Extreme Commuting and Front Porch Conundrum

Show notes:
Links:
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Bluey

Vogmask

Twist

It’s a Southern Thing

If I had a front porch

Full transcript:
Josh:
How y'all doing?

Ben:
I'm doing.

Starr:
Yeah, about the same.

Ben:
I've been riding my scooter to work all week.

Starr:
Oh, how's that?

Ben:
It's a lot of fun. Got a little electric kick scooter and top speed about 25 miles per hour. I was concerned about it being able to get up the hill that I have to go back up on my way home. It does drag a bit on that hill. I only got a single motor. Guess I should have gone with the dual motor. Otherwise it's fun. It's nice to be out in nature, I guess, air quotes, because you're still on the road and you're still a victim of cars and stuff. Being able to see the sun coming up over the hills and down to the valley and while you're just feeling the wind on your face, it's all good.

Josh:
It sounds nice.

Ben:
Yeah.

Starr:
Yeah, sounds awesome. I don't know. It seems terrifying to me, but I'm sure it's a lot of fun.

Ben:
It helped that I have done a lot of bike riding on roads for the past several years, so I'm already comfortable with the idea of mixing it up with cars and weaving in and out of traffic and realizing that people aren't going to see me and things like that. I think if I had just gone from driving a car straight to riding a scooter in the bike lane, that would be a little more terrifying.

Starr:
Yeah, that makes sense.

Josh:
Next you're going to have to upgrade to one of the electric skateboards or a Onewheel or something, just remove the handle bars.

Ben:
Right, right, right. Get one of those Onewheel things.

Josh:
This is leading up to-

Ben:
Totally.

Starr:
We're just working up to hoverboards. I mean I commute to my backyard office, so maybe I should get a zip-line or something from the main house.

Ben:
I like that, yeah.

Starr:
... then I could be extreme.

Josh:
We want a zip-line at our place out into the forest.

Starr:
That would be fun.

Ben:
You could do a zip-line from your deck to the sandbox, send the kids out to play.

Josh:
The kids would love it. Well, I was thinking more for myself though. Screw the kids. They don't need a zip-line.

Starr:
There you go. That's actually not a bad idea. We're going to get-

Josh:
That would be cool though.

Starr:
... a deck in the fall.

Josh:
Oh, nice.

Starr:
I had thought it would be fun to put a fireman pole on one side or something so kids could slide down it. It's raised up a little bit but not that much. It's like a kid's sliding size.

Ben:
That would be totally awesome. That would-

Josh:
We have been loving our new deck that we have had for a month and a half or something now. It's a new deck. If you have a really old, rickety deck, a new one is a big upgrade. Also ours is a little bit larger, too, so it's like a bigger house almost.

Starr:
Oh, that's great. We don't even have a deck it's just like a little stairway.

Josh:
I think you're going to like it, Starr.

Starr:
I think so, too. I know, deck life. It's going to be covered. I was just like-

Josh:
It's just the small things.

Starr:
I know. All I want is to be able to go out on a nice evening or something and sit and drink a cup of tea and be outside.

Ben:
And think about all-

Josh:
I was going to say, where do you drink the sweet tea in the summer if you don't have a front porch?

Starr:
Yeah, that's the main problem with houses up here in the Northwest is there's not real front porches. We have one that's like a weird nod at a front porch. It's like somebody maybe had seen a front porch once when they were... They were like, "Oh, maybe I'll try and do that from memory," without really knowing what it's supposed to be like.

Josh:
Some of the ones in Portland have them, but they're boxed in usually, and they're the older houses-

Josh:
... like the old Craftsmans or whatever.

Starr:
The stately grand dames.

Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Ben:
Well, here in Kirkland we're destroying all those old houses and putting in-

Starr:
Thank God.

Ben:
... townhouses.

Josh:
Hell, yeah.

Ben:
I drove by one this morning. This morning was the first morning since I got my scooter that I actually didn't ride the scooter because it was raining and the ground was wet. I was like, "Ah, I don't want to deal with that this morning." So I just drove. I drove past this house that... Well, yesterday it was a house. Today, it's a pile of sticks because they sold the lot, and they're going to split it into probably, I don't know, four lots and put in some townhouses. It's always a sad thing, but people got to have a place to live.

Starr:
Yeah, it's a shame. They tore down a house on my block, too, except it was a condemned house. It looked like a gingerbread fairy house that you'd find on just a random stroll in the woods where you'd go inside and you'd find just a delicious meal laid out on the table just waiting for you. So I'm a little sad it's gone just for, I guess, the storytelling aspects, the mythology of it. I guess it's probably best not to just have a condemned structure hanging out.

Josh:
I still do feel like Ida's is missing out with your telling of that story. I feel a little sad for you all.

Starr:
I know. I know.

Ben:
You're totally missing the threat possibility there. Like, "Don't misbehave or I'll send you over to the gingerbread house."

Starr:
Oh my god, yeah. Yeah, lots of great ways to traumatize my child.

Ben:
Speaking of traumatizing children, I was going through Twitter the other day, and the Washington State Department of Health had a tweet. I don't remember what the tweet was, but they had a GIF embedded in it. It was Stimpy from Ren & Stimpy as a scene from the show. I was like, "That's from the Department of Health? My generation is now in charge."

Starr:
With the Twitter account at least.

Ben:
We're now putting in-

Josh:
Yeah, exactly.

Ben:
That was the weirdest... It's like, "I'm an adult." That was a weird, weird experience.

Josh:
It is kind of strange when the people in charge start looking more and more like you until you realize they're just like-

Ben:
They're just little kids, just like I am.

Josh:
Then you wonder why the hell they're in charge.

Starr:
I'm getting like Paul Ryan listening to a Rage Against the Machine vibe from this.

Josh:
That's what I'd be playing if I was in charge of the Department of Health's-

Starr:
There we go.

Josh:
... Twitter account.

Starr:
I think this week has all been a little bit... I don't know. We're all maybe a little bit having a hard time focusing. I know I have a little bit just. It seems like that happens every spring as soon as the weather gets nice and it stops being nice, then it gets nice and it stops being nice. You're waiting by the door with your kayak. You just got to get the jump on it before everybody else gets to the lake.

Josh:
Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. Also allergies have been kicking in lately.

Starr:
Oh my god, yeah.

Josh:
I was really on top of it this year, but then I ran out of my Z...