Muse

Hi, Kathy Mitchell here in the kitchen with a brand new exciting product called the Griddleman. And I have a friend to help me introduce it to you from Channel 5 News, Dr. Steve Bruhl. Have you ever bought a panini at a restaurant? What's a panini? A panini is a sandwich.

Why did you call it a panini?

Well, panini is Italian, I think. It means grilled in Italian.

What's Italian?

That's a country in Europe. it looks like a boot kind of shape like a cowboy boot kind of let's let's make you sandwich you want to hand me one of those uh spatulas over there how about some meat you like turkey who you calling turkey and then you can add whatever you like your own little touches you like pickles or yeah okay very good let's put some pickles there you go very good very good and now we're ready to go we'll just lay that sandwich right on there do you like sandwiches have you had a

panini before in a cowboy boot tbtl problem is i thought the show was going to be entertaining and interesting the fact is just plain boring it worked it worked what what worked our little

plan you see first we get your attention with the boring stuff then we hit you with the excitement

bam bam what did you have to do you did you do anything to spare your touche at all i mean was Is it just hard swing and keep moving?

I might bring me a kiwifruit pillow in a few hours then, eh? I don't use foul language, and I don't like to hear anyone else use it either. Uh-oh.

He's starting that funny talk again.

All right. Hello. Good morning. And welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of TBTL, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. Oh, and the adventure begins again. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus. Coming to you from the Hollywood Broadcast Center right here in Portland, Oregon, where it is the second day of summer, and it is absolutely stellar outside. It's going to be like 85 degrees. Do I love it when we finally get that beautiful northwest summer weather? Yes, you does. Yes, I does. I also like the fact that we've arrived at episode 3,972 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. We've got restaurant news for you.

Welcome to Food News Today.

Including a story we tried to get to yesterday about Domino's Pizza. They are going to deliver, presumably, hopefully, fresh, hot, piping pizza to you anywhere, even if you don't have an address. also um argentina is excuse me brazil is one of the um largest beef producers in the world they're in fact more cows than people in brazil and yet their favorite restaurant to go to for their steaks is really i'm trying to build my beef castle kind of surprising you'll be when he said that that shocked me we'll tell you where brazilians are going to get their steaks and It's a Thursday, a.k.a. Blur's Day, so we'll do the Blur's Day messages. And we'll talk to this guy, longest-running co-bro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions, the tall ships, their grace, their splendor, and all that intricate rigging. He's taking some time away from his writing project to help co-bro the show today. Dear Penthouse Forum. He's Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend. I never thought it would happen to me. Yes. I was co-hosting a show that's only 28 episodes. Am I doing the math right? Can you not do that, my heart? 4,000. My heart, it's not good. Well, no, I'm giving you a different thing. No, this is like when you're in pain, when something like your tooth is hurting you and someone punches you in the stomach, you then have to focus on the stomach pain. I'm redirecting your anxiety because I know your current anxiety is really revolving around the live streams for the TBTL-a-thon, which starts in two weeks.

Yeah, I really let a lot of, I just let loose a lot of anxiety on you before the show. Thank you for absorbing that like my anxiety sponge, but more to the point. Yes, I have a request here at the top of the show. Instead of you referring to me as a podcaster, which you usually do, like when you introduce me. Hey, this is Andrew. He's a podcast. You know how you usually do that. Sure. Award winning podcast. Award winning podcaster. Could you start the awards I won had nothing to do with podcasting, but it is technically true. I did win awards for Pinewood Derby and 4-H as a child, and I am a podcaster. However, now I'd like you to refer to me and introduce me as a VODcaster, Luke. Oh, okay. Because I did a full, terrible, but full live YouTube stream from my living room yesterday. We need to figure out. We want to do a live stream, a live video stream again during our TBTelethon shows, which are a mere 10 days.

days, working days away, I believe. Good news, Andrew. Two of the three pallets showed up at my parents' house.

I saw the photo. How does Fed... How is... How? I mean, it's fine.

I have more on that after we get through your new content platform that you're using.

Yeah, I'm going to try to contain myself here. But I mean, my adventures yesterday were not limited to, but did contain literally somebody trying to sell me a $70 computer on Aurora Avenue, Luke. That is directly related to this project. So we've been taking care of a lot of the things that need to be taken care of as we make this transition away from American public media and into our fundraising, our big fundraising week in a couple of weeks here. And there's just been a million things to do. And honestly, we've been taking care of them, but there have been a couple of biggies that have been hanging out there that I've sort of been putting off saying I'll deal with that later and one of them was trying to figure out like how can we stream video we've done it in the past but with a lot of support and like kind of video chains going through the home office in St. Paul of American Public Media and we don't have that anymore and we don't have engineering support so I went on this whole adventure of kind of learning what kind of kind of studio software you need to download or subscribe to in order to then feed it and do a thing like YouTube. It looks like it's going to work. I ran some amazing tests yesterday. I'm very excited about some of the functionality that we can do. We can run little tickers along the bottom of the screen if we want to, Luke, to amplify our jokes. I was running little tickers like Mayor, colon, quote, what is a TBTL and how can I get it away from me? Just have that like scrolling along the bottom of the... I was like testing out all these graphics. We can have Chirons, like a new – I'm pretty excited about it. But as always when learning how to do stuff like this, I ran into some technical times. And one thing I realized is I'm going to need a computer, a dedicated computer to run all of this stuff. And I'm pretty sure that my – the computer I'd usually use is going to be a brick on Monday after we leave American Public Media because I won't be able to log into that computer anymore. Is that why you had to buy that computer on Aurora? Yes, Luke.

I mean, I didn't buy it, but listen to this experience. And I'm sure that it was 100% legit, whoever was selling a computer on Aurora for $70.

It was the strangest GD thing. So I'm kind of like puttering around. I start messing around with a live stream. I try doing it from my phone for a little bit, which because we have enough subscribers to our YouTube page now, technically we can just like kind of start a podcast or a vodcast i'm sorry from our from our phone but that's not really the way we want to do this um but in fact i was doing a bunch of tests and one of them went out publicly and a couple of listeners ended up seeing they must have gotten notifications on their phone that tbtl started it was only up for like 40 seconds and somebody's like is that really a kitchen somebody's like show us your cats anyway um So show me your cat. I was like, OK, I'm making some progress here, but I realize what I need to do is and this is a reality of this transition anyway. It's like I'm just going to need to get a new computer, not an expensive computer, but a computer that basically can just run Chrome. And that way you and I can continue to do this show as a podcast with our main export. Yes, exactly. Just something that you and I can talk to each other on. It doesn't have to have a big hard drive or even really much of a working hard drive, just like a simple computer. And I remembered that there's a place on Aurora down by Green Lake that sells used computers. Did you buy one there once?

Is it across from the PCC?

Yeah, I think it is down. It's kind of near that weird intersection where Aurora sort of turns around Green Lake.

Winona and Aurora kind of intersect. Yeah, I've never been there, but it's funny because, well, first of all, that PCC used to be called Greg's Green Lake Market, and my mother worked there. Oh, okay. And that's, like, there's that odd little, like, computer place. Isn't there somewhere else? It's like a place that will sell you kegs. What do you call them? Kegs. Not just kegs, but what's the other kind? Growlers. Isn't there, like, a growler? A little growler shop right there or something? If so, I don't know. It's an odd stretch of Aurora to me. It's, like, between 77th and, like, Winona or something. And you're kind of near, like, Beth's Cafe around there, I think, right? So, anyway, the point is when Jen... I just would have never in a trillion years thought to go there, but it's actually probably a pretty smart idea because that might be just the kind of thing they sell.

Well, sort of. So here's the deal. A few years back, Genevieve's computer died or something, and she needed a new computer. But Genevieve is not like me. If I'm getting a new computer for myself, that's going to be like my main rig. I'm going to buy a new computer. I'm going to buy as much hard disk space as possible.

You can tell I know a lot about computers. And, you know, I want something that is going to be able to stick with me for years and, you know, kind of be up to date. Genevieve doesn't give a shit about any of that stuff. And she said, you know, I'm just going to buy a quick use computer. That's all I need it for is some basic word processing and stuff like that. So and I remember kind of teasing her about it. But we went there and she bought some she bought some Lenovo, exactly like the kind that we are issued from American Public Media, Luke. And it's been fine for her. And I'm thinking to myself, I just need a this isn't my main computer, just need a simple thing that I can plug into the Internet and talk to Luke down the line with and maybe stream to YouTube with. So I'm like, I'll just run to that place. So I punch it into my map because I want to be able to find the right block. I couldn't remember exactly where it was. I see it. I park. And then as I'm walking to it, it's like kind of a store on the corner. It's a simple name, like Seattle used computers or something like that. But I pass on the same block another place that says computer repair, computer recycling, computer sales or something like that. And this place looks even it doesn't look like how I remembered it. But for a second, I'm like, oh, was this the place? And I go to try the knob and the door is like totally locked. And I see there's a kind of a crappy computer printed sign on the door that just says, hey, valued customers and delivery people. uh the door is locked please knock or call this number and as I'm pulling out my phone to call the number I hear somebody trying to unlock it from the inside and I'm looking around I'm like this doesn't look like a store it's uh it's just like all I can see is it's jam-packed it's just like jam-packed with computers up to the windows to the degree that you can even see through the windows and then somebody's fumbling with the inside of the door for what felt like a half hour finally he cracks it open a bit and he's hanging up the phone and he is i'm gonna say maybe he's about my age he's an asian guy uh maybe about my age maybe a little bit older and he's getting off the phone he's got a big smile on his face and he couldn't be more polite and i'm just like oh hey do you do you sell computers like i'm standing on the sidewalk on aurora i'm like do you sell computers and he's like oh yeah yeah what are you looking for and i'm like well a computer and i'm I'm like, well, I'm on a budget. I'm just looking for, you know, a very simple computer. Has he let you into the store yet? No, you can't. He's blocking the door. It doesn't even look like the door opens all the way. And he's got like, and there's a big A-frame sidewalk sign that is shoved in the doorway. So I couldn't walk in even if I wanted to. It was like folded up almost like a gate. So like we're talking kind of over this sign. This is the weirdest Apple store I've ever heard of. It is a good call. This is like the exact opposite of the smart bar or whatever they call those things.

It's not the genius bar. You're saying it's not a giant cube of glass with some kind of amazing cantilevered roof somehow impossibly. I mean, there are some of the greatest architectural projects known to America are just the various Apple stores I've been to. Sure. This is a real different energy. This is like a Blade Runner-esque energy. Well, exactly. This person will get you a new identity, a new digital identity.

and here's i mean i want to describe this person accurately to say that if you were to meet this person he was not giving off sketchy energy if that makes sense everything else about this interaction gave off sketchy energy but like he seemed like you know just a really friendly guy who wanted to help who runs a small business but my guess is the majority of his business is like i don't know again like maybe recycling computers clearing hard drives i i don't know how he makes his money but it's like and i realized i'm at the wrong store but he's like well what are you looking for and i say i'm looking for something simple just needs to like be able to plug into the internet and so i can do some basic streaming that's it it's like okay you probably want like a chromebook i'm like i i guess he's like okay hold on he closes the door on me and i'm just standing on aurora for him to bring me a chrome book oh my god and i'm just like not you've still not in

see i i've i've now gone on kind of a personal journey with this story which is when you said someone tried to sell you a computer on aurora i imagine it was by the tumgus arco and somebody was just walking down aurora probably with like a uh a sort of office computer you know what i mean like the processor and then the monitor on a on a cart like it's the americans yeah and and just like hey do you want this for 70 dollars because you know that's not out of the realm of possibility so that's why i said oh you know ha ha ha you bought it you almost bought a computer standing on aurora then you told me you went to a store and then i was like oh well that's different now i'm back to thinking yeah this was an odd interaction no boy seeks computer in this story

like i like i was looking for a computer but here's the deal he closes the door on me and And then he goes rummaging back into this just jam-packed tiny little building.

on Aurora and I'm just like what is going on I'm not buying a computer through the through a crack in a door I and then I'm like but I'm also at the wrong place like I remember this place you could walk in they were like you know when Genevieve bought her computer like they were kind of young not like super energetic salesmen but they were just like young guys working there who were helpful enough who would answer your questions who would show you this there was a bit of a like sort of a bit of a showroom for a used computer store. And I'm just like, the place I'm looking for is like four doors down on the same block on the corner. And I'm like, should I just go there now? I looked down at my watch. It's four Oh one. At this point, I've wasted like three minutes with this guy. And I see that the store on the corner closes at 4 PM. Oh, and now I'm standing here, just a boy standing on Aurora on the sidewalk, waiting for a stranger to bring him an old laptop to maybe sell it through the doorway. I'm just like, this isn't right. And so he comes back and he hands me this computer. He's like, yeah, here. And I'm just like, okay, here's a Chromebook. And it looked like it was Acer brand, I want to say. I took a quick photo of it because I wanted to look it up. I'm like, well, okay. And there's like some weird plastic like kind of wrap at the top. And I'm looking and he's like, no, no, that's just like the protective plastic. And he was right about that. But it's, like, 10-year-old protective plastic that's sort of, like, bubbling up. Yellowed over time. It was just so weird. And I'm just looking at it like, well, it won't power up. It's not, you know, I'm just like, what's the return policy? It's like, well, 14 days. And I'm just, like, thinking because I'm actually thinking about it because I am thinking, like, well, geez, for 70 bucks, even if I got ripped off, I mean, again, not that I'm the richest person in the world. But, like, $70, if I could just, like, get this computer system set up for $70, that would be kind of cool. But then I'm just like, what are you talking about, Walsh? What are you, what in the world are you talking about? So I hand it back. I'm like, okay, well, like, can I go online? I'm like, I just keep on looking at him. And I look at his, I keep looking at him and his building. And then him and his building, I keep saying, like, do you have a store? Can I see more computers? He's like, no, unfortunately not. I'm like, so I can go online? And I said, no, no. And he's big smile. He's no, no, unfortunately not. You can't go online. But, and I'm just like, okay, well, I'll think about it. And I hand him the computer back. And then I go to the store that I meant to go to, and it was already closed for the day. So I ended up coming home and just dusting off that giant old gamer laptop that I used to have. And I ended up using that. I ended up running into a technical issue. I tried to install the wrong driver for about 90 minutes on two different computers and was ready to punch. You tried to install Mini Driver, but it was supposed to be David Driver. It was ridiculous. Anyway, I spent tons of time troubleshooting one issue until I realized, oh, I'm installing the wrong driver. That's not a very funny story the way I tell it now, but I could have twisted that into 45 minutes of your life as well.

I just sent you – no, I love the story of this weird computer place because I do feel like in the cinematic version of this, you're like a kid. You're like a nine-year-old kid. You're a little – maybe a little bullied at school. The other kids don't really get you. You've got a backpack, and something happens where you end up stumbling into this store. You push past the – you need to call your mom, right? This is the days before the cell phone. And you're looking for a phone to use, and you kind of push that door open that doesn't quite want to open. You kind of get around the sandwich board, and you go into this little shop that's just full from the floor to the ceiling of electronics and computers that are in partially disassembled states. and this wizened guy who's wearing one of those not binocular sets but magnifying glass sets they're kind of like put down over your glasses or pull them up like a jeweler's whatever that's called kind of comes out and is first startled but then you guys develop an unlikely friendship and then he does have a computer project he's been working on to try to get back to his actual time because he's from the future that's how

i see this going so i need you to go back to the store and i mean i do i i i do wonder about the guy i have a lot of questions i could go back but um i think the giant computer that i have here at

home is going to do us do us fine uh you could also buy a would a dell chromebook i just sent you a link oh yeah i'm looking at this yeah that's probably good it's 59 it's rebuilt but it cannot

be more sketchy than what you were about to buy well 64 dollars is there a is there maybe uh are you a i don't know where you're doing that but um so i'm not come on man i'm not made of 1462 um no yeah well here's the deal though and just to kind of i feel like i'm a little bit all over the place today as usual but like just to give you a vibe a vibe for my day it was like i got a bunch of stuff that kind of needs to be done i've kind of I'll see you next time.

narrowed it down to two big projects one of them is kind of on hold and i'm like well is today the day that i'm going to dig into this streaming project and i'm like i should mow the lawn or no i didn't i i thought i want to mow the lawn the lawn needs mowing but i should sit down to do this so it sort of begins with me just sort of having lunch and doing some quick googling about modern video streaming techniques and then me sort of doing some test streams on my phone over like some dirty dishes and then eventually kind of like one thing leading to another and me saying okay no i need some software okay you know i need a computer to run the software how about like right now i just get up and i'm gonna need a computer anyway why don't i go to that used store plunk down i thought maybe you know 400 bucks or whatever come back with a computer and just like i don't know how much like a mid-range computer without much functionality would be but i was like i need to do it eventually anyway i was just in one of those moods where i was just like do it now what are you waiting for you're gonna be you're gonna be in luke's parents basement and before you know it let's just take care of this stuff uh and so that's why i kind of didn't go to amazon to be super thoughtful about it i was just like let me just see i even if i don't walk away with a computer today let me go talk to those guys and see what maybe some options are and then so that's kind of how i was just like i was just sort of swept up into a storm of wanting

to get this project sort of you were kind of pulling a luke a little bit like that's more my speed which is just like i'm getting something so that we can do this and then i you know although you didn't end up buying the computer through no off the off the street yeah and i figured out why we're seeing different prices on this because i am in oregon it's 59.99 where i am because there's no sales tax but it auto adds it for you i did wonder that's why i brought it up not because

not because it's a big price difference i was just curious where you got that number that is

interesting but i sent you the i sent you the proof yeah i believe you the proof of what i'm looking at versus what you are looking at now you also shot me a message yesterday andrew saying hey if you have a moment um could you jump on youtube i'm trying a little production here and i didn't get that message because a i was out on a walk and b i was waiting for a call from the eagles airy number one do i sound different today andrew do i sound more like i'm i don't know more of service like i'm more ready to help a fellow eagle like do i just sound like a different kind of person give me an eagle screech uh let me see what do i have eagle screech do i have any audio for that no i don't um i can't hear it from your from your breast come on andrew if you one of the things i know is that if you're setting if you can't set a fellow eagle up for a good bit don't set them up for a bit at all that's one of the things that i recently no i'm mad because i had to let let the eagle soar music ready to go for this whole thing and then i lost my john ashcroft how i can't i can't even make that sound the sound that you just made and thank god that wasn't part of the initiation thank god i didn't actually have to be in seattle for the initiation it was very kind actually of genevieve to carry anita's cell phone around they facetimed me

Have you seen the photo? It's not a cell phone. It's a laptop, and she looks exactly like the guy in Arrested Development. It is so funny. Let me see if I can find it. It was posted to the Instagram of the Eagles. There's a bunch of people standing around being initiated in the basement of the Eagles, and one of them is Genevieve, and she's reverently holding a laptop down at her stomach area. Let me see if I can find this.

Okay, no one told me what manner of device I was on. It was a FaceTime call from Anita, and so I assumed that meant that I was just on Anita's cell phone. And so I didn't know what I looked like in that room other than, you know, I was being taken around. And so what I was going with, there was a number, I don't know how much of this I can even talk about, but there was a number of other people that were also being initiated. and uh and i was sort of taken through that virtually and did all the things that everybody else was doing but just you know from a different location that's hilarious that i was on a laptop

though i am trying to grab a screen grab what's the best way to get this to you uh just text it to me text it to you i'm gonna send this to you via text right now because i want to hear your

reaction to it i'm really glad i didn't know that that was how i looked in the room at a mother airy

number one it's not you so much as again we were just talking about that actor the other day too because i didn't recognize his name until bob einstein yes he plays the the the surrogate for uh for george senior i guess um and that is i mean just me and i didn't know this was happening with with you and the eagles yesterday genevieve happened to be there because she kind of had a a big day and then wanted to blow off some steam at the eagles i was vodcasting um which by the way

the last bit of the story is i uh i did an hour i did over an hour of a vodcast luke just like it was really boring as me playing a bunch of old tape and me just walking away from the camera for big chunks of time but i wanted to make sure that we wouldn't get cut off after like 30 minutes or 45 so i really wanted to stress test and there i did lose audio at 30 minutes on one of them so i had to restart it i think it was just a glitch but anyway today i woke up around 10 o'clock you just seeing the photo right yes keep going isn't that great today around 10 o'clock i got an email from youtube saying there's been a copyright claim on your video this is a video that i marked super private nobody could possibly see it it now lives in our youtube channel but it's super private but apparently ben lee has filed a copyright claim that is not true youtube identified the music as a ben lee song and claims that we cannot use it or monetize it but um it's just amazing but i think we're still fine they didn't it says this won't affect your account so i think we're

fine so the takeaway is uh people can look forward to once again us streaming the uh shows during the

tbtl-a-thon week that is the plan so i need to set up a web page where we'll have that uh youtube page embedded but it will be youtube we were talking about maybe doing it on twitch or something more accessible for us but i thought youtube would be the best because most people are already familiar with that and yeah absolutely you know we can chat with other tens in in the uh comment section while we do our live broadcast i don't think we i think you and i set a time a while back but we should revisit that before we say it on the air but yeah we'll set a time every day where we do our live tbtl live streams from your parents basement in a in a week and a half and

And that's always really fun for folks because it is only about once a year that we do that. And, by the way. Uh-oh. I heard that. Was that a big sneeze? Somebody forgot to take their allergy medicine this morning. But I thought maybe we were through the worst of it. But I guess not. Allergies, that is. Yeah, it's such a fun thing because, you know, then there's the comment section and, you know, we can take phone calls. There's all kinds of fun stuff that we can do that week. and you know we did pick uh sort of the worst possible week to try to raise money that is fourth of july week when lots of people are out of town and doing other things and the rhythms of life are very disrupted which is why you'll you won't hear any other public radio show or public radio podcast which we're technically not anymore but just go with it you won't hear anyone else trying to raise money on the good news is andrew is that we're not competing with anyone else to

raise money that week that is true it's not it's not giving week it's not uh no charitable tuesday

or whatever like so we we we pretty much own the we own that space that yeah that's because nobody else wants it but we try to you know obviously make the tbtl-a-thon weeks really fun too and add some kind of extra content and do some group events uh and things like that so thank you andrew for spending your night vodcasting now here's my question to you is it vodcasting because you're streaming it versus a different kind of podcast where there's a video component because i fear that it might all just be called podcasting at this point and i'm too old to understand that like when in fact probably the majority of the time if i'm talking to somebody under 30 and they're talking about a podcast they like i might guess would be it's at least 50 50

that the thing they're describing is video yeah i'm looking online now apparently people are some people are still like clinging to the term vodcast there was a time when adding like kind of video or doing a podcast on video was referred to as vodcasting but obviously that has gone the way of the phablet as far as this tech speak is concerned how much do you have to pay for a phablet phablet on aurora i'll go ask my friend um i do want to kind of go back and just be like how are you doing what's what's going on what's your business model because again i mean maybe maybe he's just like you know maybe he's on the gray market i'm not sure but he seemed you know like again he didn't i don't know what i expect a ripoff artist to look like or or how to act but there i don't know he just seemed like a very i don't know amenable person who really wanted to

i mean if he was a scam artist one thing i know from watching a lot of american greed on whatever cable channel that's on these days i think it used to be on msnbc but Is that if he was running some kind of scam The way the scam works is You make a really legit looking business In storefront And then you're doing something else in the back Or you're stealing the computers Or you're running identity theft or something You don't have what looks outwardly Like a very shabby business That's only barely open Usually cons are because it's all show and no go This seems like it's definitely not all show

Yeah and again like It was pretty He wasn't saying like you know 200. $150 you know for $70 even if the computer only worked for a week you're not you know what I mean I can't explain it like that that's incredibly cheap for a laptop computer so um I my guess is that maybe it's more of a repair place maybe there's some sort of online component maybe he just kind of moves computers through there fixes them and sells them up to somebody else I also it's like that weird economic phenomenon where like there are two stores on the same block that basically are the same thing you'd think that that wouldn't work that's direct competition but like I was trying to go to one junkie computer store and ended up at a different one.

You're in the junkie computer.

I really was. Junkie computers and growlers.

I went to a place sort of like this during the pandemic. And I'm sure I talked about it on the show. But I think I cracked my cell phone screen. And I was trying to find a place that would fix it. and i ended up going to this thing called the the the jewelry building or something in downtown portland like it wasn't kind of the thing you're describing where it's like kind of a maybe slightly forgotten stretch of aurora avenue where you've got some different random businesses this was actually kind of a cool old building and but it was like there was no one there partially because of the pandemic and also just was like a rainy tuesday and it's like 3 30 in the afternoon and And I call this guy and he's like, yeah, I'm here and you can come by. And I take this antique elevator up to the top floor of this old office building from the 1910s or something. And then I go down this hall and it's the kind of office building that has transoms over the door. So you have the door, which is part wood, part glass. And then above that, above the frame of the door, there's another little window, which is technically called a transom.

Yeah, and it opens at a slant.

Yes, exactly. And this guy, like, lets me in, and he is actually not very old. He's probably younger than me, maybe mid-30s, and just has this whole setup where he just, like, fixes people's cell phones that break. And I'm just thinking, how does anyone find you? I mean, I guess I found him as I looked on the internet or something. But, like, it just seemed like he had no advertising. There was no sign on the door. And he was really professional at what he was doing. He had this whole, you know, bunch of tools, and he had all these cell phones stacked up everywhere that he was, like, working on. And someone else came to get their phone fixed while I was there. So it was a real thing. But it was like I was I was also thinking, like, how does this business model work exactly?

Yeah, yeah, it was definitely it was definitely weird. I'm still probably maybe at some point going to go back to that other computer store and maybe get myself a better rig. But for now, I just think it's ironic that the computer I'm bringing with me, the portable computer I'm bringing with me is bigger than most people's desktop computers.

And also, I think if I remember right, some of the keys are worn down to where they're translucent because you're editing keys.

They were my editing keys. And I think that that was the computer that I played. The computer I have now is so small that I barely even ever played any of those old video games on this one. It is true that like I went from one of the biggest screens you can have to a very small screen. And so, yeah, it's not as much of a gaming computer as it used to be. But I am, in all seriousness, I am really excited about, like, the ability to do this and, like, to show you all the different functionality of having the control over our own live stream.

Yes, that's exciting. Thank you again for looking into that. Because that was one of the things that when we were sort of talking about going independent and talking about this upcoming TBTL-a-thon, that was a pretty big question mark. Like, can we actually stream without, like, Eric the Viking Stromstad using Video Toaster remotely from – I don't believe that's really the program, but you know what I mean.

Is that a real program? I thought you were just riffing.

I think Video Toaster is, but I don't think it has anything to do with what we – I think it was, like, an early on, like, maybe editing, like, video editing program or something. But what was – he was using that other program when one of the years when we did the talent show where we were able to, you know, have multiple screens. It was very slick.

Yeah, multiple cameras, and he was directing it. He was like a full-on TV director remotely, yeah. But we won't have that, but we will have some capabilities. And we'll have two out of the three palettes.

Yeah, so do you want to talk about that now? I mean, it's just only in the interest of updating folks, because I talked about it the other day. So I get a call yesterday morning from – there's a new character in this story, Andrew. His name is Henry. he's the person driving the truck and he says like hey i want to double check the the you know i'm going to be out that way uh is this time all right i said uh yeah i believe it is and so then i get a call uh or my mom says hey the pallets are here well two out of the three of them are here she takes a picture of and sends it to me and she goes the other one got didn't make it on the truck or something or they're going to be um they're going to deliver it later i was like okay well whatever i text you this information then i get a call from henry at like 3 30 yesterday afternoon and he's like hey man it's henry

I was like, what's up? He goes, do you know how much they paid to ship that third pallet? And I was like, no, I don't. And he goes, okay, I'm just trying to get kind of a number. I was like, do you need us to pay more money to get these? No, no, no, no. I'm just trying to figure out. I just need to figure out how much they paid for it. And I was like, I didn't actually mail it. By the way, they're mailed to you at my parents' house, but one of the pallets has literally the wrong address on it still.

Why would a driver need to know how much you paid?

Andrew, he was trying to sell me a Chromebook for $64. Oh, that's a good deal. Well, it's in Oregon, Washington. That is so weird. It was the strangest thing. And I was like, but this guy was not running. He wasn't running a scam because I was like, are you saying we need to pay more for it? And he was like, no, no, no, that's not it at all. He wasn't trying to get more money from me. And then I go, well, where is the pallet? Is it on your truck? And he goes, no, it's here. It's at the warehouse where I am. And I'm like, well, do you know how they're going to get it out there? And then I started thinking, actually, you know what? Probably two pallets is enough for us because we have to figure out what to do with all this crap. So I was like, you know, if a pallet falls off a truck and just stays at the processing place in Silverdale, maybe it's not the worst thing that happens to us. But he was like, you got to call Helen and find out what's going on. You got to call Helen today and see what's going on. So you do have to call.

They're not just handling it. You have to call Helen again?

Oh, yes. Yes, definitely. I mean, what do you think? There's a computer for this. there's an automation that would make sure all of the items are getting to where they're supposed

to get to you would think at some point the company would be like okay well maybe there was some confusion up front i do think that there was a typo when somebody was filling out some forms

there was a missing and it made it onto a label that made it onto the pallets my mother was reading me that the address on there one of the addresses is wrong yeah but i mean i think that happened

because i think some again in the chain of this thing happening i think that we gave them the right address but the the zip code was missing one digit and here's how i what i think happened the fact that the zip code was missing one digit i think then the company somehow i don't know if it was a computer or a helen or a genie somebody like i don't know filled in the blank which then changed the the the street address too maybe because of a similar address and a different zip code i'm sort of speculating there but i do know that there was some tiny original sin that has been identified which was the zip code was inputted with one missing character but then i don't understand how it led to all this other stuff or why after two of three large shipments were dropped off why it's now still up to you to rectify the third shipment like clearly and also

tell henry how much how much we were paying per pallet i don't understand how that's relevant

information i don't know man just give him a chromebook and figure it out but anyway well thanks so yeah thanks for handling that that's what the uh there is one i'm not going to go into detail here but there's one palette that should have something that i find more valuable than other palettes so um i don't i can't wish for this to be lost yet oh i see so there is a valuable

did you have something in there something something stashed in one of the palettes that

you know you know probably tell my parents about i've probably said a little bit too much right now but let's just say if i'm uh if i show up on sunday night and i'm just like ripping through all of that stuff where is it with a ferocity I'm fine just give me some space okay sure hey

speaking of deliveries when we come back from the break we'll tell you what Domino's is planning on doing with their deliveries this summer and then also the most popular steakhouse in Brazil will probably surprise you unless you read the same piece in the Washington Post that I did in which case you will be totally unsurprised but just play along for everybody else that's coming up here on

tbtl hello and welcome to top story we have talked on the show a lot about the dominoes

delivery app i know you're not a huge dominoes delivery guy andrew but i when i particularly when i was living in bellingham i i was and uh i had a whole had a whole phase there where i was ordering lots of pizza from dominoes and watching it supposedly be created on this app that was very smart because it would show you like your orders going in and then it would say um brayden is putting the toppings on your order and then it would be like now sarah is double checking i feel like everyone that worked there was named brayden for some reason uh and then it would be like and now sarah is quality checking your pizza and now brayden number two is driving it to your house now the funny part was i think we read an article where a guy actually went and was on the dominoes app and he ordered a pizza it was i think this might have been a mel magazine piece rip again mel magazine where he went and just to see if any of these because there's this all these little color changes and things and what's so genius about this is it makes you feel like something is happening and that is a calming feeling when you're the customer when you're waiting for your pizza and so uh of course this guy went and he sat in the dominoes and then surreptitiously ordered from his phone and then watched to see if the bradens were actually doing the things that were supposed to be happening and i believe none of it was happening the way that it was being spelled out like that it turns out that that little indicator thing is not actually tied to anybody specifically doing anything it's just kind of a general update on whatever's going on with your pizza but it's not like braden hits a button when he feeds it into the pizza oven that then tells the app to tell you that he's done that yeah i

think and i think more people have even revisited it again recently because i saw some tens passing around an article that the the headline was essentially like that domino's pizza tracking

thing is bullshit like that was the headline it is probably but um but i still salute them for trying or at least for because they do understand delivery very well um although i did also see an article recently that they're trying to i feel like there are like multiple things going on here one of the things is that domino's is over time trying to phase out delivery believe it or not because it's very expensive for them and so they're remember they did that thing where they were like you get a tip if you are your if you're your own delivery driver we'll give you a tip which is just a way of saying please don't make brayden number three drive this to your house please just come get it from us like they're they're trying to train us to go get our own pizza And there was some article that I actually couldn't relocate that was saying how long-term Domino's doesn't think that delivering pizza is actually the best for their business model. But in the meantime, at least this summer, they're leaning into the delivery thing because they've announced that they will now deliver a pizza if you drop a pin. So you don't have to have a fixed address. They say that the logic for this is that people will be at the beach, people will be doing all kinds of outdoorsy things and enjoying themselves, and they won't be sitting in our homes with our address. And so we should be able to deliver a pizza to wherever we are so you can drop a pin, which to this day I don't really understand how to do, Andrew.

I'm glad to hear you say that because the dropping of the pins is specifically – I think that especially that language is a kind of more of an Apple thing. I mean, there might be a way to do it with Google Maps, which is what I'm running on. In fact, I would just do. Do you use Google Maps on your iPhone, by the way? Or do you use like an integrated app? Because I remember the integrated app had issues at first, right?

Let's see. I'm checking out. Maybe it's I don't know who makes this one. It just says Maps and I use it. But I'm not sure who's the underlying software is.

Yeah. So anyway, I don't know how to do it either. Specifically using Google Maps. i'm sure it's not that difficult and the first time i tried using it was when um our dear pale christina lopez why am i blanking on christina's nickname what's that kiki lolo kiki lolo oh my gosh i blanked on her her nickname for a second i feel awful about this uh when we were trying to pick up kiki lolo at an address we did not know in la and she's like i'll drop you a pin but you remember how complicated it was we were in the delica yes doing laps and we were it was It's a very complicated road where she was on, like, on the wrong side of a divided highway as far as I was concerned or something. And so, like, whenever I think of dropping a pin now, I just remember me panicking. So anyway, I need to get my head around that, too, is my point.

Yeah, again, I think that's probably one of those things that takes two seconds to learn how to do it and is very easy. But because I haven't had a lot of success with it when someone's like – and it always happens when you're already freaking out. because the regular way of finding someone has kind of failed the last two times after that kiki lolo thing the last two times that i remember people dropping me pins were i'm trying to find a cbs producer at some complicated shoot and the address is not working and in both times one times my friend amal he said i'll drop you a pin and i was like don't let me stop you right there let me stop you right there my guy we are in corona california i don't know where shit is we need defined at two streets that intersect and we'll meet there and then the other one was my pal Dustin when we were down in Joshua Tree talking uh tumbleweeds and he's like I'll drop you a pin and I was like in the desert uh in this economy no way give me give me an address please this is why I would never be able to work for Domino's doing delivery Andrew Luke is preparing your

order I'm sure it's not that complicated and we should probably get our heads around it now this is taking us kind of far away from the point of this article but another technology like that where i know i just need to sit down for two minutes and figure it out but i haven't is like kind of my google wallet thing like again android guy over here so like my uh you know paperless money options for my phone would be like google wallet which i like sort of signed up for but i don't really use it much but then also like the the um t-mobile park where the mariners play now they have several of these snack stores and beer stores where you You go in, you take what you want, and you walk out without paying, and your phone just keeps the score or whatever. And there's, like, you know, an Amazon store like that on Capitol Hill and I think a couple of others around town. I don't really care about the Amazon aspect of that. I'm not going into those stores likely anyway. But it would be kind of convenient if I could just, like, use those, like, just walk in, walk out stores, and somehow my phone knows. But, like, I'm not going to, like – I never think of it until I'm at the park, and I'm sure as shit not going to figure it out in the middle of the fourth inning. You know what I mean?

Well, I'll tell you the thing that I've completely converted over to, which is paying with my phone as my debit card. Yeah, I should do that. And that's largely because I lost my debit card, but I don't want to report it lost because I don't want to have to change everything because it's not stolen. It's lost. And, Andrew, there's a big difference, let me tell you. So you feel secure that it's not in the wrong hands. Exactly. No one has tried anything. There were no – I mean this has been six months, eight months on. Basically, like I couldn't find my debit card. I immediately went to my bank account no one tried anything funny gave it a day or two kept looking like under the car seat it's just it has wedged itself behind some sort of a you know dresser somewhere in this apartment or up at the other house and it is not accounted for but no one's doing anything with it and so I kept meaning to get a new one but then I realized oh you know my phone is a is a debit card and that I have to say for the first little while it felt so kind of Like I was out in space, you know, like, oh, my gosh, is this going to work? It's going to know what's going on with my phone. And then now it's like very rare a place doesn't have tap. And, you know, that's all you need for your phone. And so I don't think I'm ever going back on that one. Yeah, I should I should get into that.

Certainly, I'll I'll look into it like I know I have Google Wallet because sometimes like when somebody sends me electronic baseball tickets, Google's like, do you want me to put that in your Google Wallet for safekeeping? I'm like, yeah, sure, that's OK. I always feel like I can't have enough backup options when it comes to digital tickets showing up somewhere like because I've had nightmare scenarios. I think even trying to get into maybe a rare Seahawks game with you years ago. I can't remember what it was, but like Ticketmaster would not let me log in like every password I tried told me it was wrong, even though I knew it was right. and vives and i are like standing literally on like that uh that spiral that big long spiral sidewalk that leads up to the stadiums and i'm just like just fighting with this like screaming that is my password as i'm trying to get into a sporting event and so like i feel like luckily that only happened once i think they've got it more locked in now but basically when somebody sells me or sends me a digital ticket like i save it in every possible way you know what i mean

screenshot it out you know like kind of go crazy on the do you keep it digital you don't print it

out and fold it up and put it in your pocket no in fact i don't even think you i said screen cap but really this season that doesn't even work anymore because the digital tickets um it's not even a barcode anymore it's literally something that flashes back and forth it's an animation and it even says screen caps don't work anymore it's like another level of security the ticket has like it looks like a barcode but it's got like this line that goes left right left right Oh, that happened if we went to Death Cab. Yeah, that's what most tickets are like now. So printing, I guess unless you can choose the option of getting printable tickets, but I don't think most people are doing that.

I'll tell you what, the tickets for the TBTL 4000th show, I saw someone posted a picture of a physical ticket. Yes, that's so fun. So I guess you can get physical tickets to the show, which I find very charming and throwbacky.

Yeah, didn't somebody take pictures of their TBTL 4K tickets in front of the theater, maybe? Maybe I'm adding that last part just for cinematic value. But, yeah, have we reminded people you can still get tickets? Go to tbtl.net, and it's on July 29th.

That's right. All ages, doors at 7, show starts at 8, and it's going to be a super fun night. There are still a handful of tickets left. So please do head to tbtl.net to get your tickets to that.

And unlike Luke's debit card, we will be trying some funny stuff. Trying. That's right. Trying.

Succeeding, who knows. But trying, yes. I saw this great article in the Washington Post written by Terrence McCoy. Why beef-loving Brazil is so obsessed with an American steakhouse chain. It turns out that the most popular, at least one of the most well-regarded steakhouses in Brazil, again, known for its beef industry, is Outback Steakhouse. They love the Outback Steakhouse. The largest Outback Steakhouse in the world is in Sao Paulo. And this guy, Terrence McCoy, goes to visit it. And it's very funny because the Brazilians, the Brazilian version of the Outback Steakhouse is apparently like a way bigger deal than the Outback Steakhouses are here in America, even though this is where it was started. They have like all kinds of. like, let's see, the interior is dark and loud and huge. This is the world's biggest Outback. There are 550 seats and several environments, the VIP suite, the kids' play area, a place to bring your pet. Waiters are singing to diners, celebrating birthdays. In one booth sits Maurizio Gaudinho. He considers himself an Outback connoisseur. He prefers other locations to this one, which he feels sacrifices service for size. But any Outback, he says, is better than no Outback. He'd eat at the chain every day if he could, he says And can think of only one time he regretted it He was in the United States The pizzazz of the Brazilian Outback was noticeably absent It was terrible, he says, worse than bad So apparently, we who think of Outback Steakhouse in America As being kind of a fairly prosaic Like, yeah, you know, you can eat there, it'll be fine But we're not, like, gonna propose Like, it's, by the way, the Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouses in Brazil are kind of the go-to place for people to propose marriage for people to celebrate big life events like you might not do that in the u.s but maybe just because our outback steakhouses

suck compared to the ones in brazil can i ask you a stupid question yeah why do good things happen to bad people no wait hold on that's not the question um my question is we think of brazilian steakhouses here in the united states as a very specific kind of dining experience right like yeah it's like it's the red card the green card people coming around with meat it's not your usual like i've ordered from a menu and a server is going to bring out an appetizer a soda and whatever whatever main course you've ordered right like it's all it's a different experience is that the standard in brazil you know what i mean is that just something that like kind of originated in brazil but is also like kind of a special special experience in brazil or is that like the standard do you have any idea did this article it doesn't mention

that but you know what that's a really interesting idea because i could see a world in which um like this idea of brazilian steakhouse has gotten americanized like i wonder if one went to brazil if you you know went and just like well let's go get a steak tonight if that would be the default setting or if it's one of those things that's in the same way that like what is it there's uh there's various kinds of what's called chinese cuisine you know things that are like sort of general so's chicken and stuff like that that you know we think of as being from china it's like now it got invented in america and now it's like part of american chinese food which is really different than chinese than food in china right i wonder if like the brazilian steak it's just funny that we're we're they're exporting their brazilian steakhouse to us which may or may not be legit and we're exporting our take on an australian themed restaurant to them and they love it this was a dazzling deep to me in this article that i didn't realize uh for as much as we've talked about the outback steakhouse uh for a restaurant that was founded by four american business executives who intentionally avoided visiting australia because they didn't want to risk spoiling their vision with authenticity. That's a dazzling deep.

That is a certain kind of bravado. I feel like that is very much kind of like, no, no, no, we have a vision of what exactly we're trying to recreate, but let's not see the thing that we're trying to recreate because in our mind, it's perfect.

Right? Like, I knew that it was invented somewhere in like either Florida or Texas, I think. And I knew that it was, you know, not something we imported from Australia to America. But I didn't know that they were actively avoiding useful information about Australia.

Also, this might blow your mind. Foster's. Chris is leaving the. Foster's is not Australian for beer.

What?

No. Beer is Australian for beer.

Are you saying Australia is not a lovely country full of people who are also lovely?

No, no. That I'm standing by.

This is how popular Outback is in Brazil. For five years running, the chain has been voted Rio de Janeiro's most popular restaurant. The polling service Datafolo has named it Sao Paulo's most popular shopping mall eatery. In the past three years, as the coronavirus pandemic decimated Brazil's restaurant industry, Outback expanded rapidly. Brazil now accounts for 83% of the Outback chain's international revenue. It's so popular that knockoff Outback Steakhouses have now started, Andrew. There's a restaurant called Outbeco, which opened in 2020 and has swept Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo despite its self-inflicted Syntac challenges. It's called Outbeco Stroke House, several outposts call themselves. Boy, you go to a place called Outbeco Stroke House in America and you might get a fully different experience.

Yeah, right.

I don't know if that's just like a Portuguese.

to U.S. translation thing, but Outbeco Strokehouse is the competition for Outback Steakhouse. So do we have listeners in Brazil? That is a good question.

Has anyone checked in from Brazil? Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember anybody checking in from Brazil.

I would be very – if we've got somebody listening in Brazil, and if you're near an Outback Steakhouse or an Outbeco Strokehouse, and you're looking for something to do, maybe go – could you give us a report? Can we get a little TBTL10 Insider info on the whole situation? And also let us know, please, if what we think of as a quote-unquote Brazilian steakhouse is even a real thing down there.

You call that a steak? Oof. Sorry.

There's a right way to rock and a wrong way to roll. You can't just listen to your soul. Just remember that life is number one. You can be having so much fun Just remember that life is much fun You can be nothing but one

Does that sound bassier than usual? I realized I accidentally had the bass knob turned up on that channel a little bit. I thought I was picking up more of that bass. It sounded the same to me. A little more low end. It's a very short list of Blur's Days today. Do you want to hear about a Blur's Day miracle, though, Luke? Sure. Last week, we had a lot of Blur's Days. It's funny. It's feast or famine around these parts. It's Blurster blamming around these parts. And last week, I believe, was the week that I tried sending you the Blur's Days, but you never received them. So I read the entire list myself. I mean, you know, I do a lot of the work around here. But what if I skipped over? I completely, accidentally skipped over a Blur's Day. I wrote to the person who sent in the Blur's Day. It was for a third party. And I said, I'm so sorry. I forgot your buddy's Blur's Day. I just happened to, for some reason, late at night, it popped into my head. Hey, that person's Blur's Day. I never read it. I'm not even joking.

This is why all your anxiety serves a purpose.

Because it's a friend of the show who was the recipient of it. And I was thinking about that person. I was like, oh, my gosh. And so I wrote to the person who sent it in. I'm like, I have no idea. I'm just sitting here thinking that I just totally skipped over the Blur's Day. And they're like, you know what? It's next month. I sent it in incorrectly anyway. It was a Blur's Day blirical. Yeah, it was. So that person is not on the list today, but it'll be coming up in a couple weeks. And they're also not allowed to send in Blur's Day messages anymore.

They clearly don't know what they're doing.

Anyway, I enjoyed that. But we have a couple of Blur's Days here today. One from Adrian, who says, happy actual Blur's Day to my five. Red, today you turned six years old, and I'm so proud of the kind, affectionate, and thoughtful boy you are. Never stop asking all the questions. Even if I don't know the answer, we can figure it out together. You are adventurous, brave, and always down for a good time, so let's party.

Here's some money. Go see a Star Wars.

Happy Blursday, Red. It's from your mom. Also wishing. It's a heck of a name, too. I know. It's very cool. God, your name's Red. You're growing up to be something. It's so cool. Right? Like, just leg up.

I think we'd be trying to impress.

If we met Red, we'd be trying to, like, hope that Red liked us. Exactly. Exactly. Also, just one more Blur's Day here, Luke. I told you. Cupboard kind of empty today. Wishing a happy Blur's Day to Justice in Thun-Thun-Thunder Bay. Hey. What up, Justice? Congratulations on joining the Dad Club this year. Here's to hoping we raise spectacular fives together. Love, Marika. Aw, come on. That's cute. Biagio and Juniper We'll see you August 6th At the TBTL meetup Tens, by the way, meetup August 6th, 1pm Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth, Minnesota Who loves ya, baby Anyway, happy Blur's Day to justice And fun, fun, Thunder Bay

Alright, well That's going to do it For today's program But of amazing news We are going to be back here tomorrow With more Imaginary Radio for you And, Andrew, I'm already excited for tomorrow's show because I want to take you on a little trip into the audio archives. Two pieces of tape that I identified. One is just kind of funny. One is just Martin Short roasting David Letterman over the years on his show. And then one is Pross, who, if you remember, Pross from the Fugees, who's actually, I think, currently in a bit of a legal situation. But he was also the person on the song Ghetto Superstar with, I think, Maya, where they did like a cover of a version of the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers song Islands in the Stream, but they kind of rewrote the lyrics. I've always been fascinated with old dirt.

Bastards, like bars, as they say now on the song, like it just like one of the points where he says, God made dirt and dirt bust your ass. I've all we now have a little bit more explanation on how that whole thing came together.

Wait, hold on. I'm confused. He does that same line on Ghetto Superstar.

Isn't that on Ghetto Superstar?

No, that's from the song we just played the other day. Oh, I got your money. Yeah.

OK, well, I promise you on the Ghetto Superstar tracks that he does. There's also some weirdness. Oh, OK. And there's now some explanation. So we'll play both of those pieces of audio on tomorrow's program. In the meantime, have a great Thursday, everyone. Take care of yourselves. Enjoy the nice weather if that's happening near where you are. And please remember, no mountain too tall. And good luck to all.

Last time I checked, audio was the second most important part of the audio video experience. Power out.