New Home Construction and Smart Tech Upgrades

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You are tuned

in to Steve Megatron on altered geek Hello and

welcome to altered geek I'm your host Steve Megatron

Phillips and returning I think is this like the

first time in 2019 Yes, because I think the last

time I was on was right after the new iPad came

out in November? That sounds about right. Yeah,

I feel like that's it. Michael, Booth Angel powers.

Booth Angel 81 powers. Yes. Welcome back, of

course. Thank you. I don't know if you've been

keeping up on the show. I've had a rotating panel

of guest hosts or her flying solo. interviewing

people? I'm gonna be honest I've gone like full

-on head and sand when it comes to anything.

Like I skim Twitter now I don't like actively

read it. I listen to one podcast and only one

podcast and I listen to like the same episodes

on repeat. It's retronauts. Oh, okay. I just

they released a new episode every Monday and

I gobble that one up and then I Go and listen

to an episode that I've probably listened to

like, you know two dozen times like I but I think

part of it is like I'm not Like I'm not listening

to any modern podcast. I don't listen any modern

movie podcast I'm not listening to any modern

gaming podcast. Like I'm just not I think I've

gotten to that point in my life where I know

what I like and that's perfectly fine. I'm just

going to stick in my wheelhouse. I just like

listening to these guys. I think I've said on

this podcast before about this podcast that I'm

listening to. I've listened to them for 13 years

now. That's that's something right listen to

the same podcast for 13 years totally so and

and I just I just recently back in December I

signed up for my first patreon which was their

podcast No, I just you know, I give them three

dollars a month and I could listen to all their

stuff ad -free Not that the ads were that bad

in the first place, but it just makes their episodes

a little shorter because they don't have to read

ads in the middle of them. But I felt like, you

know, you guys have consistently given me great

content for 13 years. I'm going to go ahead and

I'll throw you throw you a bone here. So that's

been that's been kind of kind of nice. And I

don't I don't miss it. The three dollars, you

know. So yeah, that's a pretty minuscule amount

per month to kind of fork over Yeah, I mean they

obviously they have more they have more tiers

But I I decided I and you know what I did I did

subscribe to another one because I was listening

to Another podcast made by the same like a splinter

group, but from like the same guys that do the

retronauts podcast It was called what a cartoon

I was listening to that and if you If you don't

subscribe you get you get their Simpsons pot.

They have a Simpson talking Simpsons podcast

and Then they have a water cartoon podcast and

if you if you just subscribe to them on iTunes

There are two separate feeds so you can just

subscribe to what a cartoon which I think is

a great format for me personally because they

They break it down. They break cartoons down

into two -part. It's like a two -part episode

for a cartoon The first half of the episode is

talking about the cartoon overall Like if the

whole history of said cartoon and then they pick

what they seem to be the What they believe to

be the best episode of said series and they do

a deep dive on that episode Which is it's it's

I think that's a really cool format And I wanted

to they and around Christmas time when I was

signed up for the patreon so one of the reasons

I did is because They set up this they were gonna

start doing the water cartoon deep dive on movies

and their first one was gonna be on mask of the

phantasm and They were only gonna make it available

to patreon subscribers and you had to pledge

ten dollars Which okay, that's not that big a

video because I listened to their what a cartoon

stuff but When you pledge that ten dollars you

get one feed that lumps in they're talking Simpsons

and What a cartoon And I basically basically

I cancelled my patreon because I didn't want

to sort through They're talking Simpsons episodes

Because because what I do when I go to sleep

is I just turn on a podcast like from a and you

know in a certain podcast and I'll just let it

play until I take my headphones out and what

I don't want to do is go from like listening

and talk about Batman heart of ice into Simpsons

episode that I care nothing about so like that

feed became useless to me as like I'm going to

sleep tight podcast because they bundled it with

something you care nothing about Exactly. So

I was like, I was like, you know, I would have

paid I would have kept paying you $10 for just

a split out feed of what a cartoon But your I

can I can get what a cartoon separately if I

don't pay you anything, but I just can't get

your your movie Your movie podcast, which that's

that's fine with me. So This is a really weird

tangent. I don't know how we got here talking

about other podcasts Well, yeah, well you were

stating what you'd been doing lately more or

less. Yeah. Yeah I went through As I mentioned

off air late because the whole being unemployed

thing I started writing for a tech website out

of Phoenix, Arizona towards the end of February

and I've probably gotten Somewhere in the neighborhood

of like close to 40 articles written on there

since then Which is pretty sizable amount Yeah,

and it's it's for consumer electronics and things

like that. So like I've written on things from

You know the the smart speakers to you know,

like I've written about the iPad at one point

I've written um what's sad is i have a document

with like because i have to because it's freelance

i have to do my own invoicing so i have to like

link to the articles and so i have to have like

all the titles and everything of what they are

um because i can't remember and uh so like i've

had like you know windows tips and like new car

tech and um you know the they had like a story

about the last blockbuster in existence Okay,

like there was like two left and one was in Australia

ones in like Alaska, Oregon That one closed that

was like the third from the last Yeah, I thought

that that was the last like at one point when

we were doing the podcast couple years ago, but

apparently it wasn't Because this one that's

left in Oregon they they sell like, you know

the last blockbuster t -shirts like and and I

guess it's because most of their town is Kind

of anti -streaming there. They're like elderly

so they don't do the whole streaming thing so

they rent videos Which I think everybody it's

funny that they they're like So on the blockbuster

thing when like family videos seem to be popping

up everywhere But yeah, so that there was that

and like I've had you know, like tutorials and

variety of other things, you know, from mobile

apps to streaming to downloading, you know, VPN,

health apps and things like that. So yeah, it's,

you know, I had to write an article on 5G, which

was interesting. But yeah, it definitely makes

me have to research a lot when I don't know something.

Now, are you are you picking your Like what you

want to cover or is someone handing you stories

to? To write in research 90 % of the time I'm

handed the story But they more or less tell me

this is what we want you to talk about You know,

like this is the topic but go nuts and do whatever

you want Okay, so They're like don't sugarcoat

it like even if it's a sponsor be true to it

like they're like we want like Basically transparency

like don't if you don't like it if you don't,

you know agree with it don't Purposely side with

it because it's an article that's on the side.

They're like just right at how it you know Basically

be critical of it if it needs to be mmm, so I

was like, okay, I'm good with that Because there's

been a few things I'm like No And I always go

over the word count I can't help it. But I don't

know, they like what I'm writing, so I guess

that's a good thing. My next one I gotta write

is on DBRs and why you might still need or want

one. And I'm trying to mold that one over. Which

I can think of as benefits, I mean, because it's

digital stuff. as opposed to recording with an

old VHS tape or something. Which I've done that

in the past. So yeah, that's part of what I've

been doing amongst other things and kind of playing

around with the whole video thing again and I've

been experimenting with Discord. Okay. And I

figured that out with Birdman Dodd because he,

for whatever reason, cannot use Skype on his

computer. I don't know if it's because he's messed

something up, I don't know if it's because of

the version or some settings that are wrong that

he's just completely oblivious to, but I have

to communicate with him using Discord or he cannot

hear me, which is the weirdest thing. Do say

though I have noticed that discord There's a

program called Craig that's that's an add -in

or extension that you can record your discord

conversations Okay, and it puts them on two different

tracks and it records them in wave format like

raw So they're not like compressed mp3. Yeah.

Yeah, that sounds nice And it's actually really

nice because and it puts them on separate tracks.

So like everybody that's on it is on a separate

track. That's see, I when I I like that, because

like when I got into. When I was when I when

I first started trying to do my podcast, like

I was going to go whole hog, because one of the

one of the nice things about like. The program

I use for editing podcasts when I did it was

called GarageBand. on the Mac and their aim client

at the time, for anyone that doesn't know what

that is, it's the AOL instant messenger. You

know, if you started a conference, if you started

a video chat or a VoIP chat using that and you

opened up GarageBand and started a recording,

it would put everyone that you were in that group

chat in on its own separate channel in the recording.

Then after that when I couldn't make that work

obviously because I would be I would have people

like locally or you know Skype just didn't work

that way because eventually no one used aim anymore

so that chat that program became useless I One

of the things we did was I would have everyone

Record their own what I okay, I would do a master

record And then I would have everyone record

their own tracks on their own computer. And then

I would have them send them to me in Dropbox.

And I would drop them in on their own line and

sync everything up. And then when that got tedious,

I found a way to at least make myself separate

and then have Skype dump everything coming from

Skype on its own track. No, at least my audio

is separate. So I've done all the different ways.

I just think it's really nice when you can have

that Separated audio because then you can adjust

levels per track rather than risk effing everything

up because One person gets a little too loud

Yeah, and that was that was part of it too is

like I was always like normal and he would be

either high or low So he would either peak really

bad or he would not be talking loud enough, which

was always part of the problem anyway. And for

Skype, I use MP3 Skype recorder, which is free,

I mean, for the for the fair use of 30 hours

a month, basically. And when you do stereo, you

can have, you know, if you've got two people,

it's basically you and The other person on a

separate track so it still kind of does that

but it's still compressed as mp3 So it's not

as as perfect as it could be per se And so that's

in that case. That's where I like the how discord

does it is You can kind of choose there's like

four different formats. You can do the like the

oh the oog or the flack or yeah wave or I just

go for general wave just because it's what I

know and I know my program will open it so I

go with that route. Either way it's a large file

so it's something I have to download as a zip

and then it extracts and then I get all the different

tracks and the metadata and everything else so

it kind of helps fill that out but I have noticed

that it's much nicer when you go down to the

compressed mp3 when you've edited. By using that

and I was kind of surprised how well it worked.

Well, yeah, cuz I think One of the things I when

I first started hearing about content creation

or getting into content creation myself I Picked

up on the saying it comes from YouTube really

more so than audio, but it's garbage in garbage

out. Mm -hmm So it's like, even though, you know,

YouTube is going to compress the crap out of

something, you might think like, well, I'm only

going to render this out at this resolution because

YouTube is just going to jank it up anyways.

No, you want to go, you know, you want to render

it as high at as high a resolution or or produce

it as high as a quality as you can and then let

YouTube f it up. Because and I believe that goes

for audio, too. Like, you know, if you Because

if you go from a low quality MP3 to a lower quality

MP3, that's noticeable. I can't remember what

we used to do. We used to do a lossless format

when we would do the split tracks. Then I think

I picked it up from listening to. My very first

podcast, I listened to their settings for the

one -up show. I think they exported in mono at

80 kilobits per second was what they used. So

that's what I always held mine to. I recorded

at a much higher bit rate and then lowered it

down to that. So it's the whole garbage in, garbage

out thing. Totally. But that's that's cool. I

would like to at least see how that works. I

mean maybe the next time I'm on we can try that

yeah, that'll definitely be something cool to

try and you know, so I was thinking because I'm

trying to build out more or less the Like the

community base for it so that there could be

like live conversations like in the the channel

more or less it seems like when we tried to do

The Google Hangouts or in and stuff like that.

It seems more like more more akin to that too

So it's the only nicer thing about it is that

it's all like on the one screen So like you don't

have to monitor anything while it's recording

Yeah, I just type in the command and then it

starts it says, you know Craig recording and

then it it starts recording and then that's that's

it It like does it during the whole thing and

then you tell it when to stop And then it gives

you the link after to download it. And the conversations

can be going on in text in the background during

the whole thing. And you can have just that screen

up. And it's great. So I'm thinking about doing

that. I've also been playing around with video

again, trying to learn Twitch. Because I didn't

much have when I used to do videos on YouTube.

I never really had much luck there and there

seems to be more of a community base with twitch

and I've been kind of watching different feeds

and trying to get the feel of it and how it works

and What are you using there for capturing or

for streaming your stuff to twitch? Well, it

was using X split, okay until for whatever reason

I updated and the stuff was I Don't remember

why it doesn't work or what whatever but it's

it's it's got an issue with some of my hardware

So it won't it won't work I think it's because

my computer is dated at this point And then they

also have like a new X split V cam which the

V cam Oh, that's what it is. XSplit changed from

one time buy to a monthly subscription to use.

And I was like, yeah, I'm not forking over money

monthly for software. When everybody else is

starting to do that, I'll find another alternative.

And so I saw that they came up with a VCam, which

basically eliminates the need for a green screen.

It motion tracks like it tells you what to do.

So it motion tracks like you, your chair. And

then it removes digitally everything through

the software with like minimal CPU usage. OK.

And it actually works like you can put whatever

you want behind it. And I tried it and it's it's

a demo until you pay for it. But I was like,

it's cool. But now have you heard of OBS? I was

getting to that. We we actually used OBS at.

My church and so for on the Mac that they have

there because we have an actual HD camera hooked

up and everything through the video ports on

The the Mac and so we stream to YouTube and everything

through that using OBS and so I was like, okay

I'm gonna try this and so I downloaded OBS set

it all up on my computer got it set up so that

I can do the Twitch chat at the top of the OBS

screen so I can monitor the chat and everything

else, if there happened to be one that is. Figured

out how to do the different sources and put the

background picture and monitor everything and

I got everything set up how I wanted. But more

or less got to create all the different scenes

that I want or layouts. But it seems to work

pretty well. Because I tried it out a couple

times the first time I did it. It wasn't capturing

the audio from the game. I was playing mm -hmm,

so The next time I streamed I did I Did live

video with just myself on there like kind of

in a mini window with a background and It captured

me fine, and I did figure out why the audio wasn't

capturing and so that that was Part of the thing

I had to figure out It was kind of a roundabout

way of getting it to work anyway, but I did get

it to work and I really liked OBS. It's just

really nice. That's what I use the couple times

I stream from my computer to... No, I take that

back. When I streamed from my computer, yes,

I used OBS. When I streamed from a console, I

was using the Elgato streaming software. I liked

OBS. This was six years ago, I think, when I

did it. At the time, it was really easy to set

up. There were a ton of choices to make as far

as getting it set up. Because obviously it's

met for like everything not just certain things.

Yeah But no, I mean I miss I miss creating content

I I need I need to I know I can say this in every

episode I've been on I need to do something but

I don't do anything I just go on and every once

in a while drop a little a little bit of my knowledge

bombs or opinion bombs on Twitter every once

in a while but That's about the extent of my

content creation these days. Yeah, I've been

meaning to get more involved and more content

kind of published and kind of feeling out what

exactly I want to put out at this point. I'm

thinking possibly I'm going to start kind of

doing a dual. record of sorts doing like a Like

a twitch stream of like live shows of the podcast

So like if people happen to Check them out on

there then great. But if not, they'll be able

to get the recording like later in the week kind

of thing Yeah So Another thing that I've been

I've been up to is So I was just living life

works been works been getting better every week.

It's been getting a little better Trying for

a new position there Hopefully that one comes

about sooner rather than later because it'd be

a Monday through Friday gig, which I desperately

want And at the beginning of the year my wife

got the The bug to build a house It wasn't it

wasn't let's find another house and move it's

let's go build the house we want so We spent

you know Jen she spent January I said I said

you know what as I told her I said if you want

to jump if you want to set up all the meetings

you want to You know do all the research you

want to do everything I will go and do I will

go everywhere We need to go with the smile on

my face, and I will do everything that we need

to do But it's entirely your thing Because I

mean we when we bought the house we have right

now we thought that was it you know but Apparently

that's not the case anymore And and and since

that ended up being the thing I told her I said

Because she always makes this joke with me I

said okay, if we're if we are moving into a new

house, then I'm getting a new TV So because she

There's that there's a running joke between us

is that where I'm always like I'm gonna I want

to get a new TV She's like you don't need a new

TV. You just got one I'm like, yeah, but this

so then I buy it and then that ends up being

then I go Well, this is my last TV for a little

while and Every time she buys a new house. She's

like, this is our forever home and Well So, yeah,

I was like, okay if we're gonna do this then

I get a new TV so She was totally fine with that

But I'm I'm excited because I am It's been a

very frustrating experience. I think that just

comes down to the builder The way they set things

up was kind of shady And You know you think when

you are paying someone to build your house that

they're going to help you build the house that

you know you want to build and that just Well,

I'm still fighting with them about it And to

be honest we're getting I'm gonna say 98 % of

the house that we want We're able to pick where

all the outlets go and I have ethernet being

run to every room in the house I'm doing ethernet

instead of coaxial cable. So God forbid we ever

do move. It'll be a really a pain in the butt

for anyone to run coaxial cable anywhere But

there's coaxial being run to the family room

because why not But none of the bedrooms upstairs

have coaxial, but all of them have Ethernet But

the one thing I'm fighting with them about and

it's so bizarre to me is I'm a home theater enthusiast.

I'm building a house. I would like to pre -run

speaker wire, please so that I can hang my surround

sound speakers and have it look really nice with

the wires all hidden and All I've heard is we

can't do that And I Just I I don't I don't get

that like you'll run ethernet cable and Run speaker

wire. No, like I don't I do not understand it

It just I I've asked them at every step in the

the guy that sells you the home He's like well.

I can't I can't answer that but when you go in

for your design decision You know they'll they'll

be able to answer that for you. You know and

like good reason like okay, and it's really crappy

because So the way it works is you sign all the

paperwork that says you're going to buy the house

from a guy that tells you that You know, they

have the final say like when you so the way it

works is you go and you talk to this guy He basically

is your realtor. He's basically selling the house,

right? So you pick out a plan you buy the house

from them He can't really tell you what can and

cannot go into the house. I don't but I don't

believe that's true at all I think they they

can they just try to get you to buy there are

salesmen. They're just trying to get you to buy

a house So what they do is they end up locking

or at least this company they locked us into

a contract Like to basically we purchased the

home before we designed it. OK. So you sign a

contract to build the home and if you back out

of that contract, you owe them twenty thousand

dollars. Like they don't even have to break ground.

They don't have to get permits or anything. If

you break that contract before they've done anything,

you still owe them twenty thousand dollars and

they can still turn around and sell the plot

of land that you. bought to build your house

on. So they just get twenty thousand dollars.

Now, after you sign this contract, then you get

to go to the design meeting. Now, remember, you're

stuck and you can't back out. So you go to you

go to the design meeting and guess what? They

no longer have to tell you, yes, they can just

tell you no. And you can't do anything about

it. Wow. So I get in there and the first thing

I ask is You know, can you can you run the speaker

wire and the ladies like nope. I'm like All right,

and then she's like but we can run I don't know

what she said. She's like we can run some type

of conduit for you to put in security cameras

And I'm like that's the same thing basically

No, it's but I'm like it's not because they they

they're gonna run the conduit back to a designated

spot which I'll get to this in a second, but

Don't get to pick where the conduit is they just

run it But I want them to run the speaker wire

to a specific spot in the in the ceiling right

for for my surround sound speakers So they'll

run cabling for security cameras. They'll run

ethernet cable They'll run coaxial cable They

won't run speaker wire So Then we get into this

and maybe I'm just insane here, or maybe it's

just me. I don't maybe I'm just insane But I

feel like I felt like I was asking legit questions

that any homeowner would have. Or maybe it's

because most people that probably go to them

probably aren't. Maybe people that go to them

are first time homeowners, but it wasn't my first

time being a homeowner. So I was asking them

questions like they asked me, they go around,

you go room by room and they ask you where. They're

like here's where the outlets are gonna go by

code for power. Okay, and then they're like we

can't move any of these That's how they go for

code, but we could add outlets anywhere that

you want So, you know you get you get to pick

out where those go and then you get to pick out

where Like I want my Ethernet ports to go in

the room. Okay, and I Asked the question where

does it run back to? Like, where is the other

end of the ethernet cable gonna go? Lady says,

I don't know. We don't know. And I'm like, I

was like, how can you ask these, how can you

ask people to pick where these outlets go if

you can't tell them where the other end is? Because.

Like if I have, if it was up to me, like there's

a perfect closet in the downstairs of my new

house, right? It's a centrally located closet.

And if I could have had them run, I could have

them run a power cord, a power block in there.

I could have them run a coaxial cable in there.

But if I can't get them to run the, but I can't

choose where the ethernet runs back to, I would

have chosen it to run back into that closet.

Because then I hide my modem and my router. and

everything in that closet and you don't have

to see any of it? How slick is that? That'd be

awesome. But no, it's pick where all these outlets

are going, pick where your ethernet cable goes

and pick where your coaxial cable goes in the

room. But we can't tell you where the other end

of it is in the house. And then it's like they

show you on the blueprint where your furnace

is and where your hot water heater is. And I

was like, OK, where's the electrical box going

to go? And they go, well, it goes in the garage.

And I said, where in the garage? We don't know.

Doesn't sound like you've got like a very good.

I was like, I was like, how do you then? I felt

dumb asking these questions. I feel like they're

the dumb ones because if they can't tell you

and they build houses like in and I think I think

the reason I got stuck on the circuit, the breaker

box is because they told me they eventually it

came out that. The all those cables are going

to run back to And this is typical with most

houses most of those cables like that they run

they come in kind of by your power box or somewhere

close to it and I remember that being a thing

because that's kind of how it was at my other

houses, and that's how it is here, too So once

once they were like oh, it's gonna all this stuff

kind of runs back to a junction box by your your

Fuse bar your breaker box. I was like, okay.

Well now I'm thinking how am I gonna mount like

I now I'm thinking I need to put an extra plug

in the garage So that I can mount my cable modem

and my router and all this other stuff in the

garage right next to the power box But they can't

tell me where the fuse box is gonna go. So I

don't know where to tell them to put a plug It

just it seems pretty asinine to me It infuriated

me because it's just like I felt I I think at

the end of the day I feel like knowing I feel

like your fuse box is Just as important as where

your water heater is and where your furnace is.

I think so, too I mean I've got in my house.

I mean granted it's old it's got You know the

the main power In the garage, but it runs to

a breaker box that's down in our basement With

a plug next to it See and and that's so I ended

up putting like more a couple more plugs in the

garage and I'm gonna make it work You know with

whatever I've got to do and when they come out

like I said, I also said well Where does the

coat where does where? Typically does the cable

company come into the house and they couldn't

tell me that either But some people at work that

have built houses or are familiar with how that

process goes It all comes in by the power box.

So wherever the cable company is gonna come in

Into my it's get my cable is gonna run into my

garage and then go into a splitter to the rest

of the house Which that's fine but if you would

if I had the option to pick where I wanted everything

to run to Like it would have been in that closet

and I had to flat -out tell them because I read

stories all the time about how the younger generation

they're not buying houses and it's like I Was

like I'm not gonna be the only one asking these

questions about a connected home You guys are

going to be trying to sell houses to people that

are younger than me They're going to be asking

these types of questions for our connected home

and you're not you can't tell them that you don't

know Like you have to be able to answer these

questions Yeah, I mean I agree if I was going

to have a new house built I would definitely

want it completely like wired for Like I would

want plugs so that I have like the USB built

into them I would want the Ethernet cords all

around the house I mean well see some of the

stuff like I now I put I did something really

cool I put an Ethernet port and plugs above my

kitchen cabinets So I can do like some fancy

lighting and I'm gonna put one of my Google Wi

-Fi routers in the kitchen like above the cabinets

nice So but like so some of the like I got a

lot of the stuff we did We we just went with

what they gave us. So because it's cheap. It's

cheaper for us to go and buy the replacement

things Like to replace all the outlets with USB

plugs like here's here's something crazy All

right to pre wire an outlet or to pre to do a

pre wire for a ceiling fan was $250 to do a pre

wire for a ceiling fan Okay. Really? Okay, hang

on. Did you say that right now? Wait, I'm going

to blow your mind here for a second. For them

to put a light in a bedroom with, you know, with

an actual light fixture, not just not just running

wiring for a light, but to put a light fixture

in a bedroom with a switched light in a bedroom

was 125. So. What did we do? We had them put

the switched light in every single bedroom because

I'll just go and replace all those lights with

fans. Wow. It's two fifty to do a prewire, which

doesn't even they're not installing a fan or

a light or one twenty five to install a light

on a switch that you can put spend the other

hundred twenty five on a fan, a fan. Yeah. So.

I even installed like when I first moved into

this house like I installed a fan in My youngest

son's bedroom and I had to buy the mount kit

Just so that I could get it so they would support

the weight up there and I I did it I mean it

took like maybe a half hour. I Mean, so yeah,

I like we did a lot of things we did because

I'm capable of changing out everything ourselves

Like I'll go like once we get in there and we

get things like situated I know that you know,

I'm gonna I'll be like, okay that right that

Plug right there is close enough for us to put

a usb Thing in i'll go and do that, you know

i'll i'll take care that i'm going to replace

all the light fixtures anyways Because I don't

know I don't know what you about you but I feel

like every single light fixture in any house

Was designed in the 70s and never updated. Yep

Like I don't get it. It doesn't matter which

house i've been in Everything looks every light

looks like it's from the 70s So now the one thing

I am kind of mad about is like I had this We

like the how we don't get me wrong. We like the

floor plan of the house. We love the house I'm

just hung up on the speaker wire which our roundabout

there, which I've been told by a number of people

Which is just go run the speaker wire after they

right before they put the drywall up Just go

run the speaker wire yourself And so that's probably

what I'm gonna end up doing And then I'll and

what pisses me off is I'm gonna end up I'm gonna

run the speaker wire myself and then I'm gonna

have to put holes And the brand new drywall.

Like, yeah, it's just it's just irritating, like

I'm going to have this brand new house. And I'm

going to have to put holes in it like it anyways,

moving on. So now the one thing I'm mad at myself

about, but which is easily correctable is I had

this. When we're getting the when we're designing

the house, I I'm really good at visualizing what

I want, and the family room is big enough that.

thought I could get two spaces out of it like

I could get my home theater space and I could

get an an entertaining space all right I won't

go into how that worked or anything like that

so when we put all the outlets in I had them

I had them put all the outlets in how I Wanted

the room to be set up at that time, okay? Afterwards

after we had finalized everything a couple weeks

later. I was thinking about it and I was like,

you know, I Think I just I want to put it I want

to I want to shift everything 90 degrees and

I want to put it on this other wall but that

other wall doesn't have any of the outlets on

it, but The positive side is that wall has two

electrical outlets on it, which is perfect and

that wall is also shared with the garage So it'll

be really easy for me to run an Ethernet cord

To like straight through the garage into the

family room So it's not the end of the world

for me to have to make those changes myself after

the fact I'm just I'm just more hung up on the

whole they won't they won't run the speaker wire

It just it just blows my mind and then of course

like I said you can't They can tell you no and

you can't do anything about it because I don't

have $20 ,000 to just set on fire Yeah, so it's

it's it's a bummer, but we've got like plans.

We've got lots of cool plans. We're gonna We're

gonna smart home it up. I've got a bunch of nest

like new nest products picked out And then I've

been keeping my eye This is the most laziest

the laziest thing ever but I've been keeping

my eye on the IKEA smart blinds, okay They were

supposed to come out on April 1st. Are those

the ones that You can control kind of like you

would like your your light fixtures or your plugs

Yep, and they'll open and close based on a remote

Yeah, so there we have our family room is One

of the choices we made the family either have

one big window or it could have three regular

size windows And we chose three regular size

windows because it gives you a bigger view out

the back of the house And we're gonna put the

smart we're gonna put in three smart blinds on

now on those windows And then the TV is gonna

be opposite those windows, so they'll be blackout

blinds and of course you can Like I'll be able

to hit a button on my phone that says I'm gonna

watch a movie and the blinds will come down I'll

be able to do all that stuff. I'm excited to

get to try that out. That sounds like quite an

adventure. I didn't realize there could be that

many headaches involved with having a house built.

That's the other thing I told them too. I said,

I didn't think running speaker wire in a house

that I was building was going to be harder than

running speaker wire in a house that already

existed. Like I flat out said that to them and

they don't they don't flinch. They don't care.

They know that they've got, you know, they've

already they've got you. They don't have to do

anything for you at that point. It just it. It

sucks. Yeah, I can I can definitely tell that's.

But we're past it. We've got everything picked

out. We've got everything the way that we want

it We know what we're gonna slowly change out,

you know After we move in because we want to

keep the cost down. We've got a nice 12 foot

by 12 foot patio out the back And we've got like

three, you know, we've got three bedrooms upstairs

with a loft and It's it'll be really nice when

it's all went all of a sudden done And we're

really excited. We've actually, we've also, we're

in contract on our current home, which means

we've quote unquote, technically sold it. So

we're ready. Our house is supposed to be ready

in about, I've been told it could be ready as

early as July, but I'm thinking it's going to

be like September. So we've got that to look

forward to this year. And then, Know what everyone's

been dying to listen dying for the TV I Decided

that I am finally going to go for an OLED TV

I'm done. I Mean as much as I love my Vizio's

and I love my p -series like I'm done effing

around I've done a lot of research in the last

three years on OLED TVs. And I think I believe

I am ready to take the plunge. OK. And so I've

elected the the LG C9, which is there, which

is the OLED that came out this year. I'm going

to pick that one up because it has a lot of it's

a little more future proof than the current model,

the C8. It has more video game features built

into it that I would I'm really going to want

in the future so Yeah, that was my gift for myself

for My wife building a new house us moving into

a new house. I'm finally gonna take the plunge

on an OLED TV So Yeah, I'm I'm still using my

old plasma which I'll keep until it dies I just

never I I wish see I I did before. I remember

it was like I think it was like six months, six

or eight months before Vizio released their first

4K TV. I. Was going to go plasma. And I had it

picked out. But it was also the same year it

was like 2014, which is also the last year that

they were manufacturing plasmas. And so I just

then Vizio announced their 4k TVs and how cheap

they were going to be So I was like, well, I

guess I'm not going I'm not going plasma. I kind

of regret not going plasma, but at the same time

I don't regret it because whatever what you don't

know you don't know and I like I said, I think

I'm just as much of a video file as I am and

as much as a film purist and I Think I just need

to I think I need to just do it instead of just

messing around with how many dimming zones a

TV has I Need to go from like, you know a TV

that has like 200 to a TV that has 8 million

Yeah, I can I can definitely see that Like having

a big monumental change So the, and I haven't

gone to look at it yet, but the B of it all is

my buddy that I work with, he lives five houses

down from me. And he came over a couple months

ago and I was talking to him about, I told him

I was gonna get an OLED TV after we moved into

our new house. And he said, Said oh really you

think that's you think that's wise because you

know you hear about burning and all this other

stuff and I said I don't really think that's

anything to like worry about the way that I cycle

through content and Lo and behold two weeks ago.

He sends me a message. He went out and bought

the OLED C8 And I was like because it was a it's

on Matt. It's not a real steep I mean, it's still

expensive But it's on a real steep sale like

more than more than 50 % off right now I was

like I hate you so much right now So kind of

show it off But I I haven't been over to look

at it like I don't I I don't I I do want to go

look at it But I don't want to go look at it

because if I go look at I'm gonna want it like

right now And if I don't go look at it, I can

at least like still enjoy what I've got So you

don't get that that instant envy then yeah, like

I I've got it bad enough just knowing that he

has it and I don't So Well, it'll be interesting

to hear more of your your adventures of having

your house built I've always been curious about

that whole process anyway, so Well, like I said,

they in the other the other thing that sucks

is Once you leave that design meeting you can't

make any changes you quote unquote can't make

any changes. Everything is finalized I feel like

that's such a Like cop out answer for them like

well because you're the one that's forking over

the money to have it built in the first place

I get like nothing major should happen. But like

if you want like some little tweak here or there

like so what I've been told from people that

have built their own homes is that And and even

the guy that sold us the home said that said

this too He said that when I meet with the contractor

I have one more shot at getting them to run the

speaker wire more or less. I can ask the contractor

if they can run the speaker wire. If he says

no, then I just need to go do it myself. So there's

still a shot because I have all the materials,

I have all the fittings. I'm not asking them

to supply the speaker wire or anything like that.

I'm not adding anything to the build cost. So

there's still a chance, but I'm just saying it's

not something that they let me choose at the

design setting, and then I don't have to worry

about it ever again. It's a bummer. But I'm excited,

we're excited because it's the house that, whenever

we've moved into a house, we've always had these

ideas of how to. Like things that we wanted to

do like down the road like we wanted to remodel

the kitchen we wanted to remodel the bathrooms

you know these types of things and Now it's like

since we had all those thoughts and those plans

already in our heads from past homes We just

went into this and the design process was so

easy It was just like well We know what we want

to be because it's what we've always wanted our

homes to be whichever one We've lived in we've

always wanted to do this exact same thing so

So you just get to have it from the get go. Exactly.

So, yeah, we've we've had the opportunity, you

could say, to have our bathroom remodeled and

certain other places in the house because things

have broken or had an issue. And so we're like,

well, it's got to be gutted anyway. So might

as well. And like, what was it a month ago? my

oldest decided to open up the playroom window

and mind you it was you know a good brisk 20

-some degrees because he wanted to wave at the

school buses that went by one of the weekdays

and being that I you know was unemployed I was

up there with the kids you know and I was running

around the house taking care of stuff and all

of a sudden I hear a and I was like and then

I hear like that and I go running and the boy

had opened up the window and forgotten the fact

that that window is broken like the the plastic

clips that hold it in place and so the window

came down on his hand which he was lucky that

the front -facing window blocked the was blocked

by the back window that came down so it only

got like his fingertips with the back window

but had the other window come down it probably

would have broken his hand but it got stuck on

its way down on the other window the other half

the window so like you know I go up there and

he's holding his hand and there's nothing bleeding

but he's you know screaming and I'm trying to

get the window back up real quick before um we

run into urgent care which they said nothing

was wrong and he was fortunate but uh yeah so

we were like yeah we were holding off on that

window because we couldn't really afford it and

I was you know being unemployed that's not something

we wanted to spend money on but we're like it's

a safety problem now so we're like uh you know

because the tax returns came back and we're like

I guess that's where that's going and so uh We

had a couple of companies come out and of course

our kitchen window is in the same state. Although

the back window doesn't come down, just the front

facing one. So it's only one window that comes

down, not both. So we leave both those windows

locked so that they don't come crashing down.

So we had to have those replaced and while we

were at it, the front bow window that we have...

every time somebody comes door to door looking

to put windows in they want to give us an estimate

on it and it's always like $2 ,300 for the front

window on its own and we're like since I already

had these window guys there I was like how much

would it be to because there's no airflow like

the the people that live here before us broke

the mechanisms and everything had to do with

opening the windows and took the screens out

and put like basically cemented plexiglass in

there So that they'll never open again And I

was like how much would it be to replace the

front window because you had to have three windows

They make you have three windows That you have

to replace at a time And in order to get you

know, they just won't come out unless you have

three windows we were gonna get another window

replaced that didn't honestly need it and I says

what about the the bow window is how much would

it be to get that tacked on along with the other

two windows and get it replaced as a flat window

that opened up both sides that we could have

decent airflow because our air conditioners also

broke and so they they looked at it and they

they did all the measurements and everything

in it it's coming in you know for under two grand

we're going to get all of it which this particular

company beat The other companies we talked to

by a significant amount because it was early

enough in the season that they were like, you

know Willing to make deals Okay And and we're

you know, we're doing like the free advertisement

front lawn ornament type thing and you know the

the sign in the front yard and all this other

stuff and so So yeah in you know sometime Either

the end of this month or beginning of next month.

I'll have the windows Manufactured and they'll

be coming out to install them That's cool. So

it'll be nice. We get a nice airflow before summer

hits If I don't find a job somewhere out of state

before then but That's that's the one thing I've

always wanted with any house. I've been in is

brand new windows like my I Every house we've

been in I've done a lot to Maintain their like

to keep them somewhat energy efficient. Mm -hmm.

You know, we keep the like year -round in the

summer we set our thermostat we kept we set the

AC to about 75 78 And in the winter we keep the

heat at about 63 in the house And we've just

you know, we've got we've got an extra blanket

on the couch and we wear hoodies and sweatshirts

And then of course in the summer, you know, you

were shorts and tank tops and you get rid of

all the extra blankets Sounds like us in our

house. Yeah, and I've got you know I've got LED

lights and stuff like that So like our our electric

bills like when I hear people talk about their

their bills and their usage and stuff like that

like at work It's just like it's like dang. What

are you guys? Holy cow Like, you know, like I've

just I'm so shocked by what they have. And like

when we went in for the design meeting for our

new house, the guy like quoted us like what an

estimate on our utilities would probably be.

And I'm like. How what? Like, because you think

you think like brand new home, you know, like

it's going to have it's going to be like the

most energy efficient, you know, thing. And it's

just like. And I it's always like that's I guess

that's like what it is for like a typical home

and I And that's and so I'm like, I'm really

interested to see like when you've got brand

new siding and installation and brand new windows

Like I'm interested to see you know, what are

what where we come in at with our with our utilities

and stuff like that because like all my LED lights

and all that stuff all that stuff is coming over

to the house and You know, we'll have brand new

brand new everything so it'll be and am I the

one thing I really really really want to do is

On my list of upgrades for the home is we have

our what we're getting a water heater You know

a standard water heater and it's electric and

it goes in this we're not getting a basement

So it's just on a slab. Mm -hmm. So the door

that would be to your basement stairs is Obviously

that's under the stairs that go to the second

floor That's where the water heater goes. All

right, and So that's just it's a it's a hole

under the stairs It just has a water heater in

it and one of the things I've always wanted since

I've been a homeowner was a tankless hot water

heater and If I can get an electric tankless

hot water heater and put it in that in that room

that closet I get that closet back Like That's

amazing So like I'm just I've always wanted a

tankless hot water heater because That's I you

know you never I never liked the idea. No one

ever likes the idea of running out of hot water

No, that's it's just the worst so That's that's

one of the things is like it's like high on my

it's like the top five things I really want to

do after you move into the house is I want to

get a tankless hot water heater because I want

to see how low I can get my utility bills and

things like that. But yeah, I'm sure everyone

is thrilled to hear us talk this in depth about

homeownership. Oh, and this house especially

that I'm in right now, the windows are shot.

All the windows in this house were shot. And

I'm fairly certain that this house was this house

was the model for this subdivision. It was one

of the model homes. So I don't think it was ever

meant it was never built with habitation in mind.

Like the seals around the windowsill like inside

the house, they weren't and still are not appropriately

sealed. So if you get a strong wind, you'll feel

it. You can you can feel it coming in from the

bottom of the window Yeah, that's kind of like

my house then because my house was one of the

first built on our block, too Yeah, and what

I did with like after we moved in is I went and

got some caulk and I caulked in this line and

that cut that cut it way down but you can totally

tell that this house was not not made for it

to be it was made to be shown and not inhabited

and when they did convert it for Habitants, they

didn't go back in fix anything You know button

it up and make it and i'm not saying it's like

uninhabitable by any means i'm just saying it's

They didn't make it like they were they cut corners.

Yes, they cut corners on it so i'm definitely

excited to see How things shake out when we get

over there and i'm so i'm just excited everything

Everything's gonna be brand new. I've never had

a brand new house Yeah, me neither, uh, i'm still

living in my um quad which is a nightmare as

far as electric and heating and Gas and everything

else. So it's just it doesn't it doesn't hold

temperatures well and I Mean I've cut down some

of it because I've done I've switched everything

to LED lighting Mm -hmm. Just as light bulbs

burn out. I just buy LED bulbs Which I think

pretty much every bulb in the house is LED now

and I had a really weird because I was using

those halogen or not halogen compact fluorescent

light bulbs in my office for a while and I discovered

that because they weren't like natural light

Color they were killing my eyes when I would

because I you know with working from home previously

it It was painful to sit in my office and when

I switched to Daylight color LED lighting It

made a world of difference like I can sit in

my office all day and it doesn't bother me anymore

My eyes don't feel like they're gonna fall out

of my head Like I had to wear my glasses and

even then it was it was bad like I can sit here

now And I don't even have to wear them and it's

it's habitable in my basement And they're bright

too, which is really nice All right, let's move

on from this adult talk this adult conversation.

Yeah All righty, so Where can the people get

a hold of you on Twitter? I am at booth ninja

81 and I am at SCP 21 and if you guys have any

Suggestions for content just let us know at altered

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