever, like, does, but okay. But in our family, when you would successfully do something, you would go, you a little bell would go, ding, and then the lady would come on and go, you did it.
1:06:35
So now, like we
Speaker 1 1:06:38
accomplish something, or like you finish a task, invariably, one of us will go, ding, you did it.
Brandon 1:06:46
It's just like, perfect, completed. Like, got it. That's what we just need to send. That's what put that on a sticker. Ding, you did it. No exclamation point, just no it's you did it, period. That's exactly how. She wasn't like, no capital letters either, just all lowercase.
Speaker 1 1:07:05
Everything else would be like, You did it, wow, like all that stuff. It was just like, ding, you did it. Yeah, I did. Thanks.
Brandon 1:07:15
We have a joke in the class, in my in sixth grade that you're not supposed to follow. Step one, right? Is when we talk about fossils, because I have this video, it's like this, and it's this lady, she's talking about the steps to become a fossil, right? And just like stone face serious, she goes, step one, die like
Brandon 1:07:45
so the joke is, don't follow step one. That's the official rule.
1:07:54
You die. Okay, that's perfect. I love that.
Brandon 1:07:59
Don't it's so funny, we always have to watch it twice. Hold on. Okay, now, now that we've got that. I was just back up watch the rest. It's okay.
Speaker 1 1:08:13
I love it. Okay. Well, yeah, so we need to, I think, I think we should be, I think we should be aggressive with this and come prepared with a book and have a book proposed for next week. Okay, because we can start chunking away at that, unless you want to wait later for the winter.
Brandon 1:08:30
But, oh, I don't. Well, I mean, we could, like, at least get it. We have to start yet, but we could, like,
1:08:36
I think by next week we should definitely have, like, yeah, in the works to start, like, either the week after the coming after, but like,
Brandon 1:08:44
yeah, in the next few weeks, like, just be like, Hey, this is gonna be the book that we're gonna get. Like, make sure we have it and can get it or whatever, and all that stuff.
1:08:53
So yep, and then we need to make a better, yes, yeah. We'll brainstorm how we're going to do that too. So,
Brandon 1:09:01
yeah, I don't know, but I just like, we'll put that on the again. That's not something that has to be done now, but if we don't remind ourselves now, it won't get done. Yes, because I'll forget all that, yes, because I'm responsible. Yes. Wait, cool. And as we discussed, you know, previously in the weeks we are a professional organization. You know, we got to keep that tide rolling.
Speaker 1 1:09:30
Ask your society if you can get to use for listening to this podcast and, oh,
Brandon 1:09:36
maybe, maybe we should just, oh, maybe we should just make a continued education sticker, that's all it says, just continued education. Brought to you by Oh brother, bang,
1:09:47
continuing.
Brandon 1:09:50
Yeah, continue. It'll just say continually educated. Yes, oh brother. Podcast, yes. I. Is, I think this is a good plan. We're gonna have to get this sticker thing going.
Speaker 4 1:10:05
I know you did it and continually educated, continually educated. I think that one's great.
1:10:16
Okay, well, we have a lot to look forward to,
Brandon 1:10:19
and potentially 12 Days of stickers, right? 12 Days of Christmas stickers. Yeah, tie an event. This is perfect.
Speaker 1 1:10:28
Yes, it sounds like a lot of work too, so that's fine. Okay. Well, then a lot is coming up and down the pipeline in our Yes, yes, See what happens.
Speaker 2 1:10:41
We go, Okay, love you, love you. You.