Chef DeAndre Smith | Discussion Combustion Podcast | #277

[00:00:00] We'll have this discussion. Discussion? What discussion? This is a discussion. Combustion. Coming to you from Denver, Colorado, this is Discussion Combustion Podcast with your hosts Kevin Batstone and Arthur Rawe. And we're rolling baby. 277, here we go. It's gonna be fun. We got Chef DeAndre in the studio with us. Met this man up in technically Lyons, we say Boulder. It was at the Grit Together that we talked about with Chef Cody a few weeks ago. Thanks for being here brother.

[00:00:28] Man, thank y'all for having me. Like I said man, I'm grateful to be here, grateful for the opportunity so I appreciate you guys.

[00:00:34] Yes, and you do have a lot of momentum coming off that Grit Together. Man. Took first place there. The champ. Yep, yep, yep. Honestly, man we have some heavy hitting chefs there man. Between Cody, Josh, Chefy, which is what we call it right now. Oh yeah, yeah. Man that fucking pasta dude. That was killer. I thought that pasta had it.

[00:00:59] Both me and Cody. We were talking about it. Even Josh. We're just happy to be able to take that pasta out, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So confession to make. Oh dude, I was gonna do it. Okay. Okay. So he's doing this. I was literally about to do this. Yeah. We never got to taste yours. Are you serious? Your table was so flooded. Every time that the food would drop, I was like, damn it. And then I would look over and then Cody would have some. So I'd grab some of his. And I'm like, this is the only good food we haven't tried yet. I felt so bad.

[00:01:28] That too. At the end I was like, I was like, damn it. And we didn't even get a try. Now you know why he voted the way he did. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Now it makes sense. All right. Yeah. Uh, no man. The. Gotta come clean on discussion. Good bushing. I can't have. Hey, you know, it's the truth. It is. We didn't get the taste. I feel bad. I didn't get a dry. Cause you had like one of the more traditional type of grit dishes. Yep. Honestly, man, it's not your fault. It's the guests. Uh, ravenous.

[00:01:52] Yeah. Ravenous dude. Like the moment that I walked in with the plates. Cause I think we were pushing out 12, 12 plates at a time. And, uh, the moment that I walked in, they snatched them off of me. Yeah. They were ground before you can even put them down. Yeah. Before I can even get to the table, they were already taking them. Yeah. Yeah. So, so like the feeling that I felt when they were like, okay, Deandre took it. I was like, I was like, dude, we didn't even get to try. We're like, we at least got to get a picture with the guy. That's when we flagged it down. That makes sense.

[00:02:20] You know? Um, but what a fun event that was. I know we talked about it with Cody a bit, just the way it all came together and the vibes that were there. Yeah. Like how cool is that to be able to go to a cooking competition and try the food that the people are voting on? Very much so. Uh, I'll say this, man, Cody put together an amazing event. Um, we had, you know, we had a couple of conversations. Uh, we both obviously we've been on food network. We've both been on chopped. He's one I've lost. Um, but a lot of competitions nowadays,

[00:02:50] they're not competitions. It's just like, Oh, you know, just show up, you know, eat the food. Um, here's the winner, but it's like a pity award to the runner up. It's like, we don't, we don't want a pity award. Like who, who truly won. Yeah. Who truly won. We want to know who won. And then to be able to go up against the best, like that's all we really want. Uh, just to be able to show, you know, showcase our skill sets and things like that. Yeah. So for him to be able to put together an event like that, and then the connections we made, even with the other chefs that were competing, and then even with the other chefs,

[00:03:20] for example, you guys, and even the other guests, I think it was pretty dope. Oh yeah. Yeah. A lot of good opportunities came out of it for a lot of people, I think. Very much so. So, and like that intimate environment too, was cool. Like it was packed for sure. Yeah. There was like probably, you know, including everybody, probably close to 150 people, I would say, you know, and, and Cody was kind of talking about scaling that up and getting it bigger to like 500, then a thousand and having this blockbuster, you know, food convention kind of. I think it's dope. I think it's a great idea. Yeah. I mean to, that was the first time I had ever experienced doing anything like that where I'm, you know,

[00:03:50] voting on the stuff and trying it, even though I didn't try everything. I get it. But, but yeah, no, it was quite the experience. It was so much fun. Ambiance was great. And I liked the overall mission of driving, um, like locally, like food that's healthier to eat. And that is also produced in a low impact way to the environment.

[00:04:12] Very much so. So that was really kind of the goals of what the showcase was, not the delicious food. But of course there was like a mission behind that. And, um, and we got to meet those farmers and stuff. See, that's the, that's the most wild thing is like, and maybe you could say, cause you've met a lot of people doing every, like all, all the people that you cook for and the networks you've been on, like you've met a lot of people. Yeah. And what, wouldn't you say that? Like basically everybody's kind of the same.

[00:04:39] Every man, people are people, uh, regardless of, you know, the accolades that they have behind them, you size the money, you know, everything else. Like, man, people are people. So that's what I've learned from doing this show for six years and talking to a great people. That's exactly it. Everyone kind of has that same, you know, mission drive and purpose that they're chasing. Right. You try to do good by others and try to let, helping Henry can. Right. And then doors start to open.

[00:05:05] You know what? That's crazy. Uh, my buddy just sent me something about that earlier today. Uh, you know, I'm begging to God and, uh, having grace and favor over your life, you know, specifically talking about relationships, man, you can't, you can't open up every door. Right. So having the people around you, but even the connections, like it's them opening the doors for you. And that's pretty much how I look at it. So it's good perspective. Yeah. I like that.

[00:05:35] It is good perspective. And it's almost like having like that awareness, uh, like noticing when there's certain opportunities. And that's one thing I noticed is once you start getting a little hot, then like a lot of opportunities pop out. And to, to your point that you were saying prior to recording is, and I'm saying it differently, but not every opportunity is, is worth taking. Right.

[00:05:59] But you get a lot of different opportunities. It's good to always look at them and then really trust your intuition. Cause I'm huge on like that. Every, there's like a database that everyone's subconscious is connected to. Right. And so we all have this intuitive nature with everything, you know, maybe that's God or whatever, whatever, um, whatever it is. Like, I believe that that exists. Like fungi in the forest, like fungi in the forest, you know, like runs in the forest. Yeah. You know?

[00:06:27] So if you're more tapped into that, then you're going to be able to tell who's authentic and not. And I swear, cause I I've been a liar in the past. And so like, I've, I've been a deceiver. And so I almost feel like it's like really easy to see one now because I used to do that myself. Right. And like, we can all tell if, if someone is authentic or not.

[00:06:46] Like, I feel like we could tell if it's like genuine and people actually want to try to help us not. Yeah. Like Cody, like he gave us some solid, loud advice for promo clips and it's been really helping. Yeah. And it's been, it's, it's fun. It's like a new ingredient that we found to cook with. Yeah. You know? In the basket. Yeah. Noted, noted, noted. Yeah. No. Cody definitely helped me out with, uh, with a lot of things too, especially when it comes to, um, filming. Right. So I do a lot of things on my phone, but I have a, I have a Sony camera.

[00:07:16] I have a Sony camera. And, but I wasn't using it. You know, I bought it a couple of years back. He's like, dude, what are you doing? He's like, you have a, yeah, just chilling. He's like, you have a perfectly good camera. He picked it up, put a charger, a battery in it. And he was just showing me like, this is how you edit the site. And he was just so genuine about it. He was like, you know what? We'll have a conversation when I get back from New York. And, uh, I'll just show you how to, how to edit each thing. That way your videos come out a lot cleaner. So that little bit of advice right there is going to go a long way for sure. You know? Yeah. It already has.

[00:07:46] Making that editing piece. Cause you, you know, you'd mentioned you're going to get this YouTube channel going. Yep. Being able to crank content out and having those little tips and tricks along the way. It's going to change the game. Very much so. So that's exciting. Something to build on for sure. Cause content creation, as we've learned art, it takes, well, grit. It really does. I mean, it's, you have to be resilient with it. You know, you have to have initiative with it. You have to have tenacity with it because it's easy to get lazy with it. Very much so. You know, it's going to take that. You got to feed it constantly. It's like a hungry beast. Yeah. And you might not always be getting the feedback that you want either.

[00:08:16] Like you might just be putting out content and no one ever says nothing. Yeah. But like, maybe you are affecting people and they're just not saying anything and that's fine. Right. You know, it's just putting it out there. Yeah. And it's like, well, we were talking about right before we hopped on. Like, it's, it's like a passion. Like you, you do it cause you enjoy it. Yep. Like that's like, why do anything? Exactly. If you're not enjoying it, then why are you doing it? Like sure. To do something that you love and capture freedom. Yeah.

[00:08:42] Like you do have to get through some things that might not be your favorite thing to do. Like there's part of the process that you have to get done, even though it might not be your favorite thing. Right. But the end result is your favorite. Social media. Yeah. Or whatever it is. Or even like working out, like, you know, and like all this kind of stuff. Like you don't always want to go work out, like, but you just do it anyway, you know, or there's all these different examples that.

[00:09:08] It's just forcing yourself to do it, man. You can't, at the end of the day, it's like, I quit cooking multiple times. Okay. It's always, it's always, you know, grab me and drag me back in. It's just like, obviously I have a purpose, you know, I have a passion for it. If I didn't get paid to do it, I'd continue doing it. Yeah. And, uh, you know, that kind of goes into what you're saying. Like you gotta enjoy what you're doing. And, uh, you know, that's honestly what got me to this point. So. And you found something you're good at and you enjoy. So that's like a win-win. Yep. Exactly. And people,

[00:09:38] you know, enjoy my food, uh, which is the plus, honestly. Yeah. That's an added bonus, right? Cause people want to hire you. You say you did like personal chef, right? Yep. So I was a private chef. Uh, still am actually. Um, man, that's crazy. So I've been cooking professionally for 12 years now. Wow. Um, literally, man, I started, started selling plates out of my dorm. I was going to UNC, uh, University of Northern Colorado. Um, I was selling plates out of my dorm,

[00:10:07] just to get some extra cash. And then the moment that I was graduating my, my, my roommate at the time,

[00:10:14] he was like, why not be a personal chef for one of the athletes? So I'm DM and everybody, uh, first person

[00:10:20] to hit me up was Jerry Judy. Okay. And then that's actually what got me into becoming a personal chef.

[00:10:24] Okay. Um, so, you know, obviously cooking for athletes, but then that's what created a pathway for me to,

[00:10:31] you know, do private dinners, uh, for people that are coming in town, usually like my busiest times of the year

[00:10:36] or winter time. So anytime between like August to March, you know, everybody wants to go skiing.

[00:10:41] So, and they, they need a chef cause most of the time restaurants aren't open during that time.

[00:10:45] Yeah. That makes sense. So how do you market that though? Like how do people say, okay,

[00:10:48] I'm coming to town. How do I find this guy? Uh, social media. Okay. Everything has been social media,

[00:10:52] all social media. Wow. Um, and then word of mouth. So that's, that's where the people come into play too.

[00:10:58] That's true. A couple of the people at the event followed you really, and they learned about it from

[00:11:03] Instagram and they just came up there just to come try some food, you know, you know? So, so the,

[00:11:08] it does work. Yeah. The reach is definitely there for sure. Yeah. That's awesome though. It's,

[00:11:13] it's just the, because on discussion combustion, at least we've talked about like self-empowerment a

[00:11:20] lot and how, you know, internet and the doom scrolling can grip anyone's life regardless of

[00:11:26] your age. Like you can be any age and get addicted to your phone. That's true. You know? And, and like,

[00:11:31] honestly, when I was a teenager, even like we had flip phones, like we didn't have, we didn't have the

[00:11:38] pocket computers that people got nowadays. Right. Right. So, so it's like, it hasn't even

[00:11:44] been around long enough for us to really truly know how it's affecting people. Right. But like,

[00:11:49] is it, so there's an important, crucial part of it where it's like, we always like are talking

[00:11:55] about how important social media is to promote businesses and stuff, which it is, but it's easy to

[00:11:59] get sucked into all this negativity and like propaganda. Yeah. And so I've always listened

[00:12:04] to other creators and stuff. They're like, be really intentional on your likes, dislikes, uh,

[00:12:10] on your page. So then that way your feed actually, you, you can get an algorithm feed built that is

[00:12:17] actually a positive algorithm feed. Yep. As long as you are actively liking and searching that type of

[00:12:23] stuff constantly. That part, uh, the doom scrolling for me, dude, it has been, uh, it's been terrible.

[00:12:30] Um, you know, using social media in a way where for me it's business, but I've allowed, you know,

[00:12:38] both personal and business to intertwine because, you know, me being chef Gouldre, people still want

[00:12:43] to see the, you know, the everyday life piece, but then they still want to see, okay, well, who is he

[00:12:48] cooking for? Um, it's gotten to a point where, uh, I've taken off social media and I try not to be on

[00:12:56] it even now, but it's a struggle because it's like, you have a business, you're trying not to

[00:13:00] be on social media as much. And it's just like trying to figure out that, that in between, man,

[00:13:04] it's hard for sure. It ebbs and flows. Yeah. Cause I don't know if he pulls you back in at times,

[00:13:10] you're like, okay, I get it. And like, for me, I'm just like, okay, now I'm done with it again.

[00:13:13] Right. You know, it's, it's, it's tough. You know, it was constantly pulling us,

[00:13:18] skills, you know, all that stuff. And to your point, you know, calculating an algorithm,

[00:13:22] that takes work. You got, I don't like this. I do like this. Cause like mine is a lot of

[00:13:26] cooking videos. I love Dano. I love meat church. I love watching now you guys are on there. So

[00:13:30] it's just like, that's what it's all transitioned to. And I'll get lost in that shit for like two

[00:13:34] hours. Just cooking bids, man. I don't even watch cooking bids. Uh, I've mixed this. I mixed up my

[00:13:39] Instagram so much. It has, uh, comedians like, uh, Matt, right. What is it? Matt Reif,

[00:13:44] I believe his name is Matt Reif and a couple of other guys that he's, he's hilarious.

[00:13:48] Um, you have the cooking videos and then you got Joe Rogan, just inspirational things. So it's

[00:13:53] kind of a blend. Yeah. That's a good mix. Yep. So now I'm at a point now where it's like, you know,

[00:13:58] what do you hide from your, your Instagram? Like, you know, selecting the not interested button.

[00:14:02] Like I'm starting to do that a lot more. Yeah. So I see a lot of people taking social media breaks

[00:14:07] and announcing it like, you know, on Facebook where they're like, I'm deactivating my thing.

[00:14:11] People get worried. Follow me here. I'm going to be concerned.

[00:14:14] No, what do you mean? Like, no, I'm joking. Like your friend is not online anymore. You're all

[00:14:20] like, you're like, what happened to you? Where'd you go? No, but actually we, we do have a little

[00:14:23] concern for someone. I'm not going to name that name right now. That's true. But because we haven't

[00:14:26] seen them post in a while and they used to post a lot. So it's kind of like what's going on with

[00:14:30] them. Yeah. You know? Yeah. See, I look at it like this, man. Uh, you know, I keep a tight knit

[00:14:34] circle. So those that know me, they have my number. Oh yeah. You know, reach out to me. We talk all the time.

[00:14:44] And not text anybody. Then they know to check in on me, vice versa. But Instagram, social media as a

[00:14:49] whole, I'm not, I'm not reporting anything. Right. If you just don't see me, you'll see when I pop,

[00:14:54] whenever I post something and then you're like, Oh, okay. So he's been working.

[00:14:57] Other than that, I don't need to announce anything. Yeah. Learn to keep that part of my life private.

[00:15:03] So, you know, whether it's, it's family business, friends, business, me traveling,

[00:15:08] different things like that. I might post highlights, uh, but that's pretty much it.

[00:15:12] So what's tough, it's tough too. Cause like when you're in that mode of constantly sharing and,

[00:15:19] and showing like the, the personal piece of you, not just the, the business side of you,

[00:15:24] then you're literally recording during times of your life when you should just be enjoying

[00:15:31] that moment. And then it takes like, we, I'd be going to shows and like tagging the,

[00:15:36] the artist and sure. Like the, the musician might hit us up later and be like, Hey, thanks podcast.

[00:15:42] Like, can we link up? Like that's a business opportunity. And at the same time, I'm not

[00:15:45] enjoying the show. I'm thinking about taking a video and posting the video.

[00:15:50] You're always in business mode. Yeah. And it really does conflict with actually just enjoying

[00:15:55] life a little bit when you're always thinking. So there is that balance there. And I go through

[00:16:00] ebbs and flows too, where it's like, okay, but I have, I have tried to get into this new mentality

[00:16:06] where like, I try to like share one of my purposes is try to motivate people. And that's just to,

[00:16:12] to find your own potential. Cause everyone has a potential that they haven't unlocked yet.

[00:16:16] And even if you have unlocked it, like there's a greater, even greater version. And so for me,

[00:16:21] if I can every single day, try to just put something online, then I'm going to do it. And,

[00:16:27] and so I've been specifically just doing that with Tik TOK because based on all the research I've seen,

[00:16:32] that's the one that actually pays the most. Right. Really? Yeah. Unless you're getting

[00:16:37] sponsorship deals, unless you're getting like sponsorship deals where people are paying you to

[00:16:41] advertise their product. But as far as just raw content posting, um, like based on views,

[00:16:48] yeah. Based on views, uh, Tik TOK's going to, is like the best paying apparently. Yeah. So I'm like

[00:16:53] on this little push right now where I'm, I'm trying to post every single day on Tik TOK,

[00:16:57] just a quick one minute clip of something, you know, and just see what happens with that.

[00:17:02] Good practices to be in, you know, just, just one, one a day, but then there's that Sunday comes

[00:17:06] around. I don't want to do it. And then I just, yeah. So it's not every day, but it's almost every

[00:17:11] day, but I feel you on that struggle. I could keep, I feel like I'm ranting. No, you're not

[00:17:15] ranting at all. And, uh, you know, that's, it's eyeopening for me because once again, if I don't

[00:17:21] feel like posting, I just don't post and it's like, but you're running a business. And for me,

[00:17:25] whenever I use Tik TOK, I'm not a Tik TOK scroller, which is not something, the platform

[00:17:29] that I like. Um, and I'll go on, I'll, uh, I'll post a video and then I'll hop right off

[00:17:35] and then whatever numbers it does, it just does that. And I'm like, I need to get more

[00:17:38] in the habit of actually engaging and things like that. So I'm in that zone right now. I fired

[00:17:43] off, I guess a good time to announce it. The discussion combustion in Tik TOK. I've had

[00:17:47] to spearhead that a bit and I'm trying to figure it out. Art's got a little experience

[00:17:50] with it. So he's showing me the ways, but I'm kind of already had your approach with

[00:17:53] it. I'm like, drop a promo clip, drop another one.

[00:17:55] Try to drop something every day, but eventually we're going to run out of, I guess we're not

[00:17:58] going to run out of promo clips, but we have to keep cutting them, you know, keep doing

[00:18:01] that editing, keep doing that push, that social media piece. So I think it will yield results,

[00:18:06] you know, it usually does right. Consistency. Yeah. So that's going to be the focus.

[00:18:11] I mean, look, if, if you're chasing something in life, like, like if you want to pursue any,

[00:18:16] like, okay, you're doing something consistently regardless. If you're consistently sitting on your

[00:18:22] ass, like doing nothing and you're not pursuing shit with your life and you're doing that consistently,

[00:18:26] or you're like pushing yourself consistently and like trying and failing. Cause when you're trying

[00:18:32] new things and experiencing life and to experience life, you have to like do something new. You have

[00:18:38] to make yourself a little uncomfortable to actually experience this. And then that's where, that's where

[00:18:45] living is. So you're, everyone's doing something consistently. Yeah. Is it actually benefiting you?

[00:18:50] And there is no easy existence. Like there are easier existence and you can make life easier for

[00:18:57] yourself, but like, it's going to be hard to get there. You know? So there's like, we're walking

[00:19:03] on all these juxtapositions in life is ridiculous. Yeah. We've got a lot thrown at us at all times

[00:19:09] coming from a lot of angles and it's, it's happening so quick. I was talking about AI specifically.

[00:19:13] Yeah. Chat GPT, all, you know, these AI music things, the AI voices that are coming out now,

[00:19:18] like it, it's kind of concerning a little bit. Yeah. Cause then you're trying to figure out

[00:19:23] what's real, what's not. That's the problem. Yep. You know? And that, so misinformation city,

[00:19:27] oh, I heard this must be true. That's been going on for a long time. Clickbait. We know that's

[00:19:31] existed forever, but now that AI is in that world, you can take my voice or Arthur's voice and make

[00:19:36] us say something we never even said and be like, Oh, see what do you do with that? How do you regulate

[00:19:40] that? Man, honestly, I don't even know how to regulate it. And I don't even think I'm the person to

[00:19:45] even say that, but at this point in time, it's just, man, I don't even know, dude.

[00:19:51] Just got to ride the wave. Ride the wave. Honestly. I feel like there's just so much going

[00:19:55] on, whether music, uh, podcast, things like that. So yeah, just got to make the best decisions for

[00:20:02] ourselves, I guess. I mean, and use it as a tool. Cause I mean, it is a tool, you know,

[00:20:06] and I think it can be used for good things. I'm just curious as to where it's going to be in five

[00:20:09] years. Yeah. You know, I don't even know. You know, with the AI stuff, I think it's really cool,

[00:20:16] but I think it's such a shame that all the corporations, they, they fucked it all up.

[00:20:23] Like we, we could really be living in this awesome technology world that isn't trying to

[00:20:29] microtransaction us. That isn't like, like if you just look at video games, for example,

[00:20:33] all business, you know, like we lived through the peak of video games when they were the best,

[00:20:39] you'd buy a complete game, put it into your thing and you'd be able to play it, you know,

[00:20:44] pretty quickly, you know, and then you'd be in there in game zone. And it was a complete game

[00:20:49] that you had to earn things by completing parts in the game. Right. And then all of a sudden video

[00:20:55] games transitioned to like, you know, these microtransactions are like buying a skin or

[00:21:00] something and grinding forever to get this stuff and then to downloads. And then they release it as

[00:21:04] like a beta. It's not even a complete game when they release. And so you're, I'm just talking about

[00:21:10] video games, but I feel like that whole ideal of like how they're squeezing it until every drop

[00:21:18] and really trying to squeeze the most out of all of us is they, they messed it up, man.

[00:21:24] It's unfortunate.

[00:21:25] Very unfortunate.

[00:21:25] Are you a gamer?

[00:21:26] I am a gamer, man. Uh, you know, I was a bigger gamer when I was a kid. So I played a lot of Nintendo,

[00:21:31] especially with my siblings, my, my cousins. And then, uh, as I got older, it was just more sports.

[00:21:36] Oh yeah. Um, you know, Madden, uh, NCAA, uh, 2k, whatever, whatever.

[00:21:44] Yeah. The whole series. Do you ever do racing? We talked about racing off mic.

[00:21:47] Man, honestly, uh, the biggest one that comes to mind is Need for Speed.

[00:21:51] Oh yeah.

[00:21:52] Most Wanted.

[00:21:52] Most Wanted was a good one.

[00:21:53] That was a classic and it sucks because they've ruined it after.

[00:21:58] I haven't played the new ones.

[00:21:59] Nope. I haven't either.

[00:21:59] How, how did they ruin it? What did they do?

[00:22:02] It's just not the same. It's just like, you know, from the cars to the way that the,

[00:22:05] the controller moves as you're, uh, playing it, it's just not the same, man.

[00:22:10] Yeah.

[00:22:10] That's about a lot of things I feel like, I mean, Gran Turismo, I will say is one of the

[00:22:14] best games ever made and those continue to get better. But that said, like when a spec came

[00:22:19] out in 2003, 2001, someone's going to correct me on that. Uh, that was like the coolest thing

[00:22:23] I ever saw. And still like if you were to play it now, it's not gonna look as good,

[00:22:27] but that nostalgic feel of like watching racing games evolve. I go back and watch those old

[00:22:31] NASCAR games now. They look like shit. Yeah. You know, now they're really coming a long way.

[00:22:35] Yeah. I mean, but the old schools, man, the old schools is like what brought up your childhood

[00:22:39] too. So there's nothing like that.

[00:22:41] Then 64 days. Yeah.

[00:22:43] GoldenEye. Yeah.

[00:22:45] Yeah. That's nostalgia.

[00:22:46] Okay. So one of my favorite video game moments ever was when the first Xbox came out and

[00:22:53] of course with combat evolved, halo combat evolved. And then you would get the, cause there was

[00:22:57] no online gaming when that first dropped, but you could get four systems in the same

[00:23:03] house with all the ethernet cables and land party that shit. And do we used to get 16, there's

[00:23:09] probably like 30 people there. Cause everyone wanted to at least watch, even if they didn't

[00:23:13] play, like they wanted to watch and then we would all get together and we would have like

[00:23:17] the TVs in different rooms. Cause like no peeping, you know, you're looking at my screen,

[00:23:21] you're cheating. And it's like the half screen.

[00:23:23] Yeah. Dude. Like they don't know. People don't know about how awesome that was, but actually,

[00:23:30] okay. I can't completely say that because recently I went to a smash bros tournament,

[00:23:36] super smash bros tournament. Yeah. And it was filled out. There was hundreds of people

[00:23:43] still communities where people can get together and actually like play together, which is fun.

[00:23:47] And that was a younger community too. It was, it was, that was like, that was doing my time.

[00:23:51] I'm 30. How are you guys? I'm 35. Okay. I am the, the, the senior eldest, the eldest millennialist.

[00:23:58] Okay. 37, man. I'm on the cusp of like where millennials were ending. So like, uh, all of those

[00:24:04] games are what I grew up with. Like the Mario smash brothers, the, the Mario party, things like

[00:24:09] that. I didn't have all the games growing up, but I had enough to where, you know, invite people

[00:24:14] coming over, grab some pizza, things like that. So those are the things that I miss. And a lot of

[00:24:18] kids now, they don't, I don't think they really understand that getting in a room and interacting

[00:24:22] together. Yeah. Everything is, uh, is parties now. Everybody's just hopping on their headsets and

[00:24:26] join hurry up techs. Yeah. Jump on. Have you joined the discord yet? No, you know,

[00:24:31] that like, that's what they'd be asking. Yeah. No. Yeah. Back in the day, you used to have to go

[00:24:34] to your friend's house, knock on the door. Yeah. You didn't even know if he was home. Exactly.

[00:24:37] Yeah. Mom would be answering if you called over there. Yeah. He's here. Yeah. I'm coming

[00:24:41] over. I'll be here. I will say the only thing cool about gaming now is like my brother lives

[00:24:45] in Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah. So we'll get on there. We'll play some Gran Turismo and stuff. And

[00:24:48] that's that part about it. I like, but if you're close quarters and you can drive to your buddy's

[00:24:52] house, yeah, get over there. Right. It's old school. Yeah. No, man. All my friends are out of state.

[00:24:57] So this is a little difficult. Now everybody's jumping on parties. So. Okay. Yeah. Yep. Now are you from Colorado? I am.

[00:25:04] I'm from Denver. Oh, my man. Me too. Yeah. We'll park. We got a local here. Uh, Park Hill.

[00:25:08] Park Hill. Uh, Montbello. Okay. So I grew up in Montbello, went to high school in Aurora.

[00:25:13] Nice. Uh, went to Gateway High School. Oh, right on. Yep. Nice. I'm a, I'm a New Englander.

[00:25:17] So I'm a transplant. I came here in 07. I grew up north of Boston. Okay. So the accent used

[00:25:23] to come out when I was drinking a lot of alcohol. It'll come out here and there, you know, when

[00:25:26] we start pottying a little bit, you know, there it is. Wicked had. Um, but yeah, so I grew up

[00:25:31] out there backwoods of New England and I came here in 07 right before Colorado completely

[00:25:36] exploded. Yeah. So I kind of saw it when it was still like a smaller town. Now it's

[00:25:39] like a major mega city. It's a mega city. Yeah. I'm at the point where I'm like, do I still

[00:25:43] want to stay here? Do I want to start a family here? I'm like, I've been here my whole life

[00:25:46] and I'm at the point now where I'm like looking to move outside. Where, where are you looking

[00:25:51] though? Uh, like what, what compares? Because you've traveled a lot of places. You've been

[00:25:57] a lot of places. Which helps? Honestly, nothing really compares to Denver. Um, I will say

[00:26:03] Scottsdale or Glendale on Arizona. If you can handle the heat. If you can handle the heat.

[00:26:08] That's that part. Um, I would love to move to San Diego. Oh yeah. I can agree with that.

[00:26:15] It's just not worth it. I can agree with San Diego. It's a fun town. Yeah. And then that's

[00:26:19] a fun day. Uh, Vancouver, British Columbia. Really? Yes. Why? It's, it's like Colorado with

[00:26:25] an ocean and the, and the vibes out there that I've never had the diversity, the, no, that

[00:26:32] city is on another level. You've been ranting about that city. No, it's like, I I'm so fortunate

[00:26:37] that I got to travel so much in the past couple of years. And I, it's always been whenever

[00:26:41] I come home, I'm like, Oh man, no place like Colorado is so good to be home. But Vancouver,

[00:26:46] it felt like it was, it was out of this world. It was awesome out there. Did they have mountains

[00:26:51] out there too? Oh yeah. Right on, right on the water. I saw like 20 bald Eagles. They're all

[00:26:55] over the place. Just flying around. There's a lot of rain up there. I feel like, um, it's

[00:27:00] not quite as temperate as like Seattle. It's I think it's not quite as bad as Seattle, but

[00:27:05] it's close to Seattle, right? It's pretty close to Seattle. Yeah. Give or take North. Yeah.

[00:27:09] So they get all the weathers, all the seasons. Um, no, because the, like the currents and stuff

[00:27:14] keep it pretty temperate. Okay. Yeah. I'll have to put it on the busy list. There's a lot

[00:27:18] of places. I could see San Diego. I've always, cause for my day job, I work remote. Yeah.

[00:27:24] And so technically like since I'm salary based, I could move anywhere. Right. And so I could

[00:27:29] still make my same income. So like, I've always fantasized about like moving to Mississippi

[00:27:33] or like something where like the dollar goes a lot further, you know, but it's, I've never

[00:27:38] actually hung out and stayed there. So would I want to be there? Like, you know, yeah, you

[00:27:43] should go down. Like you just go live there for a year. Like go live in like a trailer park.

[00:27:48] You got my Mississippi Pie Roast. That shit was good. Yeah. Mississippi Pie Roast?

[00:27:50] Their barbecue is amazing. They're good. No, everything is so amazing. It's fattening

[00:27:55] and delicious and flavorful. I love Southern cuisine and Texas. I love Texas. Okay. That's

[00:28:00] a place that's highly on my list of consideration to move to. Okay. What part? It would be probably

[00:28:05] North Dallas. North Dallas. So, so I can still get to the city, still get to DFW, but I'd want

[00:28:09] to be a little bit out of the city. Yeah. And I like the vibes of North Dallas. That's where

[00:28:12] the NASCAR track is. Okay. Yep. Honestly, man, that's actually where, uh, one of the places

[00:28:17] that I'm looking at right now. Um, yeah, the, the, my missus, she's, uh, she's from

[00:28:22] Odessa, Odessa, Texas. So good oil town. Yeah, man. We were just out there, uh, for

[00:28:27] the holidays, but honestly, I think Dallas over Houston, I think Dallas is it's, it's

[00:28:33] hot, but it's not as, uh, compact. There's a lot more to do. Um, so that's just my opinion.

[00:28:40] Yeah. And there's lakes. Cause I like to do fishing and stuff and you can get into the

[00:28:43] woods a little bit, like the further North you go, you know, up towards Oklahoma, it gets a

[00:28:46] little woodier. Yeah. You know, it's not far from North Dallas. You can be over the

[00:28:49] Oklahoma border or go do some gambling or whatever. Exactly. Um, but that state is just so massive.

[00:28:53] It's huge. I mean, 12, like 12 hours, 12 and a half hours to go from one point to the

[00:28:57] other, like the furthest two points. That's huge. Yeah. You could go through New England

[00:29:00] twice, three times through all of New England. Yeah. What I should do is, uh, go move into

[00:29:07] like a trailer park for like a couple of years. Just save up your money and just have a Lamborghini

[00:29:13] out front. Yeah. No, no, no. They'd be like, this guy's dealing with meth. There's no way

[00:29:19] I sold cars for so long that like having the fancy car is like the last thing that I want.

[00:29:25] Understood. Right. Like I'd rather have fresh clothes and like a nice place to live. Yeah.

[00:29:30] But here I am talking about moving into the trailer park. I mean, you know, I've seen some

[00:29:35] nice trailers, like get the money to go or, or like, I don't know why it's always like

[00:29:40] been curious to me, but like having a bitch in van and just live in van life. Yeah. Mobile for

[00:29:46] like a year or two just for like a year. I couldn't do it. I got, I got my, I got my truck. Uh, no,

[00:29:51] I can't do it. You got the truck to tow the, if I needed to. Yeah. I got a, I got a GMC, uh,

[00:29:56] Sahara. Yeah. So yeah. But you couldn't live in a van for like a year. What if it was like a

[00:30:02] bitch in like the, the like tour bus type shit? Oh, like a coach. Yeah. Like, like, like where

[00:30:08] you have like the big bus, like the rockstar bus. Yeah. That's a little different than the van life.

[00:30:13] Right. You got more room. There's like bedrooms. If I'm able to, I look at it like this,

[00:30:19] the number one things that I enjoy about my place is the kitchen bathroom. Okay. As long as those

[00:30:25] things look amazing, we're good. I can sleep anywhere. That's fair. Okay. Yeah. I like that. Yeah.

[00:30:30] So, okay. So as far as toilet seats go, let's talk about it. As far as toilet seats go. No,

[00:30:37] I have something to have something on this segue because it's, this is crucial. Like, I don't know

[00:30:43] who in the F started creating these narrow, like short toilet seats, you know, cause,

[00:30:51] because for men, like we're working with some extra stuff down there. And if it's not the oblong,

[00:30:56] every man knows what he's talking about. There's like a risk factor. There's a risk factor to

[00:31:00] touching the porcelain. Especially public restrooms. Yeah. Yeah. At the airport. No,

[00:31:03] no, no, no. Yeah. So I don't, I don't know what's up with that. If anyone's remodeling your bathroom

[00:31:07] right now, oblong toilet. Oblong's the way to go. Yes. Oblong toilet with the, with the quiet seat.

[00:31:13] The quiet seat. Oh, a little cushion. A little quiet. I don't like the cushion, man.

[00:31:16] No, the cushion. Man, you'll tear that up. No, he's talking about like when you drop it.

[00:31:21] Like when you drop it. Oh, it's got the slow drop. Yeah. Okay. That's fancy. Some of them get

[00:31:26] heated. You know, some of them have them heated ones in those cold places. Heated with the bidet?

[00:31:29] Are you a bidet boy? I am a bidet boy. All right, go on. I didn't mean to say it like that.

[00:31:36] I've never used them though. See, like. Really? Okay. So this is a funny story. I've never used

[00:31:40] a bidet either. I was, uh, I was dating this gal. Oh, this is a good story. I was dating this gal and,

[00:31:45] um, and she was living a unique lifestyle, which I thought was cool. She was like a life coach.

[00:31:50] And then she also did house sitting and she, she didn't have a home. Like she, this is how she

[00:31:55] lived. Like she would travel and house it. And one of her requirements was they had to have a bidet.

[00:32:02] She would only house it at homes, which had a bidet. Yep. It raises a couple of concerns. I can see

[00:32:07] that. I guess. Why? Well, I mean, is there like, how dirty is it down there that you need constant,

[00:32:14] that kind of cleansing? I mean, look, I have to have my dude wipes. Those I'm a dude. Yeah. What if you

[00:32:20] mean? Okay. So like, I just, but the day I feel like I'm gonna be wet, you know, I'm gonna be a

[00:32:24] little bit dirtier because I ask my boxers are going to get wet. Maybe, maybe I haven't experienced

[00:32:28] it yet, but just there's, there's, there's different pressures to it, man. So there's a science to it.

[00:32:33] You got to get dialed in. Yeah. Just a little bit. Uh, the ones with the heat. So I'll say this,

[00:32:37] I had a client, um, that I was cooking for a high profile client and, uh, the family,

[00:32:44] this is why I got the bidet, uh, or got into bidets. I don't have one right now. We just moved.

[00:32:49] Um, had to go to the bathroom. I didn't know how to use the toilet, right? Everything was buttons.

[00:32:58] And the moment that I sat down, I was like, Oh, okay. Like it's, it's heated. Next thing I know,

[00:33:02] you talk about being dirty, right? So obviously, yes, you wipe things like that, but, uh,

[00:33:07] being able to have that little extra, extra water soap to, you know, make sure that you don't smell.

[00:33:12] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. So it's not a replacement of a wipe. It's like a,

[00:33:15] it's like an added bonus. Exactly. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. I mean,

[00:33:19] you're not just doing the dude wipe only. Oh no, no, no. You're going to drive first.

[00:33:23] The final is the final countdown. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the same, same philosophy. Yeah.

[00:33:27] We got onto the toilet. Right? Yeah. No, but seriously, those,

[00:33:30] those narrow ass toilets, I don't know who in the F invented that shit. Yeah.

[00:33:34] Outdated technology. Those are whack. Very, very much so. Those are whack.

[00:33:37] Especially when the bathroom is small and then there's no, uh, ventilation. It makes it even,

[00:33:42] even worse. Yeah. So kitchens and bathrooms, I can agree on that. And like, honestly,

[00:33:47] like if you're like meeting new people, you can really get a good idea about this person

[00:33:53] based upon the cleanliness of their bathroom. Yeah. Yep. And the kitchen too, almost too. Like

[00:33:58] both of those are very telling. Yep. No, I would agree with you a hundred percent there. No dishes

[00:34:02] in the sink gives me anxiety. Yeah. You know, let's, we got to keep it tight. Let's keep it nice.

[00:34:06] Man, I wasn't always that way though, man, especially during college. Well, that's a little,

[00:34:09] yeah, different times. It was tough. It was tough in and out. Uh, but now that I'm older yet,

[00:34:13] no, no dishes. Yeah. I mean, we'll make a mess our, you know, from cooking a delicious dish,

[00:34:17] but yeah, you know, I'm not gonna be able to relax until that kitchen's clean. That part. Well,

[00:34:22] yeah. And also when you let it sit, it solidifies, it smells, you know, and then it's harder to clean

[00:34:29] up. Yep. Like, so it's clean the dishes while they're fresh. You have to clean the dishes while

[00:34:34] they're fresh. Bill Burr had a great joke about it. He goes, there's two, two types of people in this

[00:34:37] world. You got the people that do the dishes and the people that let them soak. Yep. You know,

[00:34:41] and the people that let them soak are like, Oh, I was going to do that. And he's like, no,

[00:34:44] you weren't. No, you weren't. No, you weren't. Now I'm sitting here. You're going to sit the whole

[00:34:47] time. It's going to sit here. Now my hand is in a pot with scrambled eggs floating around.

[00:34:50] Oh yeah. And then it's the texture thing on your fingers. I don't like that.

[00:34:53] Oh, I'm sorry. Get that out of here. What's the biggest one? Uh, clean as you go. Yeah.

[00:34:59] Yeah. I struggle with that. Okay. I struggle with that. Just put, I put everything in the dishwasher.

[00:35:02] The sign of a pro is clean as you go. Clean as you go. Now see, if I'm in a restaurant,

[00:35:08] it's a, it's, I'm meticulous with it at home. A little difficult. Yeah. I could see that. Cause

[00:35:14] like at the restaurant, you have a dishwasher, right? So you can just offload some shit. He's

[00:35:18] going to run it, get it going. And then you're just working with what you need. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:35:21] Kind of that team aspect. Exactly. I've been seeing myself cutting corners when making the bed in the

[00:35:28] morning recently. Like, like for the longest time, I always made the bed every single morning. I would

[00:35:33] always get it done. And like, I've noticed in the past couple of weeks or so, like I might not load

[00:35:39] the dish immediately. And, and I've been noticing myself slip a little bit. So that's just, this is

[00:35:46] like a self note note. And just like we admitted earlier, um, that we didn't get a try. The,

[00:35:51] it's unfortunate. Yeah. The, the first place, the first place winner, I'm admitting here that I got

[00:35:55] to tighten up on just, just finishing it, just finishing it right away. Yeah. Honestly. I mean,

[00:36:01] that's the first step, right? Is acknowledging it and then putting the steps in place and then

[00:36:06] going from there. You're not alone. Yeah. That's been me too. Like these past couple of weeks

[00:36:09] haven't been making the bed. Usually like that's the first thing I do grab a cup of coffee or some tea

[00:36:14] and then head to the gym. Struggled on all those. Yeah. And it's crazy. Like what,

[00:36:19] for working out specifically, I've noticed if I miss one day, then it's super easy to miss that

[00:36:26] second day. And if you miss that second day, then all of a sudden it's day four. Exactly. Like you

[00:36:31] haven't, you haven't done anything and it happens so quick. Any bad habit. Like if you're eating like

[00:36:35] shit, if you start drinking alcohol, it's easy to be like, you know what? I'm already here. So let me

[00:36:39] just keep doing it. Exactly. You know, I think we've all, I've definitely dealt with that many times.

[00:36:44] That same here, especially like, um, and the alcohol piece I watched, like I said,

[00:36:48] I watched one of you guys' podcast, um, talking about alcohol, right? The overindulging. Like

[00:36:55] that was one thing that I caught myself doing over and over again. Uh, especially after a shift,

[00:37:01] I'm like, you know, I'll come home, grab a Coke, um, some whiskey and taking two shots right then

[00:37:08] and there. And I'm like, dude, you got to chill. Cause it started to become a habit over and over again.

[00:37:12] Now it's to the point where I don't, I won't even drink, especially when I go home. And if I do,

[00:37:17] you know, yeah, very good habit. Uh, the hangovers, hangovers, shit, man. That's what was the same.

[00:37:24] That was what was getting rough for me right up before I quit drinking back in June. Yeah. Um,

[00:37:29] it was, I kept telling myself every morning, I can't wait to not feel like this anymore. Yeah.

[00:37:33] Like it was that bad, but I was so stuck in that routine of just coming home, drinking the 12 pack,

[00:37:37] going to bed next day, grabbing 12 pack. It was just part of the routine. Right. And so

[00:37:41] the hangovers though, you're right. That that's when it started to change. Cause in my twenties,

[00:37:45] there was no hangovers. Right. It was just live like there's no tomorrow. Give me all the drugs,

[00:37:49] all the alcohol. Exactly. And then as they say, man, like you hit 30, you hit 31. It's like, man,

[00:37:54] my body's not liking this shit anymore. And so, yeah, I'd tighten it up. Yep. Same. What about you?

[00:38:01] I mean, it's a tight rope. Yeah. Um, I feel like every subject, there is a fine line of,

[00:38:09] you know, overdoing it and not, and like, so, so it's all a tight rope for me. Um,

[00:38:16] you know, I'm, I'm going to enjoy a couple drinks on this episode. Cause I just can't resist them

[00:38:20] right now. We're still drinking these delicious ones, non-elks, but I did, I did so good, good for

[00:38:25] so long. Um, look, as long as like, it's not controlling you, like you were saying, like every

[00:38:31] single night you need to go home, you need to do that. Like you were saying, like, that's,

[00:38:34] I had, I had to go get that, um, 12 pack for, for me, it was like, I was bored. And so like,

[00:38:41] I used to be 270 pounds. Yeah. It took me two years. I lost like 70 pounds. And at my worst,

[00:38:48] I was drinking a lot of whiskey and just snacking all the time. And like, that was too much. Like,

[00:38:55] it's like, you know, what's 16 drinks? Like, what is that? Nothing. It was like nothing like,

[00:39:02] you know, you're just doing it. And, uh, so for me, like kind of before we jumped on,

[00:39:08] I was talking about just enjoying the present. Like I try not to give myself too hard of a time.

[00:39:13] If I want to indulge, if I do don't overdo it, like be responsible about it. Um, it's just,

[00:39:20] it's just wild getting older and realizing like, okay, all the lessons that pops was trying to teach

[00:39:26] me, all that was true. You know, all the lessons that all my elders had told me, like I had to learn

[00:39:31] that the hard way, apparently, you know, cause people gave me the advice. Yeah. Never wanted

[00:39:35] to hear it though. Yeah. I never did it until I'm sitting there disappointed in myself,

[00:39:39] you know? So that's my main thing is I just, I don't want to be disappointed in my actions

[00:39:43] and I know the right thing to do. And I think most people do. Most people know what they need to do.

[00:39:48] Exactly. And then I think kind of add onto that is just giving yourself enough grace.

[00:39:53] Like that's something that I'm learning to do now is, you know, we're not perfect. You know,

[00:39:58] there's a, there's a way of doing something and then there's always a better way. It's never really

[00:40:02] a bad way. Um, but giving yourself enough grace to, to figure that out, to fail, to succeed,

[00:40:08] fail again. And then once again, succeed. So that's, that's something I'm currently living by right now.

[00:40:14] Part of the process. I feel like it really is. Cause I mean, I've slipped with alcohol during this

[00:40:19] journey and it was just, it made me feel horrible, you know? And then any, anytime that happens,

[00:40:24] I make horrible decisions after that. That's, that's the thing that I had to learn about

[00:40:27] myself with my addictive personality as well. I'm already here. You know, let's do more horrible

[00:40:31] things. And, and that's, that's, that's that control piece is getting that grip on it. You

[00:40:35] know, like I said, last week's show, it's not necessarily about the days, weeks, months,

[00:40:38] how far I can go. It's about not letting it control my life. And that's, that's a daily reminder for me.

[00:40:44] I love it. Yeah. I mean, everybody knows somebody that's dealing with some sort of substance abuse.

[00:40:50] It's true. Right. You know? And, uh, and I believe that any way that you, you can find a way to make

[00:40:58] it healthy and live a healthy life. And, and it's not going to be easy. We're being complacent

[00:41:02] somewhere. Like we're doing, we're being consistent somewhere. Just like when I was addicted to pills,

[00:41:07] I was being consistent on finding the drug, on getting it, looked forward to it. I was, dude,

[00:41:13] if I wanted to find painkillers back in the day, like I didn't care if it took me eight hours,

[00:41:18] like we were going to find that shit and we would. And then I just think about like that ferocity and

[00:41:26] dedication that I had to find a drug. Yeah. And, and would make it happen. So it's like,

[00:41:32] why am I not applying that type of dedication and diligence to areas in my life that actually

[00:41:39] benefit me? And, and when I'm benefited, I actually am fortunate enough to like have this energy that

[00:41:46] can help others. Right. And so like, that's really important that, I mean, that there's like a whole

[00:41:51] bunch of different side paths. We could go in there on that conversation, but it's real. It's, it's real.

[00:41:57] Like, and, and, and we're all, we're all alone in our own heads. Even if you have a girlfriend,

[00:42:03] wife, whatever friends, like you're really alone in your own head. And so, so like you have to do this,

[00:42:09] you have to fight and be a warrior by yourself. Yeah. Easier said than done. Yeah. You know,

[00:42:15] that's that living piece. That's something I deal with every day. You know, like I was telling you

[00:42:18] when I got here to the studio today, like for me, it's one day at a time, you know, because I start

[00:42:22] to get too anxious if I look too far ahead and start to stress me out. If I'm making plans too far ahead.

[00:42:27] Yeah. You wouldn't even set new year's plans with me. It's too far ahead. You know,

[00:42:30] it's too far ahead for me to think, you know, I'm like, I got to get through today. I got to get

[00:42:33] through tomorrow and then we'll talk, you know, that's been my approach to it. He's the man of his word

[00:42:39] miss too. It was like, as far as what I'm willing to, what I'm not, you know, just like you guys,

[00:42:43] man, I was struggling with that too. And I still struggle with it now. Um, overthinking is what

[00:42:49] I struggle with. Me too. Rather it's, am I good enough? You know, for example, uh, the competition,

[00:42:54] dude, I was like, this shit is too simple. I'm looking at everybody else's dish and I'm like,

[00:42:58] damn, am I, am I good enough to do this? I'm like, but you're in the room. So yeah, you're,

[00:43:03] you're more than good enough. Yeah. There's a reason why they asked you to be a part of this

[00:43:06] competition and, uh, just understanding that. And you talk about not just overthinking,

[00:43:14] having anxiety. It's like being stuck in your head, understanding that you have the ability to,

[00:43:20] I use the analogy, uh, walking out the door. So yes, you're in your head, but you have the ability

[00:43:26] and the ability to make the decision to leave at any given point in time and to live in that moment

[00:43:31] and to enjoy what is currently going on around you. So that's well said. Yeah. That's well said.

[00:43:37] Cause I'm sure that was a high pressure event, right? Oh yeah. Oh shit. Yeah. And then to win it.

[00:43:41] Yeah. Like when they announced the winner, were you like a little shocked? I know from a,

[00:43:46] from a fan's perspective, I was like, Oh wow, this is cool. Honestly, I,

[00:43:50] a little bit, I thought the pasta had it. I'm going to throw that out there. I thought the pasta

[00:43:56] had it only because it was super creative. Yeah. You know, for me it was, you know,

[00:44:02] my approach with the dish, you know, I ended up going to, um, it's called get rights, get rights

[00:44:10] bakery. So, uh, South Denver, um, over by lakeside and man, they made this beautiful, uh, breakfast

[00:44:18] pizza with, uh, squash. Um, they did Italian sauces instead, um, drizzled honey, Parmesan cheese.

[00:44:25] And that was like the best thing I fucking ate. And I was like, you know what, how can I recreate

[00:44:29] this? But in a way that that reminds me of my grandmother, you know, for me it was,

[00:44:34] it seems too simple, but it really did bring back, you know, childhood memories. So instead

[00:44:40] of doing, you know, sweet potatoes, which is what we grew up with, which are, you know,

[00:44:43] candy, sweet potatoes, um, that was my approach with the, with the, uh, squash. And then as far

[00:44:49] as the sausage, my grandmother, every Sunday right after church, she would make, uh, grits

[00:44:55] it was grits, eggs, eggs, uh, eggs over easy, um, and some bacon. And that was her go-to.

[00:45:01] She'll have a slice of bread on the side. Um, you know, the grits that they gave us,

[00:45:05] those weren't traditional grits. Like those were, yes. Don't, what is it? Uh, stone ground

[00:45:10] grits, um, which are a little bit, they're difficult to use, uh, compared to, you know,

[00:45:16] quick grits, which is what I grew up with. But I use the same process, man. Cook it like

[00:45:21] your grandma used to make it. Don't overcomplicate it. And it ended up being a winner. So cook

[00:45:26] with a little love, cook with love. That's pretty much it. That's, that's my philosophy.

[00:45:29] Every time I cook, always cook with love, keep things simple. Um, and that's what, that's

[00:45:35] what's, you know, memorable about each thing that I make. So, yeah. Yeah. So there's two,

[00:45:40] there's two things that, that I kind of took from everything you just said. Yeah. So to unpack

[00:45:45] this, the first thing is we are all our biggest doubters. Like you're talking about, you know,

[00:45:52] am I good enough? And everyone goes through these moments, even if you're fucking crushing

[00:45:56] it. Yeah. Like you're still sitting here like, why am I worthy of this? So like, we're all

[00:46:01] our biggest naysayers. If we could shut that version of us up, you know, it's true. And, and

[00:46:07] then to, to, uh, go into the second piece of how you're talking about your dish, there's

[00:46:12] like this philosophy where like, it's so simple that that can't be the answer, but it's actually

[00:46:21] that simple. Yeah. And people who are over analytical and inherently humans in general want to over

[00:46:28] complicate things. Like we make things more complicating than they actually are. And like

[00:46:34] the simplicity is, is actually, that's life. Life is actually pretty simple. Exactly. Back

[00:46:41] to basics. You know? So there's like all these, there's, there's layers to what you're saying.

[00:46:44] And I'm like, of course it was successful, you know, because you're overcoming your own

[00:46:49] self doubt. And then you're, you're making a simple thing, something that you loved as

[00:46:53] a, as a child and like did your own rendition on it. Bravo. That was well played. Thank you.

[00:46:58] Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Very well done for sure. Anything I ever make, like, it's always

[00:47:02] pretty simple, but it ends up being delicious. You know, when I try to overcomplicate it,

[00:47:06] get too fancy, you know, then I, then things start going off the rails. But that part's fun too.

[00:47:11] Cause I'm like learning, I'm a recent into the culinary arts. I'm having a fun time with it.

[00:47:15] Exactly. Just getting in there and just, you know, chopping it up, fucking some things up.

[00:47:18] And everything that, that has turned out like with good guest feedback that I've done been really

[00:47:22] simple recipes, you know, so I'm just sticking to basics, keeping it simple, not overthinking it,

[00:47:26] get a little of that flavor on there, you know, getting it on the smoke, whatever,

[00:47:29] have fun with it. Yeah. Right. Exactly. So you're a smoker, huh? I'm getting there. I wouldn't say

[00:47:35] I'm a seasoned smoker yet, but it's heating up. We're getting to the right temperature.

[00:47:38] What do you have? A trigger? A trigger. Okay. You? I eat the meat off of his trigger.

[00:47:43] He eats my smoked meat. But I did, I did the turkey on the smoker. Okay. Cody kind of got me

[00:47:48] pumped up on how to, you know, how to do it a little bit. So I took some advice from him.

[00:47:51] And of course he was texting me, let me see the gravy. I don't care about the turkey.

[00:47:55] Yeah. I'm like, come on, man. Try to make this turkey. He's a sauce guy, man.

[00:47:57] He loves sauce. He's a sauce guy. The saucy squid.

[00:48:00] The saucy squid. Yeah, man. He loves the sauce, but yeah, smoking's fun. So I've done

[00:48:06] pretty much all of the meats. The brisket. Yeah. I've done salmon. I've done prime rib

[00:48:10] at this point. Did the turkey. You know, pork loins. Yeah. Beef tenderloins. So now I'm

[00:48:15] like, where do I go with it now? How do I get more creative? What kind of-

[00:48:18] Why not go on a show? Oh, man. Why not go on a show? Backyard brawl? Netflix? Something?

[00:48:25] I might throw my hat into something like that in 25. You make some good shit, Kev. Yeah?

[00:48:29] I don't know if I'm pomp worthy yet. No, but look, I mean, DeAndre was just talking about-

[00:48:33] I know. Oh, he had that self-doubt and shit. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:48:36] But I also haven't been, you know, cooking for 12 years.

[00:48:38] And you know what? And that's okay. Look, I look at it like this. I didn't go to culinary

[00:48:42] school. Everything that I have been taught along the way has all been in restaurants.

[00:48:48] Oh, wow. The real way to learn.

[00:48:51] The real way, quote-unquote. In the streets.

[00:48:52] Man, I started in the dish pit, dude. Oh, yeah.

[00:48:54] And then just worked my way up. I was-

[00:48:56] In the trenches.

[00:48:56] Yeah, I was secretly hopping on the line. I remember working at Embassy Suites Hotel,

[00:49:02] and they just hired me as a dishwasher. I'm like, look, I just want to learn how to cook.

[00:49:05] I'll figure it out myself. Every time the executive chef would leave, I would step away from dishes.

[00:49:11] I'm either doing prep or I sneak away, hop on the line while tickets are going,

[00:49:14] while nobody's around, while they're taking a break or a smoke break.

[00:49:17] And then I go back to doing what I was doing. But that's how I learned and then eventually got caught.

[00:49:21] And they're like, you know what? All right. Here are the next steps.

[00:49:24] So this is what we're going to do.

[00:49:25] Okay. Wow.

[00:49:25] So that's just how I worked my way from there.

[00:49:27] Interesting.

[00:49:27] That's a cool story. I was going to ask you kind of how you got to this point, and you just answered it.

[00:49:30] So, man, just in the trenches taking grenades.

[00:49:33] In the trenches, man. I've had, I'll say this. I grew up in the old ways of cooking,

[00:49:38] so I've had hot boiling crabs throwing at me. You know, cuss that, get out of my kitchen.

[00:49:43] Gordon Ramsey type shit.

[00:49:44] Yep, pretty much.

[00:49:45] Yeah.

[00:49:46] Can't do that now. I feel like the industry's too sensitive.

[00:49:48] Oh, come on, people.

[00:49:49] Yeah, why is that?

[00:49:51] Why is that?

[00:49:51] Yeah, I mean, because I feel like there's certain industries where it should still be like that and be a little rough.

[00:49:55] And I feel like culinary arts is one of them. Like, you fucked this up. You know, get the fuck out of the kitchen.

[00:49:59] No, I think nowadays everything is teachable, right? You want to be as strong as the person, you know, next to you in the kitchen.

[00:50:08] I don't need to yell at you. If I can teach you how to do something, I'm going to teach and coach you how to do it.

[00:50:13] Because I would expect the same in return. Because if I don't know how to do something, I'm going to ask,

[00:50:17] I said, all right, you know what, chef, show me how to do this. And then pretty much go from there.

[00:50:22] The way I look at it now, and I learned this through one of my previous chefs, Chef Lee Sagag.

[00:50:29] I was from New York.

[00:50:33] We're dealing with my team members or, you know, my cooks, whatever.

[00:50:38] I'll look at it from a chef instructor's point of view.

[00:50:40] You know, right before that, right before I was working with him, I was working at the Colorado Early College.

[00:50:47] So I was teaching students how to cook.

[00:50:50] And I wouldn't throw a plate at them like, you fucked up.

[00:50:53] No, we're not doing that. All right, guys.

[00:50:55] Like, you know, what do you guys want to cook? What sounds fun?

[00:50:58] Let's create a curriculum, go from there.

[00:51:00] And then, you know, I would guide them through.

[00:51:03] Because...

[00:51:04] I mean, that's a better way to teach.

[00:51:06] You're going to have better results.

[00:51:06] Exactly.

[00:51:07] Yeah, because honestly, yelling and all that, that's kind of beta behavior.

[00:51:11] I mean, I just grew up around, I grew up in the grocery biz.

[00:51:14] And so I started bagging groceries when I was 14 years old in the old ways.

[00:51:17] Yeah.

[00:51:18] And a very, very tough-ass boss, no-nonsense kind of approach would fire you on the spot type of shit.

[00:51:23] You fucking weak-ass, you know, you can't do nothing.

[00:51:25] So I was used to that kind of conditioning.

[00:51:26] And I have seen the change you're talking about.

[00:51:28] Again, never worked in the culinary arts.

[00:51:29] But I can imagine, you know, how to even slice something properly or, you know, prep, all that stuff.

[00:51:34] Like, you need to learn, right?

[00:51:36] And by yelling at me, it's probably not going to be the best way.

[00:51:39] It's not going to help.

[00:51:40] Yeah.

[00:51:40] I look at it like this, people learn better when you talk to them.

[00:51:43] The way we're talking right now, you're able to get, you know, your point across.

[00:51:47] Yep.

[00:51:48] And then you just walk away.

[00:51:50] And then you let them do their own thing.

[00:51:51] And then if they mess up, all right, you show them again.

[00:51:54] And then they get it.

[00:51:56] Repetition's another skill.

[00:51:57] Yep.

[00:51:58] That and patience.

[00:51:59] And patience.

[00:52:00] Yeah.

[00:52:00] If you're not making mistakes, then you're not trying.

[00:52:03] Exactly.

[00:52:03] You know, and that's one of the biggest things that I feel like a lot of people need to overcome as far as fulfilling their potential is being willing to fail.

[00:52:15] And like not quit when you do.

[00:52:18] Yeah.

[00:52:19] Right?

[00:52:19] Because it's so easy to be like, oh, I really thought this was for me, but I failed at my first attempt, so it must not be for me.

[00:52:26] A lot of people do that.

[00:52:26] That's unfortunate because you're like, you're really selling yourself short if you're not seeing it through a little bit.

[00:52:32] Yep.

[00:52:33] Like, if you really want to do something big that means a lot to you, it's not going to happen in two weeks.

[00:52:40] Not at all.

[00:52:40] Like, you're going to have to stay committed to something for like, I think honestly, like a year is like a good benchmark for like actually diving into something.

[00:52:49] To see results.

[00:52:50] Yeah.

[00:52:51] To see results.

[00:52:51] Yeah, I can see that.

[00:52:52] You know, throughout my journey as far as cooking, the timeline I gave myself was 10 years.

[00:52:59] I know it sounds crazy, but it was just like, I don't know what I'm doing.

[00:53:03] I'm starting from ground zero and I'm going to go to each and every restaurant or corporate dining, you know, different schools just to kind of figure it out.

[00:53:12] And I didn't get my first gig until what, 2019?

[00:53:17] And I started back in what, 2012?

[00:53:21] So for all that time, I had to grind.

[00:53:24] I quit.

[00:53:25] Like I said, I cried about it.

[00:53:28] I bitched and moaned about it, prayed about it, talked to my grandmother about it.

[00:53:33] And the moment that I stopped complaining is when I started, you know, seeing things come to light.

[00:53:38] And, you know, I learned to start speaking things into existence.

[00:53:42] You know, all the things that I wanted to do.

[00:53:44] What are your goals?

[00:53:45] All right.

[00:53:45] Can you see yourself there?

[00:53:47] All right.

[00:53:47] Start saying that you're already doing it.

[00:53:49] You're already there.

[00:53:50] It's already happening.

[00:53:51] And then boom, things just started happening back to back to back.

[00:53:55] And the mind is powerful.

[00:53:57] It's powerful.

[00:53:57] It's so powerful.

[00:53:58] Yeah.

[00:53:58] When you stop complaining.

[00:54:00] You start being grateful about it and open-minded to new opportunities.

[00:54:04] Yeah, man.

[00:54:05] A lot of things happen.

[00:54:06] It's true.

[00:54:06] We can manifest a lot of things.

[00:54:07] Yes, you can.

[00:54:08] And we've got to be kind to ourselves, too.

[00:54:09] Yep.

[00:54:09] You know, and positive affirmations.

[00:54:11] I can do this.

[00:54:11] I'm strong.

[00:54:12] I'm healthy.

[00:54:13] I can handle whatever challenge.

[00:54:14] Yep.

[00:54:14] Those type of things go a long way.

[00:54:16] I've been really, really pumping myself full of those these past few weeks.

[00:54:19] And it helps.

[00:54:20] It definitely helps.

[00:54:21] It's crucial.

[00:54:21] And I know I've said this a thousand times, but people are doing affirmations whether they

[00:54:26] know it or they don't.

[00:54:27] Yeah.

[00:54:27] Like, before you were complaining and your complaint was your affirmation.

[00:54:33] Yes, it was.

[00:54:33] That's why nothing was getting done.

[00:54:35] Exactly.

[00:54:35] So, that's a really deep subject.

[00:54:38] Yeah, it is.

[00:54:38] Like, that whole context of, you know, and we mentioned earlier on this same episode is

[00:54:44] like, you know, the intuitive stuff, or at least I was talking about that and how we're

[00:54:47] all interconnected.

[00:54:49] Mm-hmm.

[00:54:49] And like this intuitive nature and being able to manifest and create a life and what you're

[00:54:57] focused on, like the laws of attraction.

[00:55:00] All that stuff is super interesting.

[00:55:02] And if you're not consciously using these techniques, then more than likely they're working against

[00:55:09] you.

[00:55:09] Yep.

[00:55:09] It's happening regardless.

[00:55:11] I think we've all experienced it.

[00:55:13] Everyone in this room, for sure.

[00:55:14] Oh, yeah.

[00:55:14] It's part of living.

[00:55:15] Yeah.

[00:55:15] You know, got to fail to succeed a little bit.

[00:55:17] Got to get out and get a little dirty.

[00:55:18] Yep.

[00:55:19] Got to take some hits.

[00:55:20] Yep.

[00:55:20] Got to take some damage.

[00:55:21] Well, and it doesn't stop either.

[00:55:22] Yeah.

[00:55:22] Like, you think that like, okay, I've worked hard enough and I deserve a break.

[00:55:29] I deserve a break.

[00:55:29] Right.

[00:55:29] That's when you got to go harder, as Cody said.

[00:55:31] Yeah.

[00:55:31] Yeah.

[00:55:31] And that's crazy.

[00:55:33] That's one thing that really helped me find my, I don't want to say grind mentality, but

[00:55:38] really helped me find like my equilibrium with staying productive.

[00:55:42] Because I think staying productive, anyone could live a productive life.

[00:55:45] Yeah.

[00:55:46] I don't look at work like work.

[00:55:47] I'm being productive.

[00:55:49] I'm handling that.

[00:55:50] Yeah.

[00:55:50] But it was really just, you know, doing those affirmations and realizing that when I wasn't

[00:55:57] doing them, I would start falling off.

[00:55:59] And that showed me that there's no finish line.

[00:56:01] Like I would continually have to constantly work on myself and everybody does.

[00:56:06] There's no finish line to success.

[00:56:09] Like that's just, and that's, that's the cold truth.

[00:56:13] Yeah.

[00:56:13] Is like the self-improvement journey has no end.

[00:56:17] And that is a big commitment because that you're doing until you die.

[00:56:21] Yeah.

[00:56:21] So that's a big commitment.

[00:56:22] Yeah.

[00:56:22] That alone will scare people off.

[00:56:24] Yeah.

[00:56:25] Yeah.

[00:56:26] You know, you're absolutely right about that.

[00:56:27] It's worth it, but it's worth it.

[00:56:29] Yeah.

[00:56:29] The results are definitely worth it.

[00:56:30] You know, if they're 10 years from now, you're like, man, look at this guy.

[00:56:34] You're going to be on some big program or doing, running some big enterprise or be like,

[00:56:37] he was on our show 10 years ago.

[00:56:38] Man.

[00:56:40] Speak that.

[00:56:40] Yeah.

[00:56:41] I'll take that.

[00:56:41] I'll receive that.

[00:56:42] Yeah.

[00:56:43] I mean, you got, you do got enterprise energy.

[00:56:45] Really?

[00:56:46] Yeah.

[00:56:46] Why is that?

[00:56:47] Just your stature.

[00:56:48] You're, you're calm, cool, collected.

[00:56:50] Okay.

[00:56:51] All right.

[00:56:51] Noted, noted.

[00:56:52] And also I can tell that you have like authenticity, you know?

[00:56:56] Appreciate that.

[00:56:56] So it's good.

[00:56:57] I'm working on that.

[00:56:57] I'm working on that right now.

[00:56:58] I had a, I'll share this with you guys, man.

[00:57:01] I had a period where everything had to stop as far as taking a break from doing what it

[00:57:09] is that I love to do to kind of just focus back on myself, get myself back in order, figure

[00:57:17] out what my values and morals were, right?

[00:57:20] What were important.

[00:57:21] And, you know, I recently just got the answer over things.

[00:57:25] What is it?

[00:57:26] Yeah.

[00:57:26] Over the holidays.

[00:57:29] So now I'm actually at a point where it's like, how can I now give value back to people?

[00:57:37] Right.

[00:57:38] Things like that.

[00:57:38] I feel like I'm just ranting now, but yeah, man.

[00:57:42] No, no, you had, you had to take a break.

[00:57:44] Had to take a break.

[00:57:45] Yeah.

[00:57:45] Re-get your footing.

[00:57:46] Get everything back in order.

[00:57:47] Because it's easy to get lost.

[00:57:49] It's easy to get lost when you're just chasing, running.

[00:57:51] Yeah.

[00:57:51] But like sometimes like we lose ourselves.

[00:57:54] Exactly.

[00:57:54] A little bit.

[00:57:55] And it's like, wait, you know, who am I becoming?

[00:57:58] Exactly.

[00:57:58] That part.

[00:57:59] Right.

[00:58:00] So it's good to have those check-ins.

[00:58:02] Yep.

[00:58:02] And that's actually what happened.

[00:58:03] It was a check-in with myself.

[00:58:04] What makes sense?

[00:58:06] Responsibilities is pretty much what it was.

[00:58:07] Like, what are my priorities?

[00:58:09] What are my responsibilities?

[00:58:10] What do I need to, you know, focus and give my attention to?

[00:58:13] And then, you know, move forward from there.

[00:58:16] So that's just pretty much where I've been at.

[00:58:18] And when you look at it with business, it's like, I feel like I'm just ranting, man.

[00:58:22] No, you're good.

[00:58:24] I'm like, I'm thinking everything.

[00:58:26] But yeah.

[00:58:27] My fault.

[00:58:28] No, you're good, man.

[00:58:29] That's what we were always over here rant.

[00:58:30] So it's nice to have a guest held on their side.

[00:58:32] And, you know, I guess my question was like, how long did that period take when you realize,

[00:58:36] okay, I'm going to shut the engines down and recharge the batteries too.

[00:58:39] Time to go full send again.

[00:58:41] It took me a month.

[00:58:43] Okay.

[00:58:43] It took me a month to kind of just pause, reset, put a new plan in order, put new goals in order.

[00:58:50] You know, what are the next goals that I want to accomplish?

[00:58:53] Because at a moment in time, man, I was accomplishing all of my goals, but it was happening quick.

[00:58:57] Yeah.

[00:58:58] And then it was like, all right, well, what makes you happy?

[00:59:01] What are you enjoying now?

[00:59:02] So now that I have that, I can now move forward.

[00:59:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:59:06] So.

[00:59:06] And that changes too.

[00:59:08] Yeah.

[00:59:08] Like we're, we're not always, our purpose will change as life continues.

[00:59:15] Right.

[00:59:16] And sometimes when we, like you just said, like you had kind of fulfilled some of your purposes,

[00:59:20] you were achieving your goals.

[00:59:22] Yeah.

[00:59:22] And then you're left like, well, what, what am I doing now?

[00:59:26] Like, what am I chasing?

[00:59:27] Exactly.

[00:59:28] You know, and I feel like it's important because not everyone gets vulnerable and like,

[00:59:32] and like talks about the low times.

[00:59:35] Like everyone's so excited to talk about all the exciting things.

[00:59:38] Yeah.

[00:59:39] Which is great.

[00:59:39] But you know, what's really exciting is when I see somebody that was struggling and then

[00:59:43] they start turning their life around.

[00:59:45] Like that type of shit.

[00:59:47] That type of shit.

[00:59:49] Yeah.

[00:59:49] Will get me going.

[00:59:51] Yeah.

[00:59:51] And like, and like, that's what I want to help motivate.

[00:59:53] And like, that's the thing is like, I'm, I might be an optimistic person, but I'm not

[00:59:58] always up.

[00:59:58] Like I got my days when I just want to be down.

[01:00:00] Yep.

[01:00:01] And that's okay.

[01:00:01] That's human.

[01:00:02] You know, that's human emotion for sure.

[01:00:04] And people, what's the saying that, uh, one of our guests rattled off.

[01:00:08] People relate more with your messes.

[01:00:09] Yeah.

[01:00:10] Then they will your message.

[01:00:12] Than your message.

[01:00:13] Right.

[01:00:13] That's a great quote, right?

[01:00:14] I mean, cause it's true.

[01:00:15] Whether people are having their hand held through an alcoholic journey or they see someone

[01:00:19] going through, you know, custody battle or whatever.

[01:00:22] They're going to relate to those messes more than just see, they just see you now, how you

[01:00:26] got here.

[01:00:26] They didn't see all the bullshit.

[01:00:27] Yep.

[01:00:28] You know?

[01:00:28] And so that's a good constant reminder that social media doesn't always highlight the

[01:00:32] best.

[01:00:32] Exactly.

[01:00:33] I know.

[01:00:33] No, you're absolutely right.

[01:00:35] I know.

[01:00:36] Now, as far as being vulnerable, man, I had this conversation with Cody, got to a point

[01:00:40] where, you know, a lot of people, like I said, people see the highlights, right?

[01:00:44] Go off of what you said, but they don't know that, you know, we've been broke back to back

[01:00:49] trying to figure out how we're going to pay our bills.

[01:00:51] Do we have enough money to get, you know, put gas in our car?

[01:00:54] Am I going to be able to make it to this next event?

[01:00:56] Because I put all the money into the event to make sure that it goes well, but the household

[01:01:00] isn't, you know, taken care of.

[01:01:02] So things like that.

[01:01:03] So a lot of people don't see that.

[01:01:05] Yeah.

[01:01:05] So, yeah.

[01:01:06] Oh, yeah.

[01:01:07] Yeah.

[01:01:07] And look, to work through that, I mean, that is part of reality, right?

[01:01:13] Yeah.

[01:01:13] And so as a man, like, I know that I could feel low if I'm not doing those type of things.

[01:01:21] So it's like, you know, because we want to be providers and be the stability for the

[01:01:26] household and create, like, you know, the comfortability, like, you know, it's going

[01:01:31] to be good.

[01:01:32] And when it's not, that hurts.

[01:01:35] Yeah.

[01:01:36] That one's tough.

[01:01:37] That's a tough burden to take on.

[01:01:39] Yep.

[01:01:39] Because, but when you're risking it too, like, I mean, to where I'm at is so fortunate compared

[01:01:46] to where I was four years ago.

[01:01:47] And like, and just to be able to like taste this amount of authenticity from myself and

[01:01:55] see the result from it.

[01:01:56] Yeah.

[01:01:57] Like it wasn't, it wasn't peaches and cream getting here.

[01:02:01] Exactly.

[01:02:02] And like, and I, I still let the demons in and I say what's up to them because they, they

[01:02:07] never go away.

[01:02:08] Oh, they're knocking.

[01:02:08] Like those demons are there, whatever anyone's demon is.

[01:02:11] They just get smaller every time I let them in.

[01:02:13] They don't scare me as much, you know?

[01:02:15] That's well said.

[01:02:16] So I still let them in.

[01:02:17] I have a perspective for sure.

[01:02:18] You know, it's that, that's for me, man.

[01:02:21] But everyone's going to have their own way to get through it.

[01:02:24] But the main thing that I, I really think is critical to overcoming adversity is to stay

[01:02:34] optimistic.

[01:02:35] Yep.

[01:02:36] And, and it's tough when, when you're getting shit on and like no opportunities work and

[01:02:40] you're trying and, and for some reason you can't even close the cabinet door correctly.

[01:02:44] Yeah.

[01:02:44] You know, it's like one of those days.

[01:02:46] Yeah.

[01:02:47] You know, and you're just getting pissed off throwing shit.

[01:02:49] Yeah.

[01:02:50] I mean, that's okay.

[01:02:52] But you know, we'll, we'll to have that optimism and like, it's so refreshing because this is

[01:02:59] our first real conversation.

[01:03:00] Right.

[01:03:00] And it's so refreshing to have heard that story about you complaining all the time, things

[01:03:06] weren't working out and then you shifted your mentality.

[01:03:09] Yeah.

[01:03:09] And then all of a sudden the universe started to provide.

[01:03:11] Yeah.

[01:03:11] Like I know people that don't want to believe that.

[01:03:14] Like people don't want to believe in that for some reason.

[01:03:17] Right.

[01:03:18] Like, Oh no, the mind doesn't work like that.

[01:03:20] But like, there's just another story of like another example of, of how that rings true.

[01:03:27] Well, we've always said it's easier to stay on complacent boulevard than it is to go on

[01:03:31] full scent highway.

[01:03:32] Exactly.

[01:03:32] You know, that complacent boulevard is nicely paved.

[01:03:35] You know, it's got beautiful scenery to look at.

[01:03:37] That full scent highway is going to be a rough road.

[01:03:38] You're going to hit some potholes.

[01:03:39] You're going to have to change the tire.

[01:03:40] You know, it's not going to be easy.

[01:03:42] And I think that's where people just go out.

[01:03:43] That's too much for me.

[01:03:45] People will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure.

[01:03:47] Yep.

[01:03:47] And that's a scientific fact of humanity, me included.

[01:03:50] We're all going to be tested with that at times.

[01:03:51] Exactly.

[01:03:52] It's easy to stay on complacent boulevard.

[01:03:54] It really is.

[01:03:55] Give me the cold beer and the donuts and all the bullshit.

[01:03:57] And you know, I'll stay there all day.

[01:03:59] But, you know, I got to full scent that son of a bitch.

[01:04:01] NASCAR that down full scent highway.

[01:04:03] Exactly.

[01:04:03] That's my perspective.

[01:04:04] Yep.

[01:04:05] You've been doing a good job at that recently.

[01:04:08] Well, thank you.

[01:04:09] I appreciate that.

[01:04:10] His face when I said that, I wish I had the camera on you, man.

[01:04:13] Yeah, it's not easy.

[01:04:15] Yeah.

[01:04:15] It hasn't been, it's not going to be easy.

[01:04:17] No, not at all.

[01:04:18] I think at that moment, you just got to pick your heart.

[01:04:20] What's, are you going to enjoy, you know, the easy life right now and then it gets harder

[01:04:23] later?

[01:04:24] Or are you going to, you know, take the hard road and then, you know, sit back

[01:04:29] and enjoy that beer?

[01:04:30] Yeah.

[01:04:30] Yeah, do that.

[01:04:31] Yeah.

[01:04:32] That's the, that's the choice.

[01:04:33] That's a good segue into the question we'd like to ask every guest that comes on this

[01:04:36] program.

[01:04:37] And that is, if you could offer one piece of life advice, if all humanity hears this

[01:04:40] tomorrow, when they will on YouTube and all the streaming platforms, what would that

[01:04:44] piece of advice be?

[01:04:46] Man, you know what?

[01:04:51] At the end of the day, we all go through shit.

[01:04:55] You just got to learn to say, fuck it and keep it pushing.

[01:04:58] So, and what that looks like is, regardless of, you know, you're struggling now, struggling

[01:05:04] tomorrow, at some point in time, you're going to struggle.

[01:05:08] At the end of the day, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.

[01:05:10] It really is.

[01:05:12] So, you just got to keep moving.

[01:05:14] Just keep moving.

[01:05:14] Just keep moving.

[01:05:15] That's good advice.

[01:05:16] What did you say?

[01:05:16] Floor it?

[01:05:17] Mash the gas, baby.

[01:05:18] Hit the gas.

[01:05:19] Mash it.

[01:05:20] Yeah, don't stop when you're stuck in the shit or else you're just standing there

[01:05:23] and shit.

[01:05:23] You're just going to dig in deeper.

[01:05:25] Yeah, it's crazy, man.

[01:05:27] All this type of stuff is like, it's easier said than done.

[01:05:31] And to all my true warriors out there who walk that walk and are honest and accountable

[01:05:37] with themselves and like, oh no, I was an idiot there or I overindulged there.

[01:05:43] You got to be honest with yourself.

[01:05:45] And there's a freedom to being honest.

[01:05:46] So, I do like that advice.

[01:05:48] Don't stop when the shit gets hard.

[01:05:50] You got to keep it moving or else, like you do, you get stuck there.

[01:05:53] It's like quicksand.

[01:05:53] It is.

[01:05:54] Pulls you in.

[01:05:55] Yep.

[01:05:55] Man.

[01:05:56] There's so much that I wanted to get into on this.

[01:05:59] That's a good episode.

[01:06:00] There's so many side topics.

[01:06:02] And when you're a professional podcaster, you learn to not say everything that you want

[01:06:07] to because the conversation moves sometimes.

[01:06:09] You got to let it flow, yeah.

[01:06:10] It's like a river.

[01:06:10] And there was at least seven times I was like, oh God, I want to.

[01:06:13] But this thing's moving.

[01:06:14] But that's a good reason why we're going to have you back on as a repeat guest.

[01:06:17] Sounds great to me.

[01:06:18] Because once you're in the wheelhouse, there ain't no getting out.

[01:06:21] Hey, my answer is always a yes.

[01:06:23] I like that.

[01:06:23] Y'all let me know when you're ready.

[01:06:24] Yeah, we're going to get you on for sure.

[01:06:25] Good time for you to drop anything you got coming up.

[01:06:27] Promos, social medias, anything you want to drop?

[01:06:29] Cool, cool, cool.

[01:06:30] So you guys can follow me at Chef Cool Dre on Instagram.

[01:06:34] For all my Denver folks, I have a couple of class sessions that are going to be coming up.

[01:06:39] I'll be posting throughout the year.

[01:06:41] I have another one coming up December 28th.

[01:06:44] It's going to be at La Victoria's Healing Kitchen.

[01:06:47] We're going to be doing a Southern Luck event.

[01:06:50] So pretty much I'm going to be teaching individuals how to cook a traditional Southern dinner, especially going to the New Year's from greens to black eyed peas.

[01:07:00] We're going to have a cornbread cook-off, which I think will be dope.

[01:07:04] You guys are more than welcome to come.

[01:07:05] I'll come to a cornbread cook-off.

[01:07:07] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[01:07:09] But, yeah, man, I have a lot of other things that are going to be coming up.

[01:07:12] I'm looking at partnering, once again, with La Victoria's Healing Kitchen to do what we call men's intervention.

[01:07:20] So cooking with men's intervention, teaching men how to cook, how to prepare, you know, not only dinners for themselves, whether they're in college or just at home, romantic dinners, things like that.

[01:07:30] And then I'll also be doing some couples classes as well.

[01:07:33] That's a really fun class.

[01:07:34] It does.

[01:07:34] And I know that women find men who cook extremely attractive.

[01:07:39] Yes, they do.

[01:07:39] That's also a scientific fact.

[01:07:42] For sure.

[01:07:42] Thank you, guys, man.

[01:07:43] I'm super grateful.

[01:07:44] I really am.

[01:07:45] Thank you all for allowing me to be here and be a part of this masterpiece.

[01:07:48] Well, thanks, man.

[01:07:49] For all those looking, man, this was my first podcast.

[01:07:52] You did great.

[01:07:53] Man, I had fun.

[01:07:55] You know, overthink a little bit, but it's all good.

[01:07:58] No, it's all right.

[01:07:58] It's all great, baby.

[01:07:59] Yeah, it's all good.

[01:08:00] He's a bidet boy.

[01:08:01] A bidet boy.

[01:08:02] A bidet boy?

[01:08:03] That's crazy.

[01:08:04] Bidet man.

[01:08:06] It doesn't roll off the tongue the same.

[01:08:07] No, not at all.

[01:08:08] It doesn't.

[01:08:09] We'll just say he keeps it fresh and clean.

[01:08:10] Yeah.

[01:08:11] Keeping it fresh.

[01:08:13] What's the toilet brand name?

[01:08:16] Oh, isn't it?

[01:08:17] Toilet paper.

[01:08:18] Which one?

[01:08:18] Dude Wipes.

[01:08:18] Dude Wipes.

[01:08:19] Yeah.

[01:08:19] Go ahead and sponsor us.

[01:08:20] That'd be fun.

[01:08:21] Yeah, that'd be dope.

[01:08:22] We tried to get them sponsors for one time, but maybe next time.

[01:08:24] Yeah.

[01:08:24] So let's shut her down.

[01:08:26] We got a happy Friday coming your way tomorrow.

[01:08:28] Thanks again for all the support on this channel and all the love that you've shown us over

[01:08:31] the years.

[01:08:31] Follow us on all the social medias.

[01:08:33] Definitely get down in the links below.

[01:08:34] Get in touch over here with Chef DeAndre doing some amazing things.

[01:08:39] Love it.

[01:08:39] Thank you so much for tuning in.

[01:08:41] We got another one in the wheelhouse and we're going to continue to support you and network

[01:08:46] with you and we look forward to seeing all of us grow, right?

[01:08:52] This is this point in time.

[01:08:53] We have a long way to go.

[01:08:55] And on that note, be good to yourselves.

[01:08:57] You deserve it.