The Grey NATO – 266 – 2024 And More
Published on Thu, 04 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
Jason and James kick off the new year by discussing their goals, plans, and inspirations for 2024. Jason shares his decision to participate in the Pen y Fan dance challenge in Wales, as well as his ongoing plank challenge with the community. James aims to find a new baseline for his fitness at age 37 and develop practical skills like woodworking. They also touch on topics like diet, dry January, watch goals (selling pieces and focusing on a curated collection), potential TGN plans (more meetups, guests), and general lifestyle adjustments for better work-life balance.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 266 and it's proudly brought to you by our ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show and aren't already, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I am joined as ever by my friend and co-host, James Stacy. This is the first episode of 2024. Happy New Year, James. Happy New Year. How's it going? It's going pretty well. Yeah. I'm kind of, you know, shaking off the holiday fog here. So apologies if the show seems a little rusty, but yeah. And you're having, you're having some technical issues to start the year as well. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I mean, let's be clear. I'm still on vacation. Uh, I I'm on vacation for, we're recording this on Tuesday, the second I'm on vacation until next Monday. Um, but I wanted to start the show off, you know, cleanly and nice and early and all that kind of stuff. Didn't want to take any time away that we didn't need to. So we're doing an episode, but I am in the midst of a rage inducing continued problem with my Mac book pro. So if this episode sounds weird, I am on an iPad, my computer, I spilled some water on it. I fess up to that, my mistake. And I knew it would be expensive and it was a problem. It was my, my fault, all that kind of stuff. So I have a backup. I plug it in and it goes, Oh yeah, 42 hours. Oh wow. Yeah. Okay. It's something like one and a half million files that it has to transfer and put in place and the rest of it. I'm like, yep. Okay. All good. Yeah. And hopefully all of that can be done like with enough time for me to edit and put this show up. I don't know. What was the joke? We made a hundred episodes. Life would be easier if I wasn't this dumb. Yeah. Maybe don't leave your laptop next to a, you know, a 20 ounce glass of water. Um, but I've been doing that for years and it just caught up with me. So. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It always, every time something like this happens or, or, you know, as an old Land Rover defender owner, I, I watch with some, with some level of schadenfreude with the people that own the new defenders. And I've been reading a lot of these stories about people that like the battery runs dead while they're camping or traveling or something. And they come home and like they lose their power steering or you know, whatever. I'm like, is this truly progress? You know, like to the point, like I'd realized a lot of this stuff is, is convenience. Um, but sometimes the old, old ways are the best. It's like if we, if we did like a live show around a campfire with whoever can make it, that might be what we have to come down to one day. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I mean, eventually it'll just be strings and cans and that'll be the slack. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Aside from that, how, how have your, how have you liked your holidays? How was Christmas? How was any, any like standout, really fun gifts given or, or received that sort of thing? |
| Jason Heaton | I guess, you know, the one gift I got this year was a, a left-handed guitar from a certain someone, uh, the other person on this podcast that was, uh, that was my sole gift this year. Uh, we, we kind of, uh, stopped doing gifts a number of years ago with the family. We get together and have a nice dinner with my folks who live nearby and, and, um, kind of just agreed that, you know, none of us really need that much more stuff in our lives. So we, we kind of decided not to do gifts, but the guitar has been fun. I've been noodling on that a little bit, you know, far from being able to play anything yet, but I can make sound with it at least. And it feels more comfortable in my hands. So that's, that's been great. Good. You know, we've had this really strangely mild winter here and we made it all the way through December with like no snow. I mean, I think we've had a total of two or three inches all winter and it's been downright balmy. So I've been, I've been, I've been on my bike, I've been running, um, you know, getting out, uh, it's, it's, it's kind of weird. I mean, I realized this is a real harbinger of, we're not even a harbinger anymore. It's such evidence of global warming, which is a disconcerting of course, but I will admit that having an extra month of almost like autumn weather, I mean, Christmas felt like Thanksgiving year. Um, it's been kind of after last winter, which was kind of a brutal one here. Uh, I've been kind of making the most of it. you know, by getting out and not having to stress too much about leaking roofs and falling on the ice and that sort of stuff. So in that respect, it was, uh, it's been good. And, um, in terms of indoor activities, uh, we binge watched a slow horses season three, which, you know, I mean, it's, it's gotta be the best thing on TV. It's just such a, such an incredible show on Apple TV. Uh, just, just loved it. I mean, I think we blew through six episodes in, you know, in like two or three days. So yeah, that's great. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, that's awesome. I'm glad. Yeah, definitely. That's on my list for this week is to watch that. Yeah. Quickly on the guitar. I'm like, I'm glad that that worked out. I don't know if in the past, like we've talked about the gifts. Yeah. On our first of the year, like we typically spend each like kind of get each other a flashy sort of gift, like something you wouldn't buy for yourself. Um, and, and in the past was some pretty amazing stuff. I've got that Campbell of Beaulieu's. Oh yeah. The mini bar, uh, Jerry can mini bar, uh, which I'll put in the show notes. If you don't know what this is, I think, you know, I've for a couple of years, all I did was outfit you and get shiny and snow peak stuff. |
| Unknown | Right. Okay. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. Yeah. Uh, which is pretty fun. And then this year you got me the, um, the Dyneema go rock bullet. Yeah. The 15 liter And I've basically been living with it on, like it's become the equivalent of like a purse for me. My wallet stays in there now. It's so small and it weighs, dude, like it weighs nothing. I believe it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's like a parachute. |
| James Stacy | The straps are all of the way. Yeah. And, and it's, it's such a nice size. You can, it can fit my laptop, but not like it's actually small enough that it can't fit in the little sleeve in the back. |
| Unknown | Oh wow. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. The space, I think you'd need like a 14 inch laptop to do that. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | But other than that, it's a, it's great. And I've got a little bit of like vacation travel coming up in two weeks. Yeah. And I think that's going to be the go-to to carry around, you know, a camera and a iPad and that kind of stuff. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James Stacy | Right. Yeah. So super thrilled with that. And I'm glad the guitar worked out. Yeah. As, as far as mine, I have, we have snow here. It hasn't been especially cold, but we have maybe an inch or two on the ground, which the girls are pumped about for sure. Yeah. I mentioned it on a previous episode that I was thinking about getting a treadmill. Yeah. And, you know, did the cost benefit sort of analysis on a new one looked at the, you know, if you want to spend a huge amount of money, you can go with the Peloton, all that kind of stuff. And then I just figured there's gotta be a floor on a decent treadmill where all that's left in it, essentially, this happens with cars too, at a certain point when they're quite old, but all that's left in it is the next repair. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. There's gotta be a floor on treadmills where zero is it doesn't work anymore, but like a hundred bucks or 200 bucks. means everything's fine, but I have no idea how long it'll be fine. Right? Right. So Sarah went ahead and went on Facebook marketplace and found a treadmill for 200 bucks that looked to be in pretty good condition. Um, it does, uh, you know, 10 degrees of, of incline. It can go eight or nine miles an hour or something like that. Plenty for me. And I've been using that, uh, between 30 and 50 minutes a day. I took one or two days, like I took Christmas off. And I just like absolutely loving it. It's got a little stand for my iPad. Yeah. And you know, if I just want to hit zone two, try and build a little bit of health strength, like heart strength, and then maybe do some sprinting so far, it's been perfect. |
| Jason Heaton | And I've really enjoyed it. And you said that you said that getting at home was a workout in itself. |
| James Stacy | Oh my goodness, dude. That's what I forgot. Yeah. Thank you for, for, for bringing that back up. A bonus, a bonus workout. So turns out this thing is 240 pounds and in every dimension, that you can measure, it wouldn't fit into my home. Yeah. One piece. So we got it into the garage and just started dismantling it. But all of that weight, like 220 pounds of the two 40 is in the deck. Oh, motor. Wow. The S the shock springs, the steel rails, all of it. And so we've struggled to get that thing into the basement. Like, and I mean like genuinely struggle to damage a wall, break an ankle and it was so heavy going down the stairs. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | get it into the basement, put it all back together. And it's been great. I'm very, very happy with it. I would say that I could probably go with less. I'm not doing a lot of like running. I think if I want to run, I'd probably rather run outside on pavement. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | But for like a fast walk, a fast uphill walk, uh, I'm starting to eyeball weight vests that could kind of bring the level up. I want to try and maintain, you know, 30 to 45 minutes of like zone two. So yeah, that's, that's what we've been up to. Other than that, I watched like a ton of movies. I watched The Town, which is a film club, probably from two or three. That's a favorite one. The one I hadn't seen, and it'll probably end up on a future film club. I had never seen this before, and I'm a big John Carpenter fan. It had just always escaped me, was Escape from New York. |
| Unknown | Oh, sure. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. |
| Unknown | Kurt Russell. |
| James Stacy | Hilarious premise. |
| Jason Heaton | Really wild movie, but just Snake Plissken. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Great name. Yeah. Um, yeah. Fantastic. I mean, I just, I absolutely loved it. Hilarious premise. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect action film. Yeah. Um, really, really fun. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, but yeah. I don't know if I told you, speaking of movies, I don't know if I told you, I finally watched the thing that was another film. Oh, what'd you think? I loved it. It was, it was awesome. I was just, I think the thing was gone or something. And I thought I was like, I was like, I got to see this cause you, you'd been talking it up and I kept, it kept coming up and things I was reading and whatever. I was like, all right, I got to see this. Yeah, it was great. |
| James Stacy | Speaking of weird premises and, and John Carpenter and largely this is a very similar team that brought escape from New York together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | It was good. I liked that. I love, yeah. The thing is killer. That's such a good movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Slow horses though. And it's fun. Like it's now that there's three seasons, I feel like it's getting every time they put another season out, everybody who like didn't watch it because it only had one season. |
| Unknown | Mm. |
| James Stacy | And the cool thing is, is it's nice because you can like the show is incredible. Easily one of the best things on TV right now, but the books are also really good. Yeah. Like you could watch the show and then go and watch the book. I don't think or read the book. I don't think that it would be totally spoiled. I think I still have a really good time. And I think lamb is even better on the page. Yeah. Then again, Gary Oldman is give him all the Emmys to give him whatever he needs to, to, to keep, keep their show on the air or whatever. He's amazing. Um, but I think the characters even, I don't know, more like just a little bit more detailed, like you'd expect from a book. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Well, in season four has already been made and they teased it at the end of season three. And then I just read, I think this morning that season five has been approved for production. So we've got a couple more seasons ahead of us. So it's just, which is awesome. And there's several books I've read quite a few of them. And so however, however, however much longer McHeron keeps writing the books, I'm sure they'll keep spooling out the series as long as people are interested, which we are. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. He'd be a fun guest, which will bring us that. That does kind of bring us a little bit closer to a kind of our main topic, which is like our plans for 2024. And I guess we've already been talking a little bit about fitness and the rest of it. But, um, do you want to start with some risk check? And then we've got some like Eaton Crow watches that we forgot about for, from two 65. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. Um, so I'm, I'm starting the year kind of largely the way I finished the last with, uh, the Pelagos FXD. Um, you know, I mean I even toyed with the idea of like making this like a one watch year just as almost like a kind of a weird, you know, kind of masochistic new year's resolution. |
| Jason Heaton | I wear it for everything. I wear it to work out. I wear it, you know, sleeping, I wear it doing everything. And it's, um, you know, look, I can't say anything more about it other than the fact that, uh, I procured some new, uh, NATO straps as if I needed any more. I've just, it's out of control. My, my strap box is just out of control. Um, we need to talk about organizational techniques at some point. But, um, so lately I've been kind of turned on to Cincy watch strap company, I think it's called, or, or, you know, since he straps, um, yeah, since he strap company, I'm looking at their website now and you know, someone had mentioned a couple of episodes ago, we, we talked about how the Phoenix strap company was, was closing down. The owner was retiring. Phoenix was the maker of kind of those original Admiralty gray NATOs for the ministry of defense. And, I always kind of sought a replacement that, that would be similar. And somebody mentioned that Cincy, uh, who I think it means that they're out of Cincinnati. Um, it makes one that's really close. And so I went ahead and I ordered a couple of their SF2 vintage military nylon straps and they're, they're 24 bucks. So you're reasonably priced. Um, and I have to say they nail it. I mean, they are so close to a Phoenix strap with better hardware. Oh, nice. Okay. Um, and I, I feel like it's a better quality. um strap as well than the phoenix ones were but the color is great the weave is perfect and unfortunately when i ordered they were out of the the 22 millimeter for for the uh fxd but i i've got it on a 20 and for some reason under strapping an fxd is acceptable whereas i feel like it always bothers me to see that little skinny little strap bar on on other watches if you put a too narrow of a strap on but with this one sure the 20 looks great makes no difference Makes no difference. It looks, it looks great. And so that's what I've got it on. And, and I ordered a couple of those. I ordered kind of one of the SF one, which was more of like a heavier duty ribbed version. And that I got in like an olive drab kind of a green in 22 millimeters, which looks great too. But, but this, um, dark gray color is just fantastic. So that's what I've got it on today. And, uh, you know, shout out to Cincy. I, I, I paid for the straps. Um, he did throw in an extra nice. an extra one for me, which I appreciate it was, uh, he's got this cotton weave strap, which I, at first I thought, eh, cotton, like doesn't feel as durable or whatever, but it's a, it's a really cool strap as well. So anyway, another, yet another great NATO strap option, uh, for those out there that just can't seem to get enough NATO straps. Uh, I highly recommend this SF2. Yeah. Good stuff. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I've seen, I've seen their stuff recommended quite a bit in the past. So that definitely seemed like a beloved sort of brand. That's I'm glad to hear that you found a good alternative, you know, between UTA and Phoenix. Yeah. You know, some of our favorite NATO's are kind of wrapping up to a certain extent, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And I need to go to the Tupperware route, I think on organizing my straps. Um, currently I've got like one big gallon size Ziploc marked 22 millimeter and one sure same sized Mark 20 millimeters. And it's a mess. Like it's so hard to dig through. I always end up dumping it upside down on my desk to find the strap that I want. I need to come up with a different way to do it or just start like giving away straps or doing something else with them. But anyway, maybe, maybe we do a whole episode on strap organization at some point. |
| James Stacy | Cause I need help. I wrote a story for Hodinkee. How long ago would that have been? 2021? Ah, right. You used an old toolbox or something. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | March 29. So it's, it's, I'll put it in the show notes, but it's called bring order to your strap collection. And I think at any given time, I probably have about 400 straps here, maybe a little more, not clowning like the ones that I have that are like for TGN straps. Cause I keep those in two zip lock bags like you. But I did find that, um, DeWalt and I'm sure Ryobi, I'm sure any brand that you can name, there's probably also a ton of no name ones on Amazon, but If you want exactly the one that I have, DeWalt makes a deep tool organizer and it's not for tools, it's for like hardware, fasteners, grommets, morets, all that kind of stuff. It's the DW STI 4825, but it's basically just like a big heavy plastic bin with a clear lid. It's hinged. It's about the size of a laptop sized Pelican, maybe a little bit bigger. And then it has a bunch of these little organizable bins. that you kind of Tetris into place. And then I just, I have like, uh, the big one is great. I have green, I have tan, I have bracelets I have. And then the other thing that I do is for specifically for bracelets, like let's say I was going to take the bracelet off of my Pelagos and put it in a way for a little while. I have a little drawer in a watchmakers cabinet where I keep my bracelets for like watches that I know I want to put the bracelet back on. Yeah. If I'm taking the bracelet off a watch, I have no intention of putting it back on that goes into the watches original box and then like into storage. Um, but those are, that's kind of how I do it. It's like, I think I paid $20 for this Dewalt thing. Yeah. And it's nice. Cause the, the top is clear. So you can pull it out and go like, Oh, there's the, there's the camo, you know, there's the cool lizard camo strap I wanted from kill hubris. Like I can find it quite quickly. Yeah. Um, I think that's the best solution I've seen yet. Unless you moved into something closer to retail, or I've seen people use pegboards where they get the really long ones and then you just have a wall of straps. I do some of that in my office with pegboards. I hang watches that are quartz or smart watches. I just hang them up on the pegboard by the buckle when I'm not wearing them, which works pretty fine. But yeah, I do think that I would go on Amazon and who cares about Dewalt or another thing like this is a fine, this is a decent little piece of product, but I would just go on Amazon and look up like organization. Yeah. Um, and you can get all sorts of stuff that are like little drawers, little containers, little, they stack, they connect this way, they do that. Like there's ways to handle it. But the Ziploc bag function basically just guarantees that one, I'll never be able to find the strap I want. And two, after trying a couple of times, I just never go back to that bag. I know. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. Well there, Hey, there we go. That, that feeds right into our new year's resolutions. A little bit of organization. Exactly. Yeah. So what are you wearing? |
| James Stacy | My wrist check for this week is also Tudor. I'm going with the Pelagos 39. I definitely feel like when I'm not traveling, this would be the watch for me. Yeah. I've got a couple of great GMTs right now. I've got that new Longines, which I'm super happy with, but wearing the Pelagos 39, I basically just live with it on. Yeah. I don't notice it's there. I, you know, I've been doing a bunch of like woodworking and, and, stuff out in the garage and I just leave it on for that. And it's all caked up with sawdust. I took the bracelet off and did an ultrasonic cleaning a couple of days ago, which was nice. So yeah, but just, just probably goes 39, nothing, nothing revolutionary. I've got it on the bracelet right now. It's just, it's so comfortable. I love the way it looks. |
| Unknown | It's great. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Cool. Well, speaking of watches, we, um, we had a few that, um, that we missed, you know, we did in episode two 64, we did kind of our top watches or favorite watches of, of 2023. And, uh, you know, we, we, we told people like if we forgot any, you know, let us know. And we got a few suggestions. I don't think we, we missed out on too many, but we did have a handful that, that people suggested and that we forgot ourselves. So we thought we'd quickly kind of create a little addendum to our episode two 64 real quick here. |
| James Stacy | Um, Yeah. 265 was favorite watches. 264 was gift guide. Oh, right. We recommend you watch both of them or listen to both of them. |
| Jason Heaton | There you go. Yeah. Right. Right. So let's, let's quickly kind of run through this, this list of additional top watches of 2023, a couple of which I handled and you handled a few. And so let's, let's jump in. |
| James Stacy | I would say the biggest one that I missed and people picked it up immediately. And it is crazy. Cause I went through all of my, what I thought I was paying attention, scanning all my stories for Houdinki and still miss this watch easily. One of my favorite watches of 2023 and that's the Zen T 50 just like if you're, if you're in the market, for a Pelagos P39, like any titanium watch that's a nice size, that's pretty tool-ish, this needs to be on your list. Yeah. I mean, pick based on the aesthetic. I think I prefer the aesthetic of the P39 or even the FXD, but we're talking by like percentage points. Yeah. The Zinn is it's that's the T50, the U50, just like they're so, so good. Yeah. So that's my big shout out. Apologies to the team at Zinn. You were not left out by malice, but rather by stupidity. And I absolutely adore that watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's a good one. I'd love to spend some time with one of those. That is a cool piece. Yeah, I think you'd dig it. Do you like the kind of the scratched up dial version or the other one or both? |
| James Stacy | So I would probably just go with the most standard version they were offering, but that gold bronze or bronze gold or whatever they call the material with that scratch dial in person on the new two piece textile strap was incredible. Yeah. Yeah. It looks, it looks amazing. It was a limited edition. And I think when I spoke to them, it was fully allocated. So it had gone, it was all of the dealers had bought the 300, I think that they made. Oh, okay. So I don't know if you could jump on watch buys right now and get one. Yeah. Um, but I, I do know that I'm, I'm like, I'm fairly confident that you could call, if you're in Canada, you could call up Roldorf. If you're in the States, you can go through watch buys. And, uh, and I think you could, you can score yourself a standard or the, the, you know, there's like a two color one with a black bezel. Uh, so yeah, really, really rad stuff. Yeah. And then you've got, uh, another one that we somehow slept on another, this is one I haven't seen, but I'm kind of interested in maybe in the same way that you're interested in the, in the T 15. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Um, this is the, uh, the Zodiac Seacron. So this was a watch that, um, uh, Mike Pearson, who has now officially announced that he's left a Zodiac. Um, you know, best wishes to Mike going forward. I think he's got some big things ahead and he did amazing work with Zodiac and more power to them and to him. Yeah. Um, he had sent me a Seacron to, to check out several months ago. In fact, I still have it and I was horrified at the end of the year. In fact, this is what reminded me. uh, when I was going through and sorting my watches, I discovered that I still had it. So I wrote to him and I said, Hey, I got to send this thing back to you. But it's a, it's a great watch. I think it was a watch that was highly anticipated from Zodiac because you know, it's kind of one of their kind of icons from their back catalog and kind of the vintage version. Uh, they made two versions, one with kind of a deep blue dial with black sub dials and then a version that's kind of a reverse Panda style with white sub dials on, on a black dial. And, and the dial is, is like a, sandwich dial. So the markers are kind of recessed and filled with loom. It has a white tachymeter ring around the dial itself. And then it has this beautiful sapphire bezel, you know, the big chunky pushers. It comes on a bracelet that wasn't my favorite. But other than that, it's such a strap monster. And yeah, so that's a cool watch. Didn't want to overlook that one because I think it was a real highlight of the year from Zodiac. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I absolutely agree. The C crown looks great. I actually, you know, every time I get a chance to experience another Zodiac, I'm always fairly impressed. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Um, they don't, they don't always hit the zone. Like they've done a ton lately in a lot of color. I had the ceramic Seawolf in, which is very impressive, uh, for the money and a very cool kind of thing that takes that style and gives it just a little bit of the J 12, the Chanel diver, which I, you know, sneaky cool watch on the right wrist. Right. Um, actually if you didn't watch Hodinke's watch, I wore most video. J 12 makes a pretty rad appearance in there. So I'll put that in the show notes as well. The other two that, that I think you, you dropped on the listener smart. One of them, I only saw the prototype of, but I'll give it a sort of transitionary award between a watch. I am excited about from 2023 and one I'm excited about for its future in 2024. And that'd be the Arkin Alterum. So Kenneth at Arkin, they've since launched a podcast. I'll put that in the show notes. I'm only, I've only listened to about one and a half episodes, but it's great. I'm a big fan of Kenneth and what he does. We met at Watches and Wonders actually just after I saw the Zen T50. I was grabbing a roast beef sandwich and a beer and this guy just popped up next to me and started chatting and turns out it was Kenneth and we had a really nice walk and talked through Geneva as I was moving on to, I think, Jorn for my next meeting. And Kenneth has kept in touch since then. He actually was kind enough to send me a hat, which is what I've been wearing on the treadmill. And I love it. Yeah. If you're looking for a hat, um, that, uh, armory division Arkin, I'll put it in the show notes as well. I didn't pay for it. Kenneth sent it. I'm very appreciative. Nice hat fits my dumb big head. A funny thing. Oh, funny thing is I was hanging out. I saw my, obviously saw my folks over Christmas and I was hanging out with my dad. I had my TGN hat with me and he's like, Oh, I have one. Like, he's like, I really like it. But the thing that I like most about it and I was like, yeah, I can cut you off here. It's because it fits your big dumb. He's like, yeah, it does. It fits really nicely. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It is similar. You're right. It's a, it's a bigger cap. Yeah. And I love the material of it too. It weighs nothing. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | It's great. Yeah. And it, like the branding is, is I like Arkin because, or I like, I don't mind wearing, like I don't think I would wear as much as I love Tudor Rolex. Like I'm not going to wear a Tudor hat, a Rolex hat. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | but there's something cool about a little like micro brand just as arc and armory division, which is kind of vague. Yeah. If you don't know, but I do like a hat where like, like a TGN hat, certainly like an arc and hat. Like if, if somebody sees you at an airport or a mall or whatever, they'd go like, well, that's not a mistake. Yeah. That's a thing. That's, that's your, you know, it's like a, what's the biblical term? Uh, like a shibboleth of some sort. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. We'll get to some resolutions and our plans for the year. And I have a bunch in terms of watch thinking, but the, the Arkin kind of sits in one that I would very much like to spend some time with and check out. So, uh, I'm, I'm pumped to see how that develops. And then, uh, you picked another one, which is great. I actually just pulled it out of my watch box the other day while I was also doing some sort of organizing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's the, uh, it's the momentum C quartz 30. Uh, this was a watch that, you know, it's kind of like, um, if you think of, of watches that, Uh, if you, if you think about stuff that goes viral during a given year, whether it's a video or whatever else, like, I feel like this was, this watch was viral for a while. Like when they released it, it seemed like it was everywhere. It was popping up everywhere on people's lists and on risks and price. Yeah. They were selling it for the original pricing. The, like it launched in 1977 and it was, um, what momentum says is that, uh, the, the Kronosport was the name of the company that originally sold the C quartz and the founder of Momentum actually owned Chronosport. So there's this direct line of connection between Momentum and Chronosport. And they decided that when they released this new version, they were going to sell it for the same price as they did back in 1977, which I think was part of the appeal. But also, it's almost a dead ringer for the Chronosport version. And it's just such a cool watch. It's got the Monin-style curvy dive case with a beautiful fully hashed kind of faux bakelite bezel, you know, just like back in the day, it's got that bright orange minute hand it's it's, and it's quartz and it's, I mean, I'm looking now it's, it's $295. So it's, I don't know. It's just, it's a really, really compelling watch. Really a great piece. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I agree. Good stuff on that. And so I think those are the four that came up that people told us we missed. I guarantee we missed others. Like we said, yeah. Um, the Zen was a big mess. That's a big whiff on my part. I should have been able to feel that one, you know, move my hair as, as I missed the spike on that one. But I think that does kind of set us up for 2024. Yeah. You know, your suggestion of a topic was sort of plans for 2020, 2024 intent. Maybe the philosophy, our philosophy of 2024, I'm not really sure. |
| Jason Heaton | I don't really, I don't really like it. It feels a little cliche and, and the idea of kind of new year's resolutions feels in a way like, you know, you're kind of either setting yourself up for, for failure or if you don't hit them or if you kind of fall off the wagon after a few weeks, like you're, you're going to beat yourself up about it. Whereas I feel like just kind of a general sense of positivity going into the new year as arbitrary as January 1st is, It is kind of a clean reset. We all kind of come back from vacation and you're looking at a full 12 months with a different number on a, you know, nobody writes checks anymore, but you know, different, different, uh, digit at the end of the year and, and just kind of a good way to kind of reassess. So that's kind of where we're at. And just thought we could kind of loosely talk over ideas that the goals that we might have, whether they're watch goals or for the podcast or for fitness or, or professionally or whatever. |
| James Stacy | Um, kind of just do a little of that. I mean, where, where do you want to start? You want to start with kind of the standard, like diet drink, that sort of thing. People really start to consider that and fitness in January. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So, I mean, right off the bat, I've, I've decided to, you know, this, this burgeoning concept of dry January, which it sounds like millions of people get involved with now, um, I've decided to take part. I think, uh, you know, just kind of knowing myself and I will admit that, that kind of a glass of whiskey or, or a few pints of beer, you know, several nights a week was becoming a bit of a habit for me. I wouldn't, I would never call it an addiction at this point, but, um, you know, just something that I wanted to kind of back away from a little bit. And so I'm just going to like, you know, full on take the month of January off. Uh, just kind of felt like a nice kind of healthy reset. So yeah, that's, that's where I'm, I'm starting on the, on the, the diet and drink side. I think, you know, my diet, I feel like I'd kind of dialed in and we talked about that, uh, before. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. You do have your diet really locked in. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And you know, like you, you don't really mess around. Yeah. You know, the last few times that we've hung out, like you, you just know what you eat and that's what you eat. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | It's probably something I should, I should, you know, make a more concerted effort towards. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I feel like, you know, a lot of people who, you know, living with Kashani, I mean, she eats healthy as well and cooks really well and that sort of thing. But, you know, there are areas where we diverge and she's someone who kind of has a different, I'm like one of these people who tend to be kind of an all or nothing person when it comes to goals or diet or things like that. So it works really well for me to just kind of put a stake in the ground and say, I don't eat fried food. I don't really eat dessert. I don't, you know, eat much at all of meat. Um, and I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, I've skipped dairy entirely. So like, and I'm, I'm very, I don't want to say militant, but I'm very strict about it with myself and it's not a hardship. It's just the way my brain is wired. It's just what I prefer. I like it. I feel it feels kind of clean to, to avoid those things and just kind of not do it at all. Um, whereas, you know, some people don't need that level of strictness. |
| James Stacy | So that, that's kind of where we come down. A question, question for you on that. Do you eat essentially three meals a day? |
| Jason Heaton | You know, no, I, I, I'm kind of, I've kind of front load my day. I eat when I get up, I get up early, fairly early in the morning and I'm hungry right away. So I usually typically have like a bowl of cereal in my coffee. And then like an hour or two later, I'll have like smoked salmon on avocado toast or, you know, boiled egg or something like that. But, um, the middle of the day is just kind of, I might do like a protein shake or some pretzels and a handful of nuts, um, and maybe an apple and then And then dinner and dinner, I'm usually hungry kind of early. So I'm usually eating dinner by four 35 o'clock and it's something like, like a curry or lentils or pasta or something like that. Um, and then I'm done, but no, I'm not a big lunch eater. Uh, how about you? |
| James Stacy | I have hungry days is how I describe it, but I've been like this for 15 years. Yeah. Um, you know, when I used to be more active and was on top of my fitness, I would, I would get up and do the 30 grams of protein in the first 30 minutes. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | And I think if you're leading a lifestyle that can maintain that protein and, and I mean, let's face it, as I get older, what is it every decade after your 30th birthday, you lose 25% of your muscle skeletal muscle. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so probably should just be on protein and, uh, you know, what's called a six and two creatine cycle. I used to do all of this stuff and felt great and just lost track of it with other things in life. Yeah. Kids mostly. Yeah. But I eat maybe one and a half meals a day. |
| Unknown | Maybe. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. It's the only way that I can like maintain normalcy for my weight. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I get up in the morning, I have a couple cups of coffee and my, um, uh, AG one, you know, we've talked about this before the athletic greens, not an ad they've never reached out. They don't know who I am. I pay an absorbent amount of money for my wife and I to have this every day. Yeah. And, uh, I do really like the AG one, even if it's a placebo. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I'm still getting the effect that I want. Sure. Yeah. Right. Right. I'm pretty happy with it. It's easy. It's not cheap, but I, I also, your health take your pick. Right. Right. Right. I prefer to, you know, I, I still would like to operate in a space where whatever, if I'm paying for something that makes my life healthier, I don't have a budget. It's just whatever I can afford. Yeah. I typically get hungry about two o'clock in the afternoon and then I'll start eating and I try and wrap that up by 10. |
| Unknown | Oh, sure. |
| James Stacy | Um, so I guess in some ways it's like a intermittent fasting, but it's also just, I think I've eaten essentially like this since I stopped doing like slow carb, which I did for seven or eight years. But yeah, no, for me it's, it's, uh, I eat pretty well when I'm at home. Sarah's pretty careful about the types of food we have. We try and keep snacking like snack foods to a minimum. She bakes and cooks a lot of great food. So that's easy. Um, I would say my weakness is eating out. Oh, sure. Want, you know, wanting to go get a pint, the pint turns into a burger and fries or chicken wings. I mean, chicken wings are definitely going to be what kills me. Definitely. The first heart attack is definitely going to be because I couldn't say no to chicken wings. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the aura ring was a big part of this. It was like, just trying to find, cause like, even if you have the food right and the exercise, okay. If your sleep sucks, it's all for nothing. Right. So it's, it's, it's this attempt at like finding some sort of a balance that reflects me in my late thirties. Yeah. Cause I think I, every time I returned to this, I I'm thinking in the mindset of a man who's 24 and I'm just not. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's, I would say that the focus is a little bit more holistic than just diet, but I could definitely, I could definitely stand to just say no to fried foods or just eat restaurants. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. More often. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well you travel a lot, which I, you know, for work and, and, the types of trips that you're doing, a lot of them are, are the watch press trips and things. And they tend to come with a lot of kind of lavish meals and, and, you know, camaraderie with other people. And then that turns into a few drinks. And then I remember that being more difficult. I think my travel has been a little more measured and, and, you know, personal rather than professional, but, um, so it's a little easier to control, but yeah. |
| James Stacy | The trip thing, I don't find difficult for food. It's very difficult for alcohol because I'm not that social. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I think, uh, I think I, you know, definitely doing dry January. So we're on day two of that. It's been fine so far. I'm going on a family holiday, uh, in, in about a week and a bit. Uh, so we'll see how that persists on vacation. Yeah. You always have to find the thing that works for you. I'm always kind of dubious of like, I'm going to stop doing something and then start again. Right. Right. Like just don't get me wrong. Stopping for a month of anything, if it's something bad for you, uh, should, should remove the part where it's a, like a deep habit, I guess. Yeah. But I, you know, I think in my mind it's probably almost like not going to restaurants. If I really wanted to change my drinking habits, I would just not have alcohol at home. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, and I, I think as a bit of a kind of a segue into, to maybe another aspect of planning or goals for a new year, um, you know, if you look at fitness, um, and you know, once you establish, let's say you have an ambitious fitness goal or something. It does start to change your, your outlook on food and what you consume because it can either hold you back or it can propel you. And you know, I had a bit of a back and forth with one of our former TGN guests, Sean Lurwell, who's a, you know, someone who knows a little something about working out and diet things. The fittest guy around. Exactly. Yeah. And, and you know, Sean was kind enough to help me put together kind of a a diet plan. I told him I was kind of plateauing with my running fitness. This was last year sometime and he had me do a kind of a food diary and send it over to him and kind of what my goals were. And he came back with some good, good suggestions and I've been following that to a certain degree. So, so that's been great. But you know, one, one thing that he did mention going back to kind of the dry January thing, he's like, you know, I told him what I was drinking, you know, scotch a few nights a week, a couple of beers. And he's like, he's like, you know, look, that's, he's not going to be judgmental, You know, alcohol is a poison, you know, it's, it's well established that it's not great for you. And so like, it will hold you back totally. And if you kind of do it regularly. And, and so that's been kind of something that's been on my mind as well. And I think when it comes to, to food and fitness, I think that they go hand in hand. And this year I, you know, as we've kind of discussed in the past, I think it was even last year around this time, we were talking about goals for 2023. And one of the things I had brought up was this idea of, of a specific kind of personal physical challenge, whether it be, you know, climbing a mountain or, you know, doing a long swim or a marathon or something like that. And, and I didn't really do that last year, which was okay. I stayed fit, did, did plenty of fun stuff. But as this year kind of rolled around, it kind of was a niggling thing in my brain. Like I was thinking ever since Gashana and I went to Wales and we, we did that hike up Penny Van, which is the mountain in the, in Wales where they do the SAS kind of training march or, or uh, selection, um, fitness test. Um, you know, it's always kind of stuck in my mind that I wanted to go back and, and kind of do the full challenge, which, uh, they, they have kind of civilian versions where they kind of operate it like almost like a, you know, a fun run or a marathon or something where they have X special forces guys kind of leading this thing. And you sign up and you, you have to go up and over the peak one direction and then turn around and come back and do the other way. And there's a, there's different weight categories in terms of what you were carrying on your back. uh, 35 pounds plus food and water. Uh, there's a time limit for, for people that are being really strict about it. And so I kind of set myself this goal of doing that this year, um, to the point where now we're in January. I'm, I think I'm just going to go ahead and book, book the ticket and sign up for it just to kind of put it on the calendar for, for July. And I think with that sort of out there in, in the future, uh, coming up this year, it gives me something to kind of aim for. when it comes to how I eat and, and you know, the sleep I get and the supplements I take and less drinking and more running and all of these sorts of things. And, and I think it's again, just like I, what I was saying with kind of how strict I am with, with diet, um, and how I prefer that. I think it's, I'm kind of the same with goals. Like once I have a goal, it's like I just, it kind of sticks, sits out there in my sites and nothing kind of gets in the way. Whereas if I don't plant those flags or if I don't put those goals out there, I tend to kind of just kind of go in kind of a I don't want to say lazy, but sort of maintenance mode where I'll, you know, I'd like to exercise a few days a week, but with nothing specific in mind, I think it gets a little bit flat or, or mundane. Whereas I think this kind of gives me a carrot to chase. So that's, that's where I'm at. And then, you know, as some of you probably saw, and it's been kind of going wild on Slack and on my Instagram stories, I set a, I just, it was on Thanksgiving and Ghoshani and I were at my parents with a friend who was visiting. And for some reason after dinner, you know, crazy as it sounds, we dropped down and decided, let's, let's see how long we can do a plank. So we did it. And at that time I barely crested two minutes. Uh, this was late, late November. And so I just decided, let's just kind of keep this going. And I kind of roped in a few friends and we started kind of trading our times. And I finally, I put it out on Instagram stories and on the Slack, kind of our health and fitness channel and the Slack group. And I'm now up to, uh, to four and a half minutes for, for a plank and, You know, I've got this friend who, uh, you know, the Shawnee's doing it. She's at like, you know, two and a half minutes. And then we've got this friend who stays just ahead of me. Uh, you know, a couple dozen folks on, on Instagram and on Slack are participating. And it's just been kind of this fun thing. It's like, it's, it's four and a half minutes out of my day. It's not that much, but I kind of now look forward to the pain. I like the, I like doing it and I love the encouragement. I love this notion of people just. getting involved wherever they are in the world. You know, I've got people in Norway and in the UK and whatever doing this. And it's, uh, it's just been kind of this fun groundswell of enthusiasm for this very simple, but very difficult, uh, form of exercise that requires no equipment. And, uh, and I kind of, I kind of like that idea in general is, is just kind of, I don't like group exercise, but I like this idea of, of being encouraged or yeah, sure. Inspired by other people, you know, and I, I, I really take a lot of stock in that. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I'm glad you brought it up because that's, uh, that's the closest thing that I have to a resolution was I saw these, I saw this on Instagram and, and, you know, we, we chit chatted a little bit about it over, you know, slack and that kind of thing. And, uh, I think I'm, I'm, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring with a number before this episode comes out. |
| Unknown | So we'll see. |
| James Stacy | I don't, I don't even know if I've got two minutes in me, but we'll, we'll find out. And for anyone listening, uh, the format that you're doing is elbows and toes. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. You're kind of resting on your forearms and toes and kind of holding a, rigid kind of, you know, spine, kind of a straight back posture. Yeah. Yeah. And again, you know, it, it isn't, I don't want to call it a competition because it really isn't about, um, who can do longer. You know, there are people out there that are doing six, seven minutes. There was a guy on, on Slack, I think we'd done six minutes. I mean, just wild, you know, hats off to you, but like, it's, it's really just about encouraging other people to kind of do their best. You know, I've had, we've had a few people start, they're like, Hey, I did 30 seconds. I've never done them before. Then the next day they do 40. It's like, good, you know, let's, let's, let's make this just kind of a healthy kind of group inspiration rather than like, I can do six, you can do four, you know, too bad for you kind of thing. It's, it's really just about encouraging each other. And maybe, maybe all of this will, will go that route as well. Whether it's, uh, you know, you with the treadmill or me with this, uh, fan dance, uh, challenge at Wales or whatever, um, you know, get after it. Let's, uh, let's all just kind of celebrate each other's achievements and goals, you know? |
| James Stacy | Yeah, that's great. I love the idea of the fan dance. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I think that that makes a lot of sense. And I agree like the, the most focused I ever was on all of these elements, maybe not the sleep thing. I was a much younger man, but was when I did Baker. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. You know, I was, I was, it was always on my mind. Anything I ate, anything I did, I became like hyper vigilant about the possibility of like a small injury. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. Or you're just like, Oh yeah. But if I, if I do that and like I slip, yeah. I'm not going to be able to do Baker. Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It became this whole thing where it's all you're thinking about is this mission that you'd like to do. So I think that's great. Uh, the fan dance, that's very cool. I guess, uh, you know, outside of, um, fitness and food and, and dry January and the rest of it, anything else stand out? You have any, you think, you think we see another book in 2024 or you think it'll take longer than that? |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, I don't think the book will be done in 2024, but you know, I, I don't know. I, I feel like, I'm still kind of basking in the release of Sweetwater and just sort of taking a short break from that. I've certainly got plot ideas for another book and I do plan to write another book, but I feel like I needed this sort of a kind of more of a fitness or physical challenge to kind of like switch gears a little bit. And I, I kind of see the first half of the year being, you know, maybe more focused on that. Um, you know, something like with my body. So even like you giving me that guitar, it's like another thing where it's, you know, I, I tend to be kind of more of a, uh, I don't want to call it cerebral, but you know, where you're, you know, sitting writing, you know, a book or, or whatever, like those sorts of goals. And I feel like I need to kind of focus as I used to in years past on more kind of hands on tactical physical things. So whether it's, um, you know, you know, you, you talked about recently building kind of an end table and I thought that was really cool. And to me like that, that level of inspiration or encouragement is as important as a plank challenge or anything like that. Um, I think to see somebody taking on a project and you know, no disrespect to you, but like, you're not a, you're not a master carpenter, but you're like, I'm going to do this. I'm terrible. And you bought, you know, you bought some new tools and you're getting your workshop kitted out and you're building this thing. It's like, I, I'd love to, you know, try something like that on a very simple level, like build a little stool or build, you know, something. And I think, I think I'd like to do more of that type of stuff this year as well. You know, whether it's learning the guitar, um, do this, uh, the fan dance, um, you know, get up to it. six, seven minute plank, uh, build something in the, in the garage when the weather warms up, you know, all of that sort of stuff I think is, is kind of where I'm kind of feeling it this, this January, this early in the year. |
| James Stacy | I think, you know, I, I, the plank thing I love and, and I, I'm going to get in on that this week certainly. But I think my, if, if I've got a, I guess a goal more than a resolution, um, is not going to be necessarily physical. Um, I'd like to like find a new baseline for what it is to be 37. Mm. And, and I would like to get to a point where I can do a bunch of things again. Like whether it's like my kids want to go run around and do this, or somebody wants to go play some basketball or I get a chance to go to a climbing gym for an afternoon. Like none of it would be necessarily out of scope. Just more of a generalist. But I definitely want to develop, I think 2024, I want to develop a new practical skill or several. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh yeah. Anything specific in mind or? |
| James Stacy | I think it's going to be woodworking. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I think I'd like to be able to learn to do more of the stuff. Like we, we learned some stuff from rebuilding the cottage. I've learned some stuff from just like fixing things here, there. Um, but I feel like my, you know, the, the abilities are all pretty soft, but I have all the resources to make it work. Yeah. Like tools aren't genuinely aren't that expensive. I have a garage now for some room. So the next one I'm working on is, um, and I actually sold a few watches to fund it. I sold a handful. I have a few more still on the slack and probably more that will go. We can get to that in watch goals, but I'm going to build a workbench. Oh, great. I think it's kind of the next, the next move. Yeah. So yeah, just finished a couple shelves in the last couple of days and trying to decide if I actually need a table saw or if I just want to be a guy that has a table saw. So that's where we're, that's where we're at currently. Why don't we jump right into the watch goals though, if you have any or don't. Yeah. You know, before this ends up being an impossibly long episode that I can't edit anyways due to my disabled laptop. Yeah, that's true. |
| Jason Heaton | We have that issue, don't we? Yeah. Do you have any watch goals? I don't have any specific watch goals. I certainly don't have any watches I want to buy this year. Like that is not a goal to like say this is the year I get my, you know, mil sub or whatever it is. Like I'd love to continue kind of selling off those that I don't wear. I, I could almost just see like this Pelagos is like I said at the top, it's, it's just such a perfect piece that I rarely take it off. And I, it's kind of freeing to not have to really think about switching around watches much or, or opening a box in the morning and deciding what to wear. Just get up and go, you know? Yeah, it absolutely is. What about you? You're, you're selling something off. I think, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, I think selling can, you know, you make your watches kind of work for you. You've had your fun, you sell it, you build, you buy some tools and build your workbench. You know, that's, that's, that's a good, uh, good philosophy. I think. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I think I'm at a point where I just, um, I'm very like happy and grateful for the watches that I have. And like, I'm not, I'm not going to be that guy that says, Oh, to this year, I'm not buying any watches. Like I still live and work in this industry. I already talked about wanting an, an Altarum from Arken. Yeah. Um, so I'm sure there'll be some watches added to the fold. Uh, but I think nothing major, nothing big or super expensive. And I think, um, you know, I, I would like to, I've definitely like lost track of Seiko largely in the last few months. Corporately, they're very difficult to deal with. We don't hear about their new watches. I find out about their new watches on worn and wound and that kind of thing. So I've definitely lost track of the brand in the last two years. Uh, and, and that's a, I have a big goal to kind of like reconnect with that. I have friends that work at the brand, so it's, I'm sure it's solvable. Um, but I'd like to get more, just more experience. Like I had such a good time for the few months that I had or the year and a half that I had the SSK, uh, kind of kicking around with that, the little, you know, $500 GMT. And I just, just sold that one. Um, and, and so yeah, I'm going to make some room and I think I'd like to, I'd like to feel like my, my watch footprint is a little bit more versatile and flexible than it is now. I just have a lot of watches that I don't wear. Yeah. And it's whether I've gotten them through Hodinkee or, uh, I bought them and they're just $200 watches. And you're like, well, do, am I going to take the time to try and sell these? And I think those need to be given away to people. I need to find ways of like sharing this passion with people rather than hoarding it. Right. Right. Um, is sort of the game. No, no real plans for a grail. I would love to sell. I would love to get to the point where, and I sent you a text about this recently, But like, I would love to get to the point where I had, let's call it 10 watches plus N, N being the sentimental stuff that you wouldn't sell or value in any specific way. So I think if you had 10 plus N is probably about right for me. And we're, we're significantly over that currently. So we'll see. But no, no, no big watch goals, no, no plans to buy a Grail or anything like that. You know, if a great opportunity comes along, I would love to have, And the opportunity could be for a watch or it could be for something else. But if a great opportunity around, I'd love to reestablish the slush fund effect I used to have where I've just got some cash in PayPal that is kind of like free, free play around money. I think it's probably, that used to be how I operated this whole kind of hobby and passion and that sort of thing. And I think I'll probably get back to that. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. That's a good, good idea. I think watches, you know, shouldn't be a source of stress by any means. And I think, you know, whether that means, you know, you know, being kind of paralyzed by choice and having to like make the difficult decision every morning about which one to put on or whether it's, you know, feeling overburdened by having too many or, or, or feeling compelled to buy others. I think, you know, this is, it's meant to be a fun hobby and by and large we have a lot of fun with this and we look, we were running kind of a largely watch based a podcast here. So, you know, I don't think either of us are ever going to step away from it. Um, so let me, you know, maybe, maybe if there's an overarching goal, it's just like, Have, you know, continue to kind of have fun with watches and don't take them too seriously. Just, just wear what you want, wear what you like. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, exactly. Definitely more fun. Definitely less stress. Yeah. Um, and I'm not saying my watches caused me stress, but my life in the watch world does. And, and I think I'll, I think what I've learned, especially in the last two weeks, having some time off is like, it's, it's that thing that wise people always tell you is there's, there's situations and then there's also how you respond to it and both. factor into your experience. And I think a lot of times I take a tough or a stressful scenario and just compress it until it explodes. And I think I need to... I know that there's some things I can't... Lots of things I can't change, and I need to focus on the things that I can. It's that normal stoic stuff we've talked about in the past. But yeah, that's kind of where I am with watches. I wanna feel lighter and more fun and have the flexibility where if I just have a curiosity about a new watch, I just buy it, write about it, and then move on. I think that should be good. Before we jump into some quick final notes here, what about TGN? You and I haven't had a board members meeting. Um, or anything like that, but, uh, you know, off the top of the dome and anything that you would love to see for, for this year. Um, I would love to just continue on the trajectory from last year with a few tweaks. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I think, I think we're on a good course. And I think, you know, one thing we have, if we have a strength, it's consistency, you know, we've, we've done this, you know, weekend and week out for now, six, six plus years. And, and, uh, you know, I think, we've built this tremendous community. I mean, not, not us specifically. I mean, we being collective in terms of all of us, all you out there listening. And it's just such a great thing. I don't really, don't really want to make, you know, big, big swings, big moves. I think, you know, just kind of keep doing more of the same, maybe maybe more meetups. I see a lot of meetups pop up in the Slack group that people are organizing organically. And I think that's awesome. And I, you know, let's, let's do them locally. Let's do them more spontaneously rather than even like big major, TGN meetup. It's just, Hey, let's get together with five or 10 people. You know, I'd love to do more of that. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. I think meetups are, are that's like, I would say number one on my list would be to do more meetups. Um, and you know, we, we have a pretty fun opportunity. I don't know. I think we talked about it on the show previously, but September of 2024, so September of this year, uh, we're, we're going to be participating and supporting, uh, the Toronto time piece show. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | So this will be the first running of it. Um, the, uh, the gentleman also named Jason, I have so many great Jason's in my life. Uh, but this is a new Jason to me, uh, reached out last year and he was starting the show and wanted, or like the, the time piece show and wanted, you know, I guess a little bit of advice or even just someone to bounce some ideas off of. And I'm also Toronto, local and I've chatted with him a couple of times. So Jason will be coming to Toronto. We will be doing a large hangout. Yeah. I don't have answers yet, but Toronto is full of great places to do that kind of stuff. So that'll be easy. Check it out. I'll put it in the show notes, but we're, I'm going to be mentioning this most episodes because if you're, if you've ever been looking for a chance to come to Toronto, you want to, you want to visit Canada. You want to come to a low, this would be the lowest key, most chill and fun watch fair. I think. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I'm putting that on, on folks radar. That's going to be one of the major events. I think we'll almost certainly do wind up Chicago. Yeah. So that's another one that you can put on your calendar now and start to plan for. Yeah. Um, and then beyond that, yeah, I think when you and I travel places and actually have like, like when, like when I was in new hope recently, um, in November and we did a hangout, uh, I think that needs to become the methodology, not the exception. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | It was so nice to connect with people. So I think that's a big goal. And then beyond it for me, video is still out there. If we hit 2000 subscribers, I'm happy to find a video solution. I didn't even think that everybody who provided feedback would be on the exact same wavelength as me about the video thing. Video would be the spice, not the entree. It would just be another way for you to interface with the show. If we ever do video, the show will remain a fully produced audio presentation as it is right now. Unless we ever end up in a scenario where Jason and I live in the same city and we could conceivably have a set and do like a video podcast from the ground up. I would, I would consider that like if, if we were in the same place and could have a studio and we could go that route, but otherwise like we're talking about if we do video, it'll be a recorded zoom that won't be as edited as the final show, which would be something you could watch on YouTube. Just like another end point. Yeah. Um, but I, there were a lot of people who said like, I, I'm not interested in this if it means that it changes the core and I don't, we're not changing the core. Very happy with the core, very happy with, with the audience and that sort of thing. It was just kind of like an incentive. So maybe we do video, maybe we don't, maybe you and I figure out a way where we do video and it's not the normal show. It's something else. Right, right. Yeah. There's lots of options. We can figure that out. And I love just trying stuff and we have the slacks. We can try anything we want, which is really exciting and fun. And lastly, and I think I probably said this a year It's more guests. Right, right. I think we did a great job this year to have guests. Yeah. But what I think is kind of missing, and this is a little bit maybe more than I need to say on this episode, but I think what's missing is, you know, like we used to have a couple guests who would come on every few months. |
| Unknown | Cole Pennington stands out. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, yeah. And and I really liked having that where they were kind of like, friends of the show, they would come on. You didn't have to do a bunch of intros. They weren't there because they just written a book or wanted to sell a watch or something like that. And those are all fine reasons to be on the show, to be clear. But we've already started that process. We have some, some guests starting to line up. So I would say that that's going to be something that we're focusing on. And if you have a line on someone you think who would make a great guest, not a suggestion where we don't have a connection to that person because a The number of times where someone's like, Hey, do you want to have this A-lister on the show? And I'm like, yeah, of course you got their number. And they're like, Oh no, I just thought I'd let you know that it'd be cool to have Daniel Craig on the show. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | I was like, yeah, yeah, of course you'd be really cool. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Right. I agree. I'm not even, I'm not even sure I would need to be there. Just let Jason talk and I'll listen. |
| Unknown | I'll be the audience for that one. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like we we've got a couple, actually a couple that I'm, I'm pretty excited about, um, for the next little while. So hopefully those will be up by February. But yeah, I think that that's kind of for me is I want to do as many meetups as we can kind of conceivably do when we're out and about in the world. And I think we should make more of a concerted effort to maybe do an annual Minneapolis one in an annual Toronto one, which could be that time piece show. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like quote unquote summits, maybe a little weekends, things like that. Yeah. But yeah, that's kind of where I am with the show. I'm so happy with where it is currently and kind of what we're up to. I've got some pretty fun ideas for some merch stuff. So we're working through that as well and don't need to overload our shipping department these days. Busy learning the guitar. Don't want too many packages to ship out. But yeah. That's kind of where I stand on that. And kind of what I think for 2024, you know, I think at a wide level for me, I need to change my, I need to kind of work a little bit on work-life balance. Like disconnect a little bit. We get better at not working when I don't have to. Yeah. Yeah. Rather than this world of just like, well, I'm awake. I should probably know what's going on. Right. Right. Which I don't think is healthy. You just need to spill more water on your laptop. Just dump them, spill it on everything. Exactly. Yeah. Then we're definitely going to YouTube. The show will be live, not edited, not recorded right into my phone. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. But yeah, I think that that's where I stand. I think it's going to be a great year. Um, and you know, I don't know, I don't typically start the year with great feelings, but the slack has made such a difference to my, I guess the way my brain perceives how social I'm being, it's like just right. Yeah. And people are there and you can, and even if I'm not like responding or still reading most of what comes up, And, uh, it's, it's been, it's been great. So yeah, I think just, just invest in what's working and make little, little tweaks to add, uh, stuff like, again, like spice, whether it's new guests or old friends or, uh, meetups, that sort of thing. But the, the core, the core, you know, meat and potatoes of TGN, I don't think should change. Yeah. I don't feel as though it should. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad, I'm glad you feel the same. I think we're on the same wavelength. I think, uh, super keep on keeping on. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Well, look, we'd said that this would be like a 45 minute show. We're currently at an hour and 18 before, uh, before any cuts are made and I'll definitely be trimming myself out of this one a fair bit. You want to get in some final notes and put a bow on the first episode of the year? Yeah, let's do it. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, I've got one that it's, it's aging a bit now. I think this is from, well, it's only about a month old. Uh, it's, it's a really cool video from a guy who people might recognize from Instagram who goes by true patina. I believe his name is Greg. Uh, he's a watchmaker, I think. Um, and he did something pretty bold, uh, and, and pretty, pretty darn cool. Uh, he took a Black Bay 54, a Tudor Black Bay 54, and he decided he wanted to turn it into kind of a homage to a big crown Submariner. So he took it apart and replaced the snowflake hands with kind of Mercedes kind of old school hands. added kind of some elements of patina, uh, drilled out, uh, the case and put a bigger crown tube in and fitted a, an oversized big Rolex crown on it, um, with a few other tweaks and kind of reassembled it. And I gotta say it, it looks amazing. Uh, he does amazing work. I, like I said, it's pretty bold, obviously his, uh, you know, warranty be damned in this case. Um, but, uh, yeah, he did, he did some amazing work. Anyway, he put up this video on his YouTube channel. of kind of the whole process, kind of a time-lapse or shortened version. It's about five and a half minutes. And yeah, it's, uh, it's pretty wild. Um, the black bit 54 is a watch that, you know, was probably in my top, top five or 10 releases from 2023. I think it's just such an, such a cool watch, such a great size with all the right kind of throwback elements. And then he kind of took it to a different level, um, and, and kind of turned it into, you know, one of those grail pieces that, that is largely unobtainium to many of us, kind of an old, uh, what was it? A 6536 or something, you know, like an early big crown Submariner from, from kind of the James Bond, Dr. No era. Yeah. And, uh, did, did an amazing job. And I just think, uh, it's a fun video to watch and just a neat final, final product with this watch. |
| James Stacy | So check it out. That's great. Yeah. Great pick. Um, I know that you shared that with me when it first came out, just saying like, look how cool this is. Like if you're going to mod a watch, especially kind of expensive watch, like it, This guy does such a nice job. Yeah. Um, and the video is really cool. So I definitely, uh, co-sign on that one. Yeah. Um, a neat idea to like, to get, to get to a comfort zone with a watch that you know, and that the V the resale value doesn't matter. So you just make it your own. Right. Right. Um, I think that, I think that's pretty cool. |
| Jason Heaton | You know, it's kind of the opposite of, of resto mod, you know, like when you look at in the car world, I'm, I watch a heck of a lot of videos of like people taking old Land Rovers and you know, kind of modding them and, you know, of course, adding a lot of stuff to them. Well, it's kind of like the version of taking like one of the new defenders and like starting to drill holes in it and replace bumpers and this and that, that was not definitely, definitely not intended by Land Rover itself. And, and that, that takes a certain level of boldness and skill. And I have high respect for these people, whether or not I like everything that they do. Um, I think, I think it's pretty, pretty amazing to watch that sort of thing. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | There's a couple of car, car ones that I've covered or I've watched in the past, like be, do you know, like the B is for build? No. Um, very popular, like fabrication, car building channel, great channel, really fun, super, um, like specific way of presenting. It's very vloggy. It feels like something from a few years ago, which I like quite a bit. Yeah. Um, but like they've done stuff where they took a modern, like a G uh, R 35 GTR Nissan and put a, like a vintage or an older body on it. Oh wow. which is kind of like, you know, it's a, it's a fun thing where it looks like an R 32 or an R 34, but it's an R 35 underneath and all that kind of stuff. And so, yeah, I think that those are, those are fun and a good idea. So yeah, definitely check out that 54 big crown, a neat idea. I guess it kind of in the same, not the same vein, but in, in the spirit of modifying things that you might want to modify, I came across, I'm a huge, huge fan of Dremels. And I have the, whatever the most premium Dremel was four or five years ago. And I kind of use it all the time. I've got a ton of these dumb little tips and I've made Halloween costumes and I've, you know, it's just like these little tiny modifications that you have to do when you're working on a car or, or any sort of project really crafts around the house. I'm constantly, but the one I have is it's kind of a big thing and it's wired and it's so powerful and loud. Yeah. And over Christmas, my, my eldest daughter is, is like obsessed with crafting and I mean all sorts. She'll build miniatures. Oh wow. Um, anything you can name, she's kind of into when it comes to crafts, especially when it comes to miniatures. Yeah. And I got served an ad for like a little tiny engraving rotary pen thing on Instagram. And I was like, that's really cool. It comes with a bunch of tips. It's small. It's the size of an electric toothbrush. It's USB-C rechargeable. Not super powerful, not like a giant. Yeah. You can't, you know, you're not plunge routing with this thing, but you could definitely do a bunch of stuff, cut a screw, you know, whatever, you know, sand things. And so I did a bit of research and the one that was advertised on Instagram, basically people said like, it's not that good. And it's largely like somebody's taking a product from Amazon and putting a fancy ad and a better box on it. Yeah. So I bought the cheap one from Amazon and I think, I don't know that the specific one matters. |
| Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| James Stacy | Just buy whichever one if you decide to do this. Currently, the Amazon one that I bought is called the Hardell, H-A-R-D-E-L-L, Mini Cordless Rotary Tool. And it comes with a bunch of tips. It's currently on for $35 Canadian. So that's... $37.99. $37.99. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And then with a $3 coupon. Yeah. And... Wow. I think what's important here isn't |
| James Stacy | the specific one, buy one that you can put the universal tips into. Sure. Cause the tips will burn out, right? Eventually you'll use them up. But I bought one of these for my daughter and like I've used it two or three times. I'm definitely buying one for myself. I just, I love it. It's so cool. It's tiny. It's not that loud. Yeah. You want to make a little tiny modification. You want to do a little bit of DIY stuff. It's got all these different tips. You can cut, you can engrave, you can sand, you can Yeah, it's a ton of different stuff. It's simple and it's cheap and I'm a big fan. Yeah. And like to have this in the drawer in the kitchen rather than going to the garage, getting the Dremel out, plugging it in. Right. Right. You know, it sounds like you're, it sounds like a bone saw when it's running. Like this is a nice alternative. You know, it's kind of like having an electric screwdriver and the big drill. One is so much handier when you just want to turn a screw. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I highly recommend these and, and I'll put, I'll put the link to this one in the show notes. Sure. But I think literally just go on whatever your, my guess is these things are probably $10 on Timu or Alibaba. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. This is cool. I, you know, I resisted a Dremel for so many years. And then when I finally got one, I was like, why this thing is so useful. But yeah, something cordless and man, look at the tips on this thing. It just comes with so much stuff. |
| James Stacy | Wow. Don't get me wrong. If this is something where you think you might use it every day, buy the Dremel version. Dremel makes one. It's probably like a hundred dollars. So that's my pick. Small rotary tool, we'll call it. |
| Jason Heaton | Too late for a stocking stuffer, but you know, hey. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, but everybody's got a gift card or this or that. |
| Unknown | Right, right, right. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Or you want to start the year off doing a little bit more DIY. I think this is a nice, a nice starting point. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Well, good, good first show. A bit, a bit all over the place today, but you know, I think, I think we kind of captured the spirit of where we're at, you know, it's the beginning of the new year. Lots of, lots of ideas and inspirations and ambitions and we'll see where we go. |
| James Stacy | Yeah. And I'm pumped to see how people kind of respond and build on this on the Slack. Like if you're listening and you've got plans for your own big physical challenge or a thing you're going to change or something you're going to build or a skill you're going to learn or a diet thing you're going to start or end, drop it in the Slack. Let us know. I'd love to continue this chat. We could even, you know, conceivably, if people really want to talk about the topic, we could make a 2024 channel channel. Um, if you're on the fence, like I was for the last few days, but you want to get in on the heat and plank challenge, that is the tag. the hashtag for this, but you should get in there. I will be painfully honest with my number. I promise I'm shooting for two to start and we'll move up from there, which I think will be okay. But yeah, just starting the year, just want to make it super clear that Jason and I don't take any of y'all who are listening for granted. We're really happy to have you here. And we're thrilled to be starting another year with a great crew of people, um, kind of in, in the orbit and, uh, and yeah, look out, look, be on the lookout for meetups and a lot of great, you know, kind of fun episodes. And, uh, and you know, if, if we decide to evolve the show, we'll do so very carefully and with a little bit of testing. And if it doesn't work, uh, we already know what does, so we can stick to that as well as always. Thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and you could maybe even grab yourself a new TGN signed NATO, and of course, access to the private Slack, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazz Art via the free Music Archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from George Eliot, who said, It's never too late to be what you might have been. |