Episode 73 – The Germans Let Me Down

Scott: Friends with Brews!

Scott: You couldn’t hear it, but I played the…

Peter: I’ll just have to take your word for it.

Scott: You’ll have to trust me.

Scott: After all this time, this will be episode 73.2, or I don’t even know.

Peter: I suppose after 20 years, I can learn to trust you, Scott.

Scott: Usually most people say the opposite.

Peter: I’m a slow learner.

Peter: What are you drinking?

Scott: I am drinking a coffee, and here’s where once again, the trade specialty thing annoys me because this is by a brand called Drink Coffee Do Stuff, and they are a Lake Tahoe company.

Peter: I have a question.

Scott: Okay.

Peter: Is there a comma in the company name?

Scott: No.

Scott: But.

Peter: Are people eating children here?

Scott: But the Drink Coffee is in large all caps text, and the Do Stuff is in smaller all caps text.

Scott: So there is a visual separation.

Peter: So that changes everything.

Scott: It changes everything.

Peter: Does it really though?

Scott: It is the comma substitute of font sizing.

Peter: Comma substitute.

Peter: I love it.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: So that’s how they get around.

Scott: Anyway, what irritates me about this coffee isn’t that it’s made by this brand from Tahoe, which is pretty cool, and they go on and on about high-altitude brewing, blah, blah, blah.

Scott: But what they don’t go on and on about is what’s actually in this coffee.

Scott: This coffee was made specifically for trade.

Scott: And it was made specifically, I guess, to celebrate the beginning of the Ollies, the Olympics, because it’s called Let the Games Begin.

Scott: It’s a medium roast.

Scott: You’re waiting for more, but there is no more.

Scott: It’s a medium roast.

Scott: That is the literal description of the coffee.

Scott: It doesn’t say anything else about this specific coffee.

Scott: It only talks about the company.

Scott: It only talks about their brewing process.

Scott: It’s crazy, Peter.

Peter: So this was made special for the Olympics, and it’s a medium roast.

Scott: Yeah, that’s it.

Scott: It’s like, okay, this is where I start to get slightly annoyed, because they’ve got a pretty good website.

Scott: They seem to be a pretty good company with a pretty good following.

Scott: I know I’ve heard of this brand before.

Scott: But I’m a little bit Syracuse-like about my coffee details.

Scott: I want to know what the flavors is.

Scott: I just want what details matter.

Scott: And this does not even tell me what is supposed to be in here, nor what it is supposed to taste like.

Scott: Only from Trade, only from Trade Coffee, do I get the…

Scott: I got to find it now.

Scott: Hold on, I’ve got 40 million tabs.

Scott: I’m going to go sideways for a while.

Peter: Well, while you’re looking for that, should I start in on my beer?

Peter: No.

Scott: I found it.

Scott: So it says, on Trade’s website, it says, waking up early to catch all the action from France?

Scott: Count us in.

Scott: This Trade exclusive blend, inspired and created by pro athletes, unites coffees from around the world, Colombia and Tanzania, for an energizing blend that makes any early rising spectator feel like a winner.

Scott: So that’s all.

Scott: They still don’t tell me what notes…

Scott: I don’t know, whatever.

Scott: But Trade gives…

Scott: Yeah, I don’t care.

Scott: Anyway, so I’m basically just gonna wind up linking to Drink Coffee, Do Stuff’s website.

Scott: I can’t link to this specific coffee because they don’t make it.

Scott: They made it once and they’ll never make it again.

Scott: But as far as the coffee itself goes, it’s not my favorite.

Scott: I don’t think I would buy this particular coffee again, just because I’ve had so many good ones from Trade.

Scott: And in fact, the bag of coffee that I had previous to this was one of my favorites.

Scott: So by contrast, this is a bit of a letdown.

Scott: And then throw on the fact that they don’t give me any details about it, just to piss me off and make me not want to like them as human beings.

Scott: And then I have to say, you know what, I’m not going to recommend this.

Scott: I haven’t had a coffee that I haven’t recommended for a while.

Scott: This will be one.

Peter: Okay.

Peter: It’s about time we have a, you know, if I were desperate or worse.

Peter: So that’s fine.

Scott: This is definitely an if I were desperate.

Scott: This would be slightly above if I were desperate, I’d be pleased to drink this.

Scott: But if I had a lot of choice and I could pick any bag out of all the bags of coffee I’ve ever had before, this wouldn’t be it.

Peter: Oh, okay.

Scott: All right.

Scott: Now, let us talk about your beverage.

Peter: Beverage.

Peter: So I am drinking an Iyenga from Iyenga Privet Brawrai.

Scott: Can you spell?

Peter: Oktoberfestmarsen.

Peter: Yes.

Scott: I was going to have you spell Iyenga, but then you said all kinds of words that need spelling.

Peter: Y-I-N-G-E-R.

Peter: I-I-N-G-E-R.

Peter: I-I-N-G-E-R.

Scott: What does it mean?

Peter: It’s the name.

Peter: But it is the Privet Brawrai, private brewery.

Peter: This is the Oktoberfestmarsen, authentic Bavarian festival lager, because even though it’s only August here in the US, it’s Oktoberfest season.

Peter: So yay, my favorite beers are here.

Peter: I am so excited.

Scott: This brings up a question for later.

Peter: Hold that thought.

Peter: There will be questions.

Peter: But first, the pop.

Scott: I thought this was a beer.

Scott: Now he’s drinking pop.

Peter: And the pour.

Scott: That is a real pour.

Scott: By the way, wait, what does that say?

Scott: Proof point?

Scott: What’s proof point?

Peter: That’s a securities company that sent me this mug.

Scott: So what they’re saying is they go to work drunk every day, but trust us, we’ll keep the bad guys out.

Peter: Ah, this is good.

Scott: Are you sure it doesn’t say Crowdstrike?

Scott: because that would explain a few things.

Peter: No, Crowdstrike, I have hot sauces and t-shirts.

Peter: Proof point sent me mugs.

Scott: Oh, so Crowdstrike isn’t admitting that they have an alcohol problem.

Peter: Sofos sent me whiskey stones and a flask.

Scott: OK, so everyone else is up front about their alcoholism, and Crowdstrike’s saying, no, no, we’re fine over here.

Peter: So this is a very good Oktoberfest.

Peter: You know, Amber Marsden style.

Scott: I do like the color.

Peter: It’s got a very nice dark, multi flavor, dark color.

Peter: It’s a tiny touch flat compared to other beers that I’ve had recently.

Peter: So it’s a little less carbonation, but the flavor more than makes up for it.

Peter: OK, it goes down smooth.

Peter: It’s definitely thumbs up would recommend no desperation here.

Scott: No desperation needed.

Peter: No desperation needed.

Peter: So that’s that’s the good news.

Peter: The bad news is I went to their website.

Peter: And they don’t have the Germans.

Peter: The Germans kind of let me down.

Peter: So you go to IAINGODE, as in Deutschland, Germany.

Peter: And yeah, right on the start, they have a page called Start Page, and they also have a page called Our Beer Specialties.

Peter: And you go to our beer specialties and they list all kinds of beers, Lager Hell, it’s a hellish lager, but it’s called Lager Hell, Bayerisch Pils, so Bavarian Pilsner, Jahrhundertbier, Alt-Bayerisch Dunkel, Celebrator, all these different beers.

Peter: No sign of the Oktoberfest.

Peter: You search the site, nothing.

Peter: And when I did search and find it, I get ratings on untapped.com and links to buy it at totalwine.com.

Peter: So it does seem, given the sample size of two countries now, that being the United States and Germany, all brewery websites suck and are incomplete to at least some extent.

Scott: Yeah, to an extent that angers us.

Scott: Let us be clear.

Peter: And angry, yeah, and especially, I mean, like, I’m, by the time you hear this, dear listener, I will already have gotten back and hopefully, I will have gotten back from the Iango brauerei, the brewery, because it’s in Munich.

Peter: And I plan to go there and give them a piece of my mind.

Scott: Do you mean Munchen?

Peter: The Germans don’t say Munchen.

Peter: Munchen, right.

Peter: Yeah, it’s in Munchen, exactly.

Peter: Or Munchkin, if you prefer.

Scott: You’re going to be over there munching on your beer.

Peter: I’m going to be over there eating Dunkin Donuts, Munchkins.

Peter: And yes.

Peter: But yeah, I’m going to be, by the time you hear this, I will have returned from my vacation in Germany.

Peter: And I will actually have a chance to go there, because we’re planning on going to Munich.

Peter: So that could be fun.

Scott: So the title of this episode, I’ve already decided is going to be called The Germans Let Me Down.

Scott: And I will be interested when you come back and we record another episode, will the title be The Germans Really Did Let Me Down, or Hey, The Germans Didn’t Let Me Down?

Peter: Hey, it’s great.

Peter: So yeah, we’ll find out.

Peter: Oh, man.

Peter: So just real quick, too.

Peter: You recall how I was having trouble recording my weekly Savage Worlds games on Sunday nights, because the combination of Audio Hijack Pro, Discord, and Google Chrome running my web-based game, were just bringing my MacBook Air M2 to its knees.

Scott: I think that based on all the stuff that you and I have talked about recently and all the tech complaints you’ve had, I think you could have stopped it.

Scott: You recall that I’ve been having trouble.

Peter: Right.

Peter: So you do recall.

Peter: Good.

Scott: Yes.

Peter: Well, just FYI, I have that same game running in Firefox right now.

Peter: I am recording with Audio Hijack Pro right now, but it’s a FaceTime call.

Peter: And my CPUs occasionally bubbles up to touch like 100 percent.

Peter: And by that, I mean all four of the first four CPUs.

Peter: It just like touches 100.

Peter: And then it comes back in the 90s.

Peter: But it’s very snappy.

Peter: Everything is moving.

Peter: It’s responsive.

Peter: Everything works the way it should, etc.

Peter: It’s got to be Discord.

Scott: It has to be.

Peter: And even though I run Discord in the browser, per your instructions, per your recommendation, it’s still, when I run it, every now and then the audio gets choppy, and the computer gets spongy and unresponsive.

Peter: So I’m actually to the point where I might break out my spare Windows laptop and just do the audio portion on there and just record the audio on that box and just leave it totally separate.

Scott: I would do the opposite because the audio recording tools on the Mac are so much better.

Peter: All I’m doing, though, is transcribing it for voice.

Peter: I don’t need fanciness for the purpose of this game.

Peter: I just need a bunch of voice, just something to transcribe and throw into voice.

Scott: Okay, but let me ask you this.

Scott: On Windows, what are you going to use that can record both your end and their end?

Peter: If it doesn’t do built in with a regular Windows screen recorder, then I’m sure there’s a free tool to do that.

Scott: Is there a Windows screen recorder?

Peter: Yeah, that’s built in.

Peter: You get into it by opening up the Xbox game console, which is apparently a standard part of Windows.

Peter: It’s like Win X or Win G or something, command.

Peter: I know, it sounds weird, but it’s part of the gaming features of Windows.

Peter: It’s made to do screen casts and stuff, and it’s called Xbox something.

Scott: I think Monolith 3000 either removed that component or disabled it somehow.

Peter: I would hope so, because you don’t need that in a work environment at all.

Peter: But yeah, the Xbox game bar, that’s what I was thinking.

Scott: Game bar?

Scott: Ooh, the Germans would like that.

Peter: Yeah, you go to Windows Settings, Gaming, Captures, and toggle Capture Audio when recording a game.

Peter: Then it’s Windows G, and then you select System Sounds, and it starts recording, and that’s it.

Scott: What happens if you accidentally select Windows OG?

Scott: Does it start running Windows 3.1?

Peter: No, I think that the audio quality gets better.

Scott: Oh.

Peter: Yeah, it’s because, yeah.

Peter: So, anyway, so that’s what I’m probably going to do, is break out the spare laptop and just record over there and just stop fiddling with it.

Peter: I agree.

Scott: I have a better idea.

Scott: You’re going to buy yourself a MacBook Pro.

Scott: I sent you a link to the M3 MacBook Pros that are on sale.

Peter: Yep, that were on sale.

Peter: That was a one-day thing.

Peter: I did not buy it.

Peter: I’m waiting.

Peter: I’m waiting for an M4.

Peter: I’m going to treat myself to an M4, probably a new phone, possibly a new watch.

Peter: It’s going to be a big…

Peter: The Apple stock will go up thanks to me alone.

Peter: I will move that needle this year.

Scott: Peter will be Apple customer number one.

Peter: There you go.

Scott: Now, wait a minute.

Scott: You’re still not going to make Tim happy, though, unless you just spend even more on Apple services.

Scott: You need to somehow give them 30% of all your money.

Peter: They’ll all have Apple Care.

Peter: Okay, so that’s going to bump the price of everything up significantly.

Scott: But unless you’re paying for your Apple Care monthly, if you’re paying the one time, okay.

Peter: No, I don’t.

Peter: I do the subscription.

Peter: Well, even for the MacBooks, though, for the Macs, your Apple Care is an annual thing.

Peter: It’s not a monthly thing.

Peter: You can do it one time or you can do it annual.

Peter: Yeah, I’ve never seen a monthly thing on a Mac.

Peter: It’s always an annual thing.

Peter: I don’t know why.

Peter: But believe me, I get my e-mails every month about, hey, here’s your iPad, here’s your Apple Watch, here’s your phone, here’s your girlfriend’s iPad that you’re still paying for because you’re a nice, generous guy.

Scott: Right, that’s the thing is like the monthly ones can go on forever because of course they can.

Scott: They want them to.

Scott: But then the question is like, I have thought about that.

Scott: I’ve thought about with my wife and daughters, do I want to remove this?

Scott: because they’ve been on there for a long, long time.

Scott: But then again, my wife’s iPad Pro is her only computing, you know, aside from her iPhone, that’s her computing device.

Scott: That’s what she uses to gather information, do research, blah, blah, blah, look at photos.

Scott: So it’s like, I don’t, do I want her to be without her only computing device?

Scott: Of course not.

Scott: So I don’t know.

Peter: Anyway, yeah.

Peter: So there you go.

Scott: Okay.

Peter: Supposedly, there’s also a way to do it on iOS, to record Discord, that is.

Peter: So there’s this app called Craigbot.

Peter: Yeah, but you’d have to, a tool called Craigbot, this will activate the inbuilt audio recording function on Discord.

Peter: Oh, so it’s like a Discord plug-in, it looks like.

Peter: Create an account and then visit Craig’s website.

Peter: Okay.

Peter: So that’s it.

Peter: So there’s a way to do this.

Peter: So you can essentially.

Scott: You’re basically giving your Discord credentials to Craig.

Peter: Right.

Peter: You give Craig and he’ll do the recording for you.

Peter: And since Craig is my contractor and he’s like rebuilding my house in Vermont, I trust him implicitly, so why wouldn’t I do this?

Scott: Well, number one, he should be propping your roof up.

Scott: And number two, Craig doesn’t know a lot about computers if he’s your contractor.

Peter: This is true.

Peter: He can’t handle a cell phone.

Peter: So yeah, you’re right.

Scott: In fairness to him, no contractors can handle cell phones.

Scott: I don’t know why, but tradespeople and contractors are the worst communicators in the universe.

Scott: It’s like the cornerstone of their business is talking to people so that they know what to do and how to do it, and so that they can have satisfied customers.

Scott: They don’t want to talk to people.

Scott: They just want to hammer on things and cut things, and then come back and find out it’s wrong because you never had a conversation with them.

Peter: On that note, I’ve been trying to find an electrician, and I was also working with a plumber who did the heat pump install for my friend also up in Vermont in the same town.

Peter: Finally found a guy.

Peter: He was terrible at returning calls.

Peter: It took literally months to get an appointment with him, and then months to get him on-site to do the evaluation, and then another month for him to tell me he couldn’t do the job.

Scott: That’s how you know he’s an actual tradesperson or a contractor.

Peter: There you go.

Peter: So I’m a little concerned that the next company, well, I called three more companies, and they were all, so in, I’m assuming you have something like this in Oregon.

Peter: Down here in Massachusetts, we have Mass Save, which is an energy rebates program through the state, and they refer you out to contractors.

Peter: In Vermont, they have Efficiency Vermont.

Peter: So they’ll give you rebates, free light bulbs, discounts on energy-efficient upgrades, etc.

Scott: There’s some of those similar things here, right?

Peter: So I went to their website and said, okay, find me a contractor who’ll do heat pumps.

Peter: I found three based in my hometown who do this.

Peter: I was just like, in a town of 2,000, that’s impressive.

Peter: I didn’t realize we had that many blumbers.

Scott: That is pretty impressive, yeah.

Peter: Called three of them, I was able to get one to actually show up and give me a quote.

Peter: Now, my standard practice is I usually, for big ticket items, I try to get at least three quotes.

Peter: This is my four.

Peter: So I’ve reached out to four contractors, one bailed, one never responded at all.

Peter: One responded and said that the guy who does all the quotes is about to go out on paternity leave.

Peter: And one showed up and delivered the quote and said they can do the work within four weeks.

Peter: I’m just gonna go with that guy.

Peter: I don’t think I have much choice.

Peter: I’m like, I’ve tried four different companies and they’re all like, I don’t know.

Peter: But you’d think if they’re that freaking busy, then they’re not, they’re not doing this, that they would be expanding the business and growing and yada yada.

Peter: But there is a known problem.

Peter: You can’t find qualified heat pump installers.

Peter: I get it.

Peter: So I’m going to just suck it up and take this one, I guess.

Scott: Have you thought about becoming a heat pump installer?

Scott: Sounds to me like you can make a killing.

Peter: I have certainly thought about buying or, you know, like acquiring a service company like a plumber or an electrician or both.

Scott: And teaching them how to communicate.

Peter: No, running the business.

Peter: No, running the business.

Scott: No, teaching them how to communicate.

Peter: I will be standing over them with a whip and a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat to make sure they communicate.

Peter: Right.

Peter: That would be my job.

Scott: That’s what I mean.

Scott: That’s the job, is teaching them how to talk to humans.

Scott: Call the human, talk to the human, find out what the human wants.

Peter: They can’t do that.

Peter: They’re like engineers.

Peter: They can’t talk to people.

Peter: I’ll talk to people.

Peter: I have people skills, damn it.

Scott: But the funny thing is, when you get them in person, they won’t shut up.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: It’s the opposite, but they…

Peter: It’s hilarious.

Scott: They’re all the same.

Scott: There’s only one prototype for those people.

Peter: Meanwhile, back to my contractor who can’t handle a cell phone.

Peter: Apparently, my contractor had a habit of throwing his cell phones in the wash.

Scott: Are you serious?

Peter: And so, yeah.

Scott: It wasn’t a rage-quitting thing.

Scott: It was just a…

Peter: The family just stopped buying him cell phones that are like…

Peter: Never mind.

Peter: We won’t make you…

Scott: He never noticed that his left pocket weighed half a pound more than his right pocket when he was taking his pants off?

Peter: I guess not.

Peter: I guess not.

Scott: So that is not a details-oriented human being, Peter.

Peter: He…

Peter: The work that he does is really nice.

Peter: So it’s like if he can’t use a cell phone, I’m not going to hold that against him.

Peter: He lives like two miles away from my place up there, and I pass him on the way to and from town, so I can find him if I need to.

Peter: So that’s…

Peter: He’s forgiven.

Scott: So you just hold placards out your window as you drive by, and he holds up a response placard, and then you guys know what’s going on?

Peter: Pretty much, yep.

Peter: Smoke signals, et cetera.

Scott: Excellent.

Scott: Well, that’s good.

Peter: So yeah, I had solar panels installed at the house this week.

Scott: That’s actually pretty exciting.

Peter: But now I need the electrician to show up and actually wire them up.

Scott: Oh, I was about to ask about results, figures, spreadsheets.

Scott: Have you done the calculations?

Scott: What are the…

Scott: But you don’t know yet, because right now there’s a big air barrier between those solar panels and your electric system.

Peter: Bingo.

Peter: Bingo.

Peter: So a lot of work was done.

Peter: I need to work with both the power company to get it to so it feeds back into the grid when I’m not using the energy.

Peter: I need my electrician to actually do that work.

Peter: I’ll need to do like batteries sometime next year, because I’ve had it on, you know, an anonymous tip told me that the price of battery technology, like Tesla power walls and the stuff like that, is expected to dramatically drop next year.

Scott: Wait.

Peter: So I’m holding off on that.

Scott: Your anonymous source is Elon Musk?

Peter: No.

Scott: Oh.

Peter: because he wouldn’t tell me that.

Scott: Oh.

Peter: So I’m waiting for hopefully a drop in the power, in the battery prices until next year.

Peter: So for now, I’ll just have to use the generator in emergencies, which is fine.

Peter: But we did all the calculations, but it was based on my dad’s usage of electricity there.

Peter: So I have no idea what mine is going to be like.

Peter: Number one, I’m not going to be there.

Peter: Well, I’m not going to be there as much, though.

Scott: That’s true.

Peter: I’m going to be gone most of the time.

Peter: So there’s that.

Scott: But you will have a new MacBook Pro that you’re going to be plugging in when you’re there.

Peter: Right.

Peter: So there’s that.

Peter: And heat pumps.

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: So I fully expect the usage is going to go up, right, over, you know, on peaks and valleys.

Peter: But those days when I’m not there at all, it should be less, right?

Peter: So I really don’t know.

Peter: But I don’t remember the exact number, but I basically had them max out the number of panels they could put on the roof, which is supposedly will generate more power than what my dad was using on average.

Peter: But I’m also throwing heat pumps in.

Peter: But also, I have the option to expand and stick an array out in the front yard and add on to that to put more up there.

Peter: So we’ll see.

Scott: How far away is your nearest neighbor?

Peter: Um, a few stone’s throws.

Scott: Are you allowed to borrow other people’s rooftops?

Peter: They might have thoughts on that.

Peter: I have 19 acres.

Peter: I can probably find another place to…

Scott: Yeah, you can probably throw a solar panel around here and there.

Peter: Probably somewhere.

Scott: Without, without…

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: Exactly.

Peter: Without anyone noticing.

Scott: You can give up a picnic spot or two.

Peter: Bingo.

Peter: So that’s the, that’s the plan there, so…

Scott: That is actually really cool, Peter.

Scott: Now, let me ask you, when you’re talking about the wall of battery price hopefully coming down, what would you be spending right now for the battery capacity that you think you would install?

Scott: Do you have an idea?

Scott: Just a rough number, because I have zero clue what even ballpark we’re in.

Peter: I got a quote, and I want to say it was something to the tune of $15,000.

Peter: Yeah.

Peter: So I wanted to hold off on, particularly because here’s the thing, is I got quotes on my solar panels from two different companies.

Peter: They both quoted the exact same hardware and their price was within hundreds of dollars of each other.

Peter: I opted for the local company, which is in the next town over eight miles away, because the other one, although they have great reputation and high customer satisfaction, I like having somebody literally a 10-minute drive away.

Scott: You need to have a local throat to choke.

Peter: Local throat to choke, exactly.

Peter: So that local company quoted me the power of the batteries as well.

Peter: The other company said, I’m not going to quote them to you now because the price is supposed to drop by like 50 percent next year.

Scott: So that’s your anonymous source.

Peter: So I wanted to go with them based on that because I’m like, look, this guy is telling me I won’t, you know, it was reminded of me, like when I was selling computers and stuff like that, you know, I would go out of my way not to sell the wrong thing to somebody.

Scott: I know, but Peter, he followed that up immediately with, by the way, did you know the election was stolen?

Peter: He didn’t, actually, but okay, okay, good.

Peter: That did not happen.

Peter: So anyway, so that’s where I’m at with respect to Bethel.

Peter: I have all of the supplies in at this point, so I’m just waiting on my contractor to do the work and finish it up and make it livable.

Peter: I had some amazingly frustrating dealings with Home Depot, and it’s just like, oh my god, yes, they have the selection, but they are just so impossible to deal with.

Peter: Wrong shipments, miss shipments.

Peter: The latest, I bought three, I bought butcher block countertops for the place, because I think they look amazing and they’re thousands of dollars cheaper than granite.

Peter: So I ordered three, three identical, just differences in shapes.

Peter: So we got two walnut countertops, one ash.

Scott: Really?

Peter: Yeah.

Peter: And of course, he didn’t know because he didn’t open them all up until he goes to start installing them.

Peter: He’s like, yeah, you know, this one, the four footer?

Peter: I was like, yeah, he says, it’s white.

Peter: I’m like, wait, what?

Scott: I don’t know if they know this, but some of these things are not like the other.

Peter: Well, they know now.

Scott: By the way, I agree with you 100 percent.

Scott: Those do look amazing.

Scott: Now, my question for you is, I imagine they’re more subject to getting scarred up when you whack them with a knife and that kind of thing.

Peter: Yes, but the idea is you generally, I don’t use them as actual butcher blocks.

Scott: Right.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: You’re a person that can take care of your stuff without destroying your kitchen.

Peter: I have cutting boards.

Peter: Yes.

Peter: So I use those.

Peter: So yeah, I mean, they will wear and chip over time, but if that happens, you can sand them down and do them again.

Scott: Yeah, they look nice.

Peter: That’s hard to do with, yeah, I mean, theoretically, you could do that with granite, but I think it’s going to be more involved.

Scott: Now, here’s another question.

Scott: What about absorption of, like even if you’re careful, sometimes you’re going to get a little chicken liquid on the counter.

Peter: Treat them, if you file them down, you stain them or treat them with linseed oil, and then you cover it with urethane coating.

Peter: So it’s food grade.

Peter: Yeah, you make it shiny and glossy.

Scott: Okay.

Scott: Good, good.

Scott: Yeah, because, okay.

Scott: There you go.

Scott: Nice.

Scott: Good choices.

Scott: Listen, this is going to sound really stupid because you’re a grown man.

Scott: You’re not some kid out there for the first time figuring out how to do his own laundry.

Scott: But the choices and the changes that you’re making to this house are very cool.

Scott: And I’m happy for you.

Scott: And it’s weird to say it.

Scott: I’m proud of you, I guess.

Scott: But I like the choices you’re making.

Scott: They’re cool.

Scott: They really are.

Scott: This is a neat project, and you’re doing a really good job with it.

Peter: I hope they work out.

Peter: And I mean, I really hope that by fall, which is almost here, that I get to actually spend some time at the place and enjoy it.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: No, good.

Scott: It’s nice.

Scott: I like it.

Scott: That’s good stuff, Peter.

Scott: I really do like it.

Scott: You got to have stuff in life that you put a little effort into, you put some thought into, and it turns out okay.

Scott: So we originally start talking about your trip to Germany, but can we get a little more into that?

Peter: We sure can.

Scott: What’s the purpose?

Scott: What you gonna do?

Peter: Gonna go have fun.

Scott: You’re gonna wear your lederhosen?

Peter: I don’t have any lederhosen, so no.

Scott: Okay.

Scott: You can buy some there, I would assume.

Peter: Probably.

Scott: Explain Germany to me.

Scott: Like, I know it’s a country.

Scott: I know they drive real fast in certain sections of it until they crash into the guardrail.

Peter: Yeah, it’s a country.

Peter: They are very proud of their beers and cars.

Peter: I don’t know if you’ve heard this.

Peter: Nearly conquered the world.

Peter: Twice.

Peter: Oh.

Peter: You know, we don’t talk much about that, but…

Scott: Right.

Scott: There was a little bit of a sketchy situation with their human rights record at one point.

Peter: Yeah, there was a…

Peter: That’s a blunnish.

Peter: A little bit of a black spot.

Scott: But I guess what I’m wondering is, like, if a person decided to go live in Germany…

Scott: because I’ve known people, besides you, by the way, that have gone to Germany, worked there for a while, for a few years or a couple of years, really enjoyed it, and then eventually came back to the United States.

Scott: But, like, is this a country that you can just show up in and get health care and stuff like that?

Scott: Like, how would it work?

Peter: Well, I can.

Scott: Well, you have German citizenship.

Peter: Exactly, yes.

Peter: I think that health care is like a universal right there.

Peter: I’m not 100% sure.

Scott: How did you get your citizenship?

Scott: What did you have to do to prove that you deserve to be Peter with a Greek name of German citizenship?

Peter: Before I tell you how I got my German citizenship, let us delve, and I’m so glad you asked, and I’m going to tell you right now, after I tell you the story of my attempts to get my Greek citizenship.

Scott: Okay, this ought to be good.

Peter: Dear listener, you might want to grab a beer for this one.

Peter: I might want to grab another beer for this one.

Scott: And maybe some peyote, just in case the beer is not strong enough.

Peter: So, German citizenship follows the mother.

Peter: Greek citizenship follows the father.

Peter: So, in theory, I could have triple citizenship.

Peter: I could be Greek, American, and German.

Peter: I tried to get my Greek citizenship.

Peter: And the reason was, my mom was under the mistaken belief that because she had gotten naturalized as an American, that I could no longer get German citizenship.

Peter: I operated under this assumption for several years, but I wanted to get a Euro passport, EU passport.

Peter: Okay?

Peter: So, back when I lived in Greece, in Greece, back when I lived in Vermont, I contacted the Greek Consulate, which happens to be right here in Boston, Massachusetts, about five miles away from me right now.

Peter: And I had reached out to them, and every now and then, I was coming down, I was like practicing martial arts down here, coming into seminars, visiting friends in the area.

Peter: And so, I started the process, I reached out to the Consulate, and I said, how do I do this?

Peter: And I was like, I’m an American, I was born to a Greek father, what’s the process?

Peter: Well, you need to prove that.

Peter: Okay, how do I prove it?

Peter: Well, you need the right documentation.

Peter: Okay, what’s the right documentation?

Peter: Well, you should really come into the office, you know, you should come in.

Peter: I was like, okay, fine.

Peter: And I would explain to them, well, I was born in New York, live in Vermont.

Peter: So I was like two miles from the consulate, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Peter: I show up, and I give all my documentation.

Peter: Here’s my US birth certificate, here’s my father’s Greek, you know, papers, shows that he lived here, here’s my mom’s documentation.

Peter: And the woman looks over, and she says, oh, what, you were born in New York?

Peter: It’s like, yeah, told you that on the phone.

Peter: Oh, oh, you have to go to the Greek consulate or the embassy in New York.

Peter: It’s like, but you, but I live in this area, and I was told you handle this part of like, oh, yeah, that’s different now.

Peter: Okay, great.

Peter: I would have been cracking skulls if I had driven three and a half hours from Vermont to an appointment where I had told someone, I was born in New York, and you got, oh, wait, you were born in New York?

Peter: And they, you know, told me, oh, you have to go to the New York embassy or something.

Peter: I called back some time later.

Peter: Oh, no, you can do the, we can do the paperwork here in Boston.

Peter: But you need to get an up-a-steel stamp, like a notarized type of certificate of authenticity of, I forget, either my birth certificate or my parents’ wedding documents.

Peter: Okay, where do I do that?

Peter: Well, you have to do that in New York City because that’s where you were born.

Peter: Okay, fine.

Peter: But now I told this to my mom, and she’s like, wait, they changed their story?

Peter: I was like, yeah.

Peter: She’s like, well, you should call them again and see what they say.

Peter: So I called again.

Peter: Oh, wait, no, this time it’s, your father needs to go to the Greek embassy or something in New York and get that stamp.

Peter: And then I had another question, I called back and they said, oh, wait, no, you need to go to Albany, the capital of New York, and that’s where you need to get that stamp.

Peter: And then they would throw in things like, were your parents married before you were born?

Peter: Yes, I was.

Peter: Was it in a Greek church?

Peter: Yes, it was.

Peter: It was a Greek Orthodox wedding.

Peter: Okay, fine.

Peter: Then, you know, and every time they do this, I’m gathering pieces of information and I’m like, okay, now I have all these pieces.

Peter: Are we ready to proceed?

Peter: And then they would ask something else like, was the wedding announced in a Greek newspaper?

Peter: I was like, why not blank?

Peter: Did that become a requirement?

Peter: Literally, a dozen calls, and I’ll let you not, literally every single time I spoke to them, they changed the requirements.

Scott: As long as the documents are valid, I have a lot of questions.

Scott: As long as the documents are valid, number one, why does it matter where you get them stamped?

Scott: And number two, why do any of those other things matter with regard to citizenship?

Scott: Shouldn’t it just be lineage?

Peter: Like, do you want my money or not, people?

Scott: They don’t want your money.

Peter: Apparently not.

Scott: They want to keep you out of Greece.

Peter: And you wonder why the Greek economy is such a shit show.

Scott: They are the Greek filtering society.

Scott: That’s what they are.

Scott: They’re there to keep people out.

Peter: Keep the riffraff out, including the Greeks.

Peter: So, I came then at that time, then my mom pointed out that, did you know that Greek males might be called into, drafted into military service up to the age 45?

Peter: I was not 45 at this time.

Peter: And I said, you know what?

Peter: I give up.

Scott: Okay.

Scott: That piece of information would have been handy to have right at the start.

Peter: Right.

Peter: I was just like, screw this.

Peter: I’m done.

Peter: I’m so done.

Peter: Time passed.

Peter: My mom had her stroke.

Peter: She can’t speak anymore.

Peter: And I’m up visiting the family and I’m staying at my aunt’s place.

Peter: because my aunt, her house is like two, three houses away from what’s now my place up in Vermont.

Peter: And she had a nice guest room place to stay.

Peter: So I’d stay with her when I would go to visit my folks.

Peter: And one night we’re knocking back a couple of bottles of wine.

Peter: And she mentioned, she’s like, look, this is going to be my gift to you.

Peter: You’re going to get your German citizenship.

Peter: I said, yeah, but mom told me, she’s like, I don’t know what your mom was thinking.

Peter: Her sister is like, she’s wrong, because I naturalized and I got my son German citizenship.

Peter: And I was like, okay, I’m interested.

Peter: So I was like, all right, I’ll look it up.

Peter: So I go to bed, grab on my iPad, and I start looking up German citizenship requirements.

Peter: Classic German fashion.

Peter: You must make an appointment.

Peter: Walk-ins are not allowed.

Peter: Make an appointment at the local German consulate.

Peter: Happens to be at like either, I forget, either in the Prudential Building or Copley Square, also right down here in Boston.

Peter: Bring the appropriate documentation to prove your citizenship.

Peter: And bring this, you know, you pay the fee.

Scott: Did they list examples of the appropriate documentation though?

Peter: You’d think so, but apparently, if you’re German, you know what those are.

Peter: So, I make my appointment.

Peter: I go, I show up.

Peter: I bring my passport, my birth certificate, showing I was born here.

Peter: I bring my mom’s German passport.

Peter: I bring my father’s, either his green card or his American, you know, US passport.

Peter: So I show that I’m born in America to a German woman, to an American father.

Peter: Okay.

Peter: Give them the docs.

Peter: And right off the bat, the person behind the counter, she’s got a chip on her shoulder.

Peter: Maybe it’s because I’m not speaking German to her.

Peter: Maybe I’m not sure.

Peter: But at some point, she asked for some other piece of information I didn’t have with me.

Peter: And I go to grab my cell phone because I can pull it up.

Peter: And she’s like, nine, you know, do not open the cell phone here.

Peter: Holy crap.

Peter: You know, it’s not going well.

Peter: She’s grumpy.

Peter: She’s got, you know, she’s got all the situational authority and she is flexing those mighty Bavarian muscles of hers.

Scott: So she’s German, is what you’re saying.

Peter: Yeah, exactly.

Peter: That’s literally what I just said.

Peter: Did you not hear that?

Peter: Pay attention.

Scott: I’m sorry.

Peter: Scott, nine, nine.

Peter: So so she’s going on and on.

Peter: And then she’s like, well, clearly, you are German based on the evidence here, and almost a little bit in a huff, right?

Scott: Disappointed, right?

Peter: But then she’s like, then she has a little sparkle in her eyes.

Peter: She’s like, wait, was your mother naturalized?

Peter: because if she was naturalized before you were born, she’s like, was your mother naturalized?

Peter: I say, yes, she was.

Peter: because if she was naturalized before you were born, you were not born to a German citizen.

Peter: And I said, well, I don’t remember exactly when she was naturalized, but I do remember I was there when they were signing the papers.

Peter: And at that point, her facade cracks and she laughs.

Peter: She says, OK, I’m sorry.

Peter: She says, yes, well, please send us a copy of the naturalization papers and email it to this address.

Peter: You’ll have your isopause in four to six weeks.

Peter: I go home, call my dad.

Peter: Dad, do you have your marriage certificate?

Peter: Yes.

Peter: OK, do you have mom’s naturalization papers?

Peter: Yes.

Peter: OK, when did that happen?

Peter: Happens it was 10 years after I was born.

Peter: So I was like, great.

Scott: Perfect.

Peter: Send me a copy of those.

Peter: I get the copy of them.

Peter: Scan it in, email it over to this email address.

Peter: It’s like PDF docs at such and such.

Peter: Blah, blah, blah, blah, dot D at angry German.

Peter: Something like that.

Peter: I send it in four weeks and one day later, my German passport shows up.

Scott: You didn’t even get half the list of requirements to become Greek in four weeks.

Peter: I’m sure it’s changed by now.

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Scott: Wait a minute.

Scott: Which Greek newspaper was this wedding announced?

Peter: Right.

Peter: Oh, that one doesn’t count.

Peter: That one’s not big enough.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: Nobody reads that one.

Peter: Oh, my God.

Scott: That is insane.

Scott: Like, isn’t the lineage?

Scott: Look, you prove that some Greek blood was running through the veins, and shouldn’t that be enough?

Scott: I mean, come on.

Peter: Which veins?

Scott: Which veins?

Peter: Was it the left side veins or the right side veins?

Scott: Did it really get all the way down to the toes?

Scott: because I don’t think so.

Peter: Oh, man.

Scott: That is amazing, Peter.

Peter: It was insane.

Peter: It was absolutely insane.

Scott: Well, I think that’s pretty cool.

Scott: And by the way, I don’t know if you’re still in contact with your aunt to this day, but I believe that you should go hoist another one with her just because that’s pretty amazing.

Peter: Oh, yeah.

Peter: No, absolutely.

Peter: No, we chat, I wouldn’t say all the time, but at least every month or so we’re in touch.

Scott: I mean, she did you a huge favor.

Peter: Yeah, absolutely.

Peter: I would not have thought of it.

Peter: I would have believed what my mom told me that I couldn’t get citizenship and would be still just an American today.

Peter: But as it has it stands now, when I hop on a plane tomorrow, when we land in Frankfurt, I just pull out the German passport and I turn right.

Peter: I turn into the, you’re supposed to be here, Lane.

Scott: So as opposed to the, please interrogate me for 45 hours, Lane.

Peter: Right.

Peter: That one.

Scott: That is very cool.

Scott: Okay.

Scott: So now that is an amazing story.

Scott: And I know we’ve gone on for a little while, but I would like to know if you have a pretty good idea of the types of things you want to do and see while you are there.

Peter: Yeah.

Peter: Well, actually, what I plan to do is in addition to visiting my friends or my relatives, I should say, we’re also going to drive around, just visit different cities like Munich, Berlin, Cologne.

Peter: We’re going to take a couple of side trips to France, Switzerland, maybe Italy, maybe Belgium, who knows.

Peter: But I’m actually interested while I’m there in setting up relationships with real estate, finance, taxes, legal type people, because I might decide that I want to have a second home over in Germany.

Peter: Yeah.

Peter: And that might be kind of fun.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: I will tell you, I would absolutely love to live outside the United States again, and I would absolutely love for my wife and I, and are not too old of age, but are somewhat of old age, to just be elsewhere and experience life completely differently than we’re experiencing it right now.

Peter: Yep.

Peter: I mean, it would likely require a career change or a job, a different job.

Scott: Sure.

Peter: But, you know, who knows?

Peter: because I’m talking, I’ve talked with a few different folks about what it’s like, you know, to work somewhere else and, you know, still be an American, you know, you still have to pay your taxes here, et cetera, et cetera.

Scott: Yeah, your tax situation could be complex.

Peter: Yeah, but again, if I, you know, you find the right accountants, then that’s not a problem.

Peter: They just take care of that for you.

Scott: The government is like Tim Cook.

Scott: They want their 30%.

Peter: More for some people.

Scott: Yeah, for some people.

Scott: All right.

Scott: Well, that’s cool.

Scott: Well, I can’t wait until you, I mean, personally, I can’t wait until you’re there, and I can start seeing pictures from you and hearing some of the adventures that you’re having.

Scott: But as far as the listeners go, I can’t wait until you’re back, and we can record a little bit about how it went, what you did, and what you saw, and whether or not the Germans were like, we want this Peter guy over here.

Scott: What a guy.

Scott: Or whether they gave you the cold shoulder, and their angry German woman at the embassy already warned them about you or whatever.

Peter: We were warned about you.

Scott: We were warned about you, and you’re trying to sneak into our culture.

Scott: Okay.

Scott: Well, good.

Scott: Very excited.

Peter: So there you go.

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: I think that’s about all I had on my docket for today plus a little extra.

Peter: Oh, wait.

Peter: Do you notice anything new?

Scott: Oh, I, yep, I do.

Scott: I love those glasses, Peter.

Peter: I really like these glasses.

Peter: So I got a pair, a new pair of computer glasses, as we were, you and I know this.

Peter: And I realize I like these frames better than all my other ones, but I can only use them at the computer.

Scott: I actually, those are Warby frames?

Peter: They are.

Scott: Which exact model are they?

Peter: This is the…

Peter: Wilkie.

Scott: because, as you know, I also am a huge fan of the dark frame with the blue fade lower half of the frame.

Peter: Right.

Peter: This is the first time I’ve ever had this.

Peter: And I’m like, that looks good.

Peter: I like it.

Scott: I’ve got two different frames that have that, but I like those frames that you’re wearing.

Peter: These are the Wilkies.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: I have the Wilkies, the Roosevelts, and the Bromleys.

Peter: And the Bromleys are the more different because they have a rounded bottoms, and the Roosevelts are just bigger, like a bigger Wilkies, bigger, thicker frames.

Scott: Let me do a search and see which one.

Scott: Now, the ones I’m wearing right now are just some Oakley.

Scott: These are my computer glasses.

Scott: They’re just big, clear Oakley frames, and they’re not the best looking, but I just wanted the biggest lens as possible, so I wouldn’t have the frames in my vision when I’m staring at my computer.

Scott: But for my daily wear glasses, I do have Warby Parker Connor.

Scott: Connor M375.

Scott: So they’re very rounded on the bottom compared to what you’re wearing right now.

Peter: Right.

Peter: Okay.

Peter: Sounds like a gun caliber or something.

Scott: Right.

Scott: But they’re tortoiseshell on top.

Scott: They’re actually almost black.

Scott: I mean, they are tortoiseshell, but they look almost black.

Scott: And then they’re the blue fade on the bottom part of the lens frames.

Peter: Got it.

Scott: So I really like them.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: I like that style and I like that style that you’re wearing, and I like that color situation.

Scott: So cool.

Scott: Yeah.

Scott: I like those.

Scott: I may buy some similar.

Peter: Right.

Peter: So these are computer glasses.

Peter: Have you ever wondered what the difference between computer glasses and reading glasses are or is?

Scott: The focal distance.

Peter: Correct.

Peter: All they do is they take your reading glasses prescription and drop it down a step, and suddenly you have computer glasses.

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: So the ones that they had given me were just reading glasses, and I had to get really close to the screen to see it.

Peter: And now I can actually read my screen at the appropriate length.

Peter: And the only thing is to read with them in a book or something, I have to actually hold things at pretty darn close to arm’s length, which makes it just barely possible to read my watch face with these glasses on.

Scott: Exactly.

Scott: Yeah, those look good.

Scott: Yeah, I also now am experiencing the, I have fixed focal length glasses for my computer use.

Scott: And it really has changed my life because when I was trying to wear these, my street wear glasses, my Warbys, which are transitions or whatever they call them, they caused me a lot of problems.

Scott: I’d be like this and I still wouldn’t be able to see what I wanted.

Scott: And now I’ve got perfect vision when I’m sitting in my computer.

Scott: So it does make a difference.

Scott: I do wish I had gone with something a little nicer looking now just because I’m sitting here wearing them a lot and I don’t know why it matters.

Scott: I’m not looking at myself when I’m doing it, but sometimes I get on calls with people.

Peter: Well I had thought that I had previously had another pair of Wilkies and I was actually going to try to swap the lenses out between these and the others and turn these into my like street glasses.

Peter: But I realized this is the only pair of Wilkies.

Peter: I had a pair of these back in 2019.

Peter: That was what I was thinking of.

Scott: Oh here they are, Eastern Bluebird Fade.

Scott: Yeah, I love that.

Scott: There’s a Low Bridge fit.

Scott: What’s the difference here?

Scott: So there’s a Wilkie and there’s a Wilkie Low Bridge fit.

Peter: So the Low Bridge, they like will depending the…

Peter: It’s hard to describe, but the bridge where it crosses on your nose, like some of it, the bridge is higher up, so they sit lower.

Peter: And if the bridge is lower, they sit higher up on your, you know.

Scott: Oh, I’d rather have the higher, I think.

Scott: So that would be the Low Bridge fit.

Scott: I’m a little confused.

Scott: Those look good.

Scott: Ooh.

Scott: I may have to…

Peter: I like them.

Scott: I may have to buy those.

Scott: I don’t know, I’d like to see these on me.

Scott: My face is far different than yours.

Scott: Boy, this is a handsome devil they’ve got modeling these.

Peter: Why don’t they have Peter’s picture on them?

Peter: Scott, you’re looking in the mirror.

Peter: Stop it.

Scott: No, no, no, this guy is definitely not looking in the mirror.

Scott: This is a strapping young man who should be a model and apparently is.

Peter: And apparently is.

Scott: And apparently is.

Scott: All right.

Scott: Well, I guess that’s it.

Scott: Peter, thank you.

Scott: And you probably should tell our dear listeners who you never feel disdain for, for having to tell them how to find us, even though you believe that apparently they have, if they’re listening to these words.

Peter: Already found us.

Peter: We’re here.

Peter: We’re on your own friendswithbrews.com.

Peter: Oh, yeah, friendswithbrews.com.

Peter: B-R-E-W-S.

Peter: As opposed to like black-eyed.

Peter: Not that kind of Brews.

Scott: That’s what happens when you go to the German Embassy on the wrong day.

Peter: Right.

Peter: So, yeah, friendswithbrews.com.

Peter: You can also find me at Nicolaitis at infosec.exchange.

Peter: Scott, how can they find you and your various musings and rants?

Scott: Just go to scottwilsey.com, and there will be links to my Macedonian account, which I’m not going to talk about here, because Peter will laugh for four and a half hours.

Scott: And see, he’s laughing now.

Peter: app.net.net.net.net.

Scott: No, no, no, I told you, it’s the social.law.

Scott: You keep thinking, you got to let it go.

Scott: We have to purge your mind of the app.net.app.app.app.

Peter: social.law.net.

Scott: And you can also find Peter at Oktoberfest in Germany if you go fast enough.

Scott: That was the thing I wanted to bring up is, was this coincided to overlap with Oktoberfest, or did it just happen that way?

Peter: It was kind of an idea that that could happen.

Scott: Yeah.

Peter: So, we’ll see if that works.

Scott: Okay.

Peter: But yeah, it’ll be fun.

Peter: I did also just find that UTMB, the Ultra Mont Blanc Run, is among other things, one of the toughest 100-mile running cross-mountain races.

Scott: That’s happening in Germany?

Peter: In Switzerland, in the Alps.

Scott: Oh my God.

Scott: Wait a minute.

Scott: You just got back in.

Peter: These will be happening while I’m over there.

Peter: Now, I didn’t say I’m going to race it.

Scott: You haven’t even worked your way up to a half marathon again yet.

Peter: I know, but it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t go and maybe watch part of this.

Scott: Okay, fine.

Scott: But I know you.

Scott: You’re just going to be wearing these street looking pants and at one point, you’re just going to rip them off and there’s going to be shorts underneath and you’re just going to go running.

Scott: All right.

Scott: All right.

Scott: I think it’s time for…

Scott: What’s it time for?

Peter: The big red button.

Scott: Tell your friends.