The Grey NATO – 322 – Slack Crew & A 2025 Part 2 [American watches, collecting, changes to the show, camping must-haves, and more]

Published on Thu, 20 Mar 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In this episode of The Grey NATO (TGN), hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton discuss various topics including James' recent trip to Montreal with his family, their approaches to non-alcoholic beverages, and their upcoming coverage of Watches and Wonders. They then dive into a Q&A session addressing questions from their Slack community, covering topics like being public personalities, North American watch brands, their approaches to watch collecting, losing interest in hobbies, dive logging methods, camping gear essentials, and their favorite/least favorite high school subjects. The episode provides personal insights into the hosts' lives while maintaining their signature casual conversational style focused on watches, adventure, and gear.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches this episode 322. And it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing?
Jason Heaton I'm doing okay. Yeah, it seems like a long time since we recorded last. It wasn't that long.
James Stacey Yeah, I took last week off. And now it's a Monday morning. Happy St. Patrick's Day, of course.
Jason Heaton Right.
James Stacey We will miss this by a few days by the time it comes out. But it is, I was walking around. So I took last week off to go to Montreal with my kids. Yeah. We just jumped on the train and went for a couple days, Sarah, myself and our two daughters. And we just had a lovely time. But at one point, I was walking around just on Saturday before we left, we were down by the Ferris wheel. And I saw like a giant caricature, a blow up guy of like a leprechaun with a pot of gold. Oh, sure. I was like, Oh, yeah, I guess it is the 15th. So it will be the 17th any moment.
Jason Heaton So yeah, happy St. Paddy's Day, of course. Yeah, likewise. Yeah, I might have to raise a Guinness or something. I don't know. Or eat some
James Stacey Are you allowed to raise a non-alcoholic beer?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Does Guinness make an NA? I think they do. I don't think it's very good though.
James Stacey I don't know that that would work for me. Yeah. I will tell you that Heineken, Corona, and Asahi have really threaded the needle.
Unknown It's almost identical.
James Stacey Maybe less so. Like, uh, Asahi for me is like, especially with food, if it's on its own, it tastes kind of weird. There's a sourness to the, and that I'm sure is, you know, based on the, some sort of the processes they go through to remove the alcohol. But, uh, I, yeah, it's, it's a pretty good stuff these days for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good, good NA choices. I keep a, I keep a six pack of athletic in the fridge, which is kind of my go-to for that. Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah, that's the move for me as well. I really like the Runwell IPA. I also just love that you can you go so many places now, like I was just saying, we were in Montreal, and it was not hard to find. Yeah, and a options in Montreal either. I did, you know, because we were away and it was my birthday. Over over the span of time that we're away, I did have a few beers. I even had a delicious martini as well. We haven't talked about it a ton. I have stayed largely dry. If I have the occasion, I will drink, but I'm not drinking just because it's something to do with a boring evening or something like that. It's been good. I've dropped a few pounds. I wrote you over the weekend because I was walking around the city. around Montreal, and I realized I was wearing those triple-aught design pants that you gave me, like, years ago.
Jason Heaton I was trying to remember which ones those were.
James Stacey The Recon, maybe?
Jason Heaton Oh, okay.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey I think they're Recons. Yeah. I can put the proper link in the show notes if you like, but they are within, you know, because I didn't fit them for years.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey I would say they are a tight 32. You know, they're not like a Gap. They're a real 32, not like the Gap or J.Crew from a few years back or something like that. And so I dropped, between the walking pad and not drinking, dropped enough weight that I can wear a bunch of clothes that I haven't worn in a few years, which is nice. And man, these pants are really good. I don't have a direct, you know, you're kind of our plug with Trip A Lot Design, but a big shout out to that team. Everything I experienced from them, the quality is amazing, but these pants are really good. And they were on sale for like about a hundred bucks when I checked over the weekend. So I might buy a pair in gray as well. really comfortable um like have they're like firm enough and like the materials heavy enough that they don't look like athleisure right which i've really become sensitive to like i don't want anything that kind of looks like those lululemon pants yeah but yeah so just just a really good pair of pants and then you know i perhaps more to the point A really nice trip to Montreal. I hadn't been there in a few years. I was saying to you before we got on the call that years ago, back in 2010, maybe 2011, I went there for a UFC fight. Back when I cared about UFC, turns out experiencing it live really destroyed my appreciation for the sport. I don't think I ever watched another fight after seeing it live. It just really didn't... Didn't suit my general vibe, I suppose, but the city's fantastic, a really good place to take kids. We didn't really leave Old Town, so for people from Montreal, I saw a sliver of your beautiful city. We got really lucky with weather, where it wasn't too cold, it wasn't rainy, it wasn't snowy. There was still some snow on the ground, of course, but Certainly by the time Saturday came around, it was like a proper spring day. Yeah. Yeah, we just did a bunch of like super touristies. We ate a bunch of poutine. You know, we did the Ferris wheel. We walked along the water edge. We went to kind of the old Olympic Plaza.
Unknown Oh, cool.
James Stacey They have like a zoo and a planetarium. Man, we walked into this planetarium. You know, I've been walking around. We were doing a lot of steps on those days. And we walked into the planetarium. into our booking to watch this movie about a little girl discovering the solar system or something. And the center of the planetarium, where you would normally have those reclining seats, was just beanbags.
Unknown Oh.
James Stacey And I lay down, and I think our booking started at like 3.30 in the afternoon. Yeah. And I got into one of these beanbags, and my aura ring says I was asleep by 3.34. Oh, my gosh. I wonder how often that happens. I just immediately went to sleep. I took like a solid 40 minute nap, but it was one of those movies that was like a little bit more children driven than I think most adults would have cared for, so I wasn't going to be super dialed. But yeah, we had a really nice time. Montreal's fantastic. I mean, it genuinely walking around old town sitting maybe getting a beer or something to drink and sitting on the sidewalk and just people watching you you'd swear you're in europe oh yeah um it's it's just really nice we had a lovely time and i can't wait to go back uh it was a like a five-ish five to six hour train ride uh not too expensive not too tough uh you and then when you get there you're you're like minutes from all the spots that you actually you probably want to go to as a first time or second time tourist yeah um so yeah just just a really nice nice couple of days to kind of round out to kind of round out march break and then now it's monday and We record this and I have five solid hours of meetings after this recording and then I go to the airport as I'm going to Paris for a watch launch event and I did just notice in the NDA that I signed that I'm not supposed to say I might have had previous I might have on previous episodes I don't believe I'm supposed to say the brand that I'm going with. So I'm going to Paris for the release of a watch. This episode will come out, of course, on Thursday, and you will know the watch because it'll come out on Friday. So should be an exciting one. It is a nice trip. I actually I'll get to see a couple of buddies on it, which should be fun. And hopefully I can keep up with the kind of standard day to day workload from Hodinkee while I'm there. So yeah. That's that, and man, other than that, it's just that time of year where my brain starts to really feel tired from all of the planning for Watches and Wonders. I think everything's coming together. It's looking, from the releases we've already seen, like the stuff that's embargoed, I think it's gonna be a pretty big year, like just for general interest. I think these brands are realizing that the days of people buying whatever you've got because you have it, because it's in stock, are long gone. and you either need to bring good value to the market or novelty. And at least what we've seen so far, it looks like we're getting that from a number of the major brands. Of course, we don't have Tudor and Rolex and Patek, which are the big drivers. And yeah, other than that, Formula One is back, which is fun. It was an insane race in Australia. with on again, off again rain that it kind of just was just constant crashes and this sort of stuff. But yeah, it's been kind of a nice, nice week. I'm feeling good getting to have that break last week was nice. So I appreciate that. And a big thank you to everybody who kind of was okay with us taking that time. It would have been very difficult to have made a show last week just between that travel and the other workloads going on. So I appreciate it.
Jason Heaton We're threading the needle again this week because you're leaving tomorrow, so we're actually recording this on a Monday, which is something new for us. Yeah. We're both fresh from the weekend.
James Stacey Yeah. So how about you? How have your last little while been?
Jason Heaton Yeah. So we don't do movie reviews here. We do film club, but, um, I went to see a movie over the weekend and I just, I have to chime in on my first impressions of it. Um, it's the latest by Bong Ju Ho, who did Parasite, which was spectacular. I mean, just such a great, great movie. So I had really high hopes for this one. And he had previously done Snowpiercer, which is sort of this dystopian sci-fi film. He did that one a number of years ago and. So yeah, I went to see Mickey 17 in the theater, which I, you know, is also a rare occurrence for me. I'm not a real theater fan, but this was a nice theater downtown in the old part of Minneapolis.
James Stacey Okay.
Jason Heaton Had high hopes. It was absolutely terrible. It was such, that movie was such a mess. Oh no. It was two and a half hours long and, you know, Robert Pattinson was in it and Mark Ruffalo and Tony Collette, you know, so promising cast. It just felt like a movie that had way too many plot lines going and it was just a lot of extra stuff in there that didn't need to be there in my opinion. And then, you know, afterwards, um, I found out that, that this was supposed to be like, there's like, there was like a director's cut of this movie that was like four hours long. And maybe in a four hour long version of it, like some of those other plot lines would make sense. But once it got edited down, it just it was, I mean, I look, I hate to throw shade on, you know, artists and filmmakers, etc. But, you know, if you're if you're on the fence about seeing this movie, maybe the move would be to wait until it's a. at home kind of rental that you can, you know, only spend four or five bucks on instead of, you know, 20 or something to go see in the theater. But yeah, anyway, that was, like I said, we don't do, we don't do film reviews, but it's, it's been sticking in my brain. Just, just kind of what a, what a disappointing experience it was to see that movie. That's too bad. Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah, I when when I saw you put this in our show notes, I actually had to go Google it. I'm so out of the loop on like current cutting edge movies. I'm just not keeping up with pop culture at all in the last six months. I wasn't aware of this film. It has some people I really like obviously, from past film club entries, we I think it's clear that we adore Robert Pattinson. Yeah. Steven Yeun is amazing. And a lot of stuff I really enjoy and Mark Ruffalo. What a career. Yeah. So yeah, That's that's wild, because, you know, especially if you think of something, I would use the same examples as you with Parasite and Snowpiercer. Yeah, you certainly expect a certain kind of clarity to the way that he tells stories. It just sounds like maybe you didn't find that in your viewing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think maybe it was an editing problem or just too, you know, overambitious in terms of the plot. But yeah, anyway, so that was that was a bit of a downer. But other than that, Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I mentioned in a previous episode that I've been, I've started taking some Krav Maga self-defense lessons and I had a second session last week and it's going really well. I'm really enjoying it. It's, it's such a different sort of experience. You know, I'm not someone that even goes to like group fitness classes or anything like that. So to be in kind of that group setting, it's kind of a fun new experience. It's a, it's a, it's a really fun group, but it's a different group every week I think. But the funny thing is, is that I, uh, you know, I was looking around this, this class and I, I think I, I'm older than everybody in the class by at least 20 years. You know, they're all, they're all, they're all quite a bit younger than me. Um, but they're, you know, it is kind of one of those leveling activities where it isn't really about, age or you know flexibility or anything like that it's really about instinctual self-defense moves and that sort of stuff and so um and they make it fun so it's been it's been it's been a great experience but i'll i'll just keep i'll keep going and i'll keep you know giving updates as i as i can or as i as anything interesting pops up but you know now i'm i'm somewhat versed in escaping a headlock and and also kind of fending off a knife attack that was uh that was kind of a good one last week so
James Stacey Amazing.
Jason Heaton Oh, a knife attack. This is exciting.
James Stacey We're really leveling up TGN here.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right, right.
James Stacey Yeah. This is good. These are the field skills we'll need, you know, for making podcasts in the future economies.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. And then, you know, I've been kind of running for the better part of a year. Yeah, quite a bit. You know, quite a bit. Four days a week sort of thing. Started when I was really earnestly training for the fan dance last year. And I've tried to keep up with it over the winter for the lack of cycling and skiing options here. And it's kind of built up to this point where I'm battling a bit of an overuse injury this week. I've got what's called piriformis syndrome. It's a bit self-diagnosed, but I'm pretty certain that's what it is. It's, you have this, the piriformis is this tiny weird little muscle that runs across your buttock. And, um, I guess when it gets inflamed or tight, it can like press on your sciatic nerve that runs down the back of your, your legs. So I've got this kind of nasty tightness and it's just, um, it's hard, you know, I'm sure you've experienced this when you're, when you're in a groove and you're in a routine of, of running or any sort of exercise. you don't want to take the time off and yet that's exactly what I need. And so, you know, I've been spending a lot of time like rolling around in one of those hard massage balls and doing a lot of stretching and then I'll wait a couple of days and it'll get a little bit better and then I'll get out and run and then it kind of flares up again. So I'm going to do my best this week to not run for the week. I've got a, I've got a massage and another dry needling session on in, in, in the schedule for, for this Wednesday and we'll see if that helps. But, uh,
James Stacey And is it mostly pain or are you also getting the numbness? Because I think you can get some numbness from that as well, can't you?
Jason Heaton It's not numbness. It just feels like the back of my leg is tight as a guitar string. And then it's a bit of pain too, even walking the dog or if I'm sitting really aggravates it. I'm going to try to sit as little as possible this week as well. But yeah, I feel like this is my chit-chat for complaints here, you know, between seeing a bad movie. Bad movies, bad buttocks. Yeah, exactly right. So I'll close with a little bit of more positive news. I think I mentioned that I had the movement replaced in my CWC, the Royal Navy Diver, the old 95 one that I've got here in the Twin Cities by Thompson Watch Repair. And since then, CWC kind of reached out and I kind of connected them with Tyler, who runs Thompson Watch Repair. And lo and behold, they are now the official service center in the U.S. for CWC. So when you need any warranty work done or any repairs or servicing done from CWC, There's a very good chance, in fact, probably highly likely or certain that that they will have you ship it to or deliver it to or whatever Thompson watch repair. And I'm not saying that to have you go directly to Thompson watch repair. You still should go through CWC for that sort of stuff. But I was quite pleased to kind of close the loop on that. And Tyler did a great job with my my old CWC. So anyway. But that was kind of a fun connection. And Tyler has listened to the podcast. So, you know, congrats on that connection, Tyler.
James Stacey Yeah, that's great. And if, you know, if CWC continues to have an American, North American, you know, audience, you know, partially, at least partially spurred on by stuff like the CWN1, I think that only makes sense. So that's a nice option for folks, obviously, like, it would be the scenario I would be in too, just not wanting to send stuff to the UK if you don't have to. Right. Right. Right. Especially, especially if we're talking about, like, you know, the the reasons that quartz could be nice. There's many including the movements aren't that expensive and aren't as difficult to replace as say mechanical movement. So with something like that, I think in any trusted, you know, sort of watch repair outlet and Thompson watch repair is a great choice. So that's super.
Jason Heaton Anyway, should we move on to risk check? It's an easy one again this week, I think.
James Stacey Yeah, it's definitely an easy one. What have you got on, Jason?
Jason Heaton I have the aforementioned CWN-1, so our crew watch number one, and I guess all I'm doing these days is switching straps, and I've got it on the Zulu Diver rubber NATO, which, you know, I hadn't had one for a while. I passed my old one, my old gray one, on to a friend of mine a long time ago, and had been living without for the past couple of years. And then you'd mentioned putting yours on one a while back, and I had to get another one. So I've got the Drab Olive kind of green one for this. And I've been running with it. I actually don't Don't at me here. I actually did a sauna session yesterday and I just don't take my watch off. I wore my watch in the sauna and the rubber strap worked really well for that. So yeah, it's such a great combo. Such a great watch. I just don't take it off.
James Stacey That's great. Yeah. Yeah, same here. Wearing my CWN1 and I've got it today on the watches of espionage five eye fabric strap, NATO style strap. Yeah. I you know, normally I think I've said this in the past. Normally I'm not like a big striped NATO guy. Yeah. But there's always exceptions to any rule. Maybe one day I'll warm up to a proper Bond look, maybe get a 16 mil and run it through the channel lugs and get a little bit of the Bond aesthetic going. But with this one, it's a nice olive green with a single black stripe down the center. And honestly, I just think it suits the watch really well. So that's all I've been wearing for the last couple of days. But like you, man, I don't go more than 2448 hours on the same strap. Yeah, like I even went to Montreal for just you have 72 hours or something like maybe 80 hours. And I took two extra straps with me. Just a case, you know, yeah, she might want to you might want to swap it up.
Jason Heaton So yeah, right. And our buddy, Sugg or garactical, if you follow him on on Instagram. He has one of these and he made a case for under strapping on watches like this or like the FXD. He says that these kind of watches that have a fixed channel for feeding a strap lend themselves very well to under strapping because you can actually kind of see that burly bit of bar underneath it and that's a good point. So maybe I'll try that with an 18 or something.
James Stacey Yeah, I think it's a fun idea, especially, yeah, because you're not seeing arguably like the most precarious part of a spring bar, right where it touches the case and doesn't match. These are all obviously finished in the same way, the same color, kind of hit the light the same way, that sort of thing. So yeah, I don't disagree that these do... FXDs as well. I've definitely met people with FXDs where you ask them what the strap is and they're like, oh, it's this and that, but it's a 20 or 21 instead of... the 22 and yeah, you can barely notice I think I do agree that it's a The the way that the how intentional the shape of the lug and the bar is make it a little bit easier to understrap All right, main topic then?
Jason Heaton I think so, yeah. We're revisiting our Slack Q&A. This is a part two of 2025.
James Stacey Yeah, to be honest, it just didn't really have a topic for today. I always joke with my colleagues and certainly with Jason that when you get into March, it becomes like the wasteland of watch releases where There are releases, but it's people attempting to get ahead of the noise of Watches and Wonders, which is just at this point three weeks away, two weeks away. So it's just very, very close to that. And it's just a weird time to release or announce a watch. It can be exciting, but I think what we see right now is a lot of brands at higher price points. that are smaller, try and preempt watches and wonders by launching watches in the next two weeks. And those aren't always brands that like Jason and I care about personally or feel, you know, kind of align with TGN. So we figured it'd be fun to do another Slack Q&A. I don't know that we'll have part three all that soon, but part two is today. It should be a pretty good one. We've got, you know, a half dozen to a dozen questions to kind of get through, and we can probably kick this off with, oh, I guess I should give a quick quick explanation. And for those of you who, I mean, God bless you, if you're coming to TGM for the first time and starting with a Slack Q&A, welcome. It's a little bit convoluted to explain, we do a monthly Q&A that's only for the paid side of our subscriber base. So there's one monthly episode where we have folks essentially call in using the voicemail app on their phone. And we play those episodes, a lot of you are rolling your eyes because you're aware of that. This format, which we do annually, and then it turns into, you know, a half dozen episodes, something like that, maybe more this year, is very simple, where we ask the Slack, which is our kind of private community, which anybody's welcome to join if you're part of the subscriber base, but we ask the Slack to offer text questions, and then we answer those questions, often in a somewhat more rapid-fire sense, but not always. So we can kick off this outing, which is part two of the 2025 Slack Q&A with a question from Trey Elvis Hansen. Trey asked several questions. And because we have so many questions in so many of these episodes, I figured I would just pick one that Jason and I were both kind of dialed into. And we go with that. So Trey, we picked your question about what we would change to TGN. So here's Trey's question. If money, time and any other resource or constraints were not a problem, what is one major change you would make or manner of expansion you would pursue for TGN? Would you change the type of content? Would we reshape the business model? You know, what's the dream, you know, kind of stage of TGN if you could wave that magic wand? So Jason, I think we'll have aligned answers, but a little bit different. Do you want to go first?
Jason Heaton Well, first of all, I'm really happy with the way things are. And I think that's not to say I wouldn't change a few things, but I'll just kind of clarify some perspective. Over the years, I've worked for a number of companies, even dating back to previous careers and whatever, and I've just seen so many and the vibe is just, it continues to get warmer and more community oriented, um, by even just by adding small things like our Slack community a few years ago and, um, doing more meetups and things like that. So I, honestly, I'd be very hesitant to make, you know, any kind of, you know, any kind of, you know, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, big changes or try to grow in a big way. Um, that said, you know, for both of us, TGN is, is a, a part of what we do. And I could almost see at some point or, you know, in kind of a, if we're dreaming, it would be sort of this overarching ecosystem for us where it would incorporate some of the other types of work we do. So, Um, you know, we've talked about video. I'm, I'm a little more lukewarm on video just because it's not my wheelhouse, but, but, you know, like incorporate more of a writing aspect, you know, maybe a kind of a regular blog, um, uh, you know, keep on with the podcast and the community and the meetups. If, if there's one thing that if I were to dream big, um, it would be. Something we've kicked around, which is like guided travel. And, and I think at this point it would be very difficult for us to do. Um, but it's something I used to think about when I was working at gear patrol, when I was at, you know, Hodinkee more regularly, like this idea of doing. something with our community because so much of what we talk about is adventure and travel and diving and things like that that to do like a group guided travel sort of trip would be kind of a fun thing to do but it would be a big lift and it would take a lot of resources and a lot of time and things like that so I see that as a very distant sort of possibility but uh Yeah, big picture. I I'm really happy with the way things are. So I just can't see making big changes because I think it would jeopardize some of the, kind of the micro brand aspect of what we've got going.
James Stacey Yeah, I don't disagree. Um, I, I would also love to do things that were more like events with adventures. So like the tour, the, the, you know, guided travel experiences, that sort of thing. Logistically, the reason that hasn't happened is there's no way for Jason and I to do it.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey We would need, we would need a partner, like a logistics partner, travel outfitter, partner, that sort of thing. And we just, that opportunity hasn't come to us in a scenario that we thought made sense. And often when those scenarios do come to you, the number is so high that it would be almost difficult to ask any of you. to like, oh, you should, $15,000 to come do this. And you're like, but I could just go alone with my friend for three or whatever, you know what I mean? So there's that kind of thing, because we've looked into it a little bit. But I agree, that would be very special to be able to like actually do something where a dozen people, two dozen people could go and experience, whether it was diving or hiking a great route or something and kind of build a program into it. I think that would be really cool and definitely something I dream about but something I don't know I wouldn't say is on the short-term horizon for us Yeah, it's nice because I don't spend a lot of time worrying about Stuff at TGN in the same way you might other companies like we don't have to grow to succeed and and arguably I would say like one of the largest risk factors for the show would be uncontrolled growth or unplanned like growth that we couldn't keep up with and The size, the thing that I'm most precious about with TGN is keeping it feeling like a community still. If you want to compare to retail, so everything from a lemonade stand that your kids put out in front of your house all the way up to Amazon, I would like us to be the best garage sale on your street. That's about it. Yeah, you can come and you can come and get a great conversation. You can come and get a great bit of gear that maybe we're not using anymore or whatever. Maybe there's a nice set of speakers at the back. Maybe there's something you see in the garage that I wasn't planning on selling, but everything's got a price. Like it's just it's the right Saturday morning sort of experience. But I don't I wouldn't want to do anything to kind of disrupt that because it's what I find the most comforting and kind of comfortable about the show is that it feels like it still reflects Jason and I in our perspective. That said, I do think video would be great. But Jason and I have kicked around 20 different ways of doing video. And certainly, if we needed to do video today, I wouldn't be capable of doing it. Just from time in and time out. And we've looked into options of having other people come on board to help with various things. And maybe that's a solution, maybe it's not. Currently, I'm very comfortable with what we're able to put out and what we're asking for. Which is nice. I don't feel like that's out of balance. But I do think it'd be really fun to do a quarterly video or two videos a year. Like little, maybe we go on an adventure and film that and then do a talk and it's kind of like an episode, but it's extra. I think that could be fine. You know, if I had no other responsibilities, I think there's room for a second entire show. within TGN, which is just interviews or just thematic conversations. So not even interviews necessarily, but imagine if TGN still went on and we had a weekly episode like we do now and we have the monthly Q&A like we do now. And then let's say a few times a year, we do six episode series of like starting a micro brand, what it takes to design a watch, what it takes to run an outfitting company, what it takes to be a leading edge underwater photographer, and like these sort of a little bit more investigative, a little bit more storytelling, a little bit less like Jason and I just kind of shooting it for an hour. I think there'd be, I wouldn't want it to be something where you're like, oh, we're going to do this every week. But I think, you know, 18 episode, three, six episode seasons a year of something like that could be really cool. And you could take the time to produce it. You could conceivably do some travel. You could talk to the right people. You'd have the time to make it right. When you make a weekly show, you're making, the goal is to make the show every week, not to make the best possible show. Yeah, yeah. This is very much a podcast like in 2008, which I like.
Unknown Right.
James Stacey But the more modern podcast is more investigative, more journalist-based, more storytelling-based, more narrative-based, that sort of thing. And I would like to explore that, but as an extension of our superlatives, the travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and watches. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Heaton I think that would be my answer. Yeah. And I think just to bookend it, um, with a brief statement here, I, you know, your point about, um, expanding and bringing other people on board, it would have to be the way we would go. If we were to expand into video, we've even talked about, you know, getting you some help with the audio editing. It involves adding people to the mix, which, you know, there's a monetary component to that, which, uh, in training, yeah. And training, um, um which you know we're certainly open to but that once you start adding in people it complicates things and and there are compromises that have to be made and things like that and one thing i'm pleased about is that we've been able to Um, utilize the skills of, of some of our, our crew members here, you know, we've, we've had, uh, for sure, you know, Tony's done some design work for us. Um, Evan and stay calm industries helped us with the packaging for the CWN one. So we are, we are starting to kind of reach out a little bit more for things like that. And on the merch side, and, um, we'll probably continue to do that, but, uh, Yeah. Anyway, I think it's good food for thought. And we certainly, you know, thank you for that question, Trey. Really good, good thought provoking question. So appreciate that.
James Stacey All right. Thank you very much for that one, Trey. Like Jason said, that's a good one to kick off. Next up, we've got one from Dylan Reynolds, who says, I'm curious how you both feel about being public personalities. Of course, you both have a public podcast, but you've also self-identified as more of an introvert than extrovert. Here in Slack, you have a bunch of folks that know and remember so much about what you've said about your life, goals, passions, et cetera. I guess I'm just wondering how you manage the fact that we all feel like we know you and you maintain internal compass given the interest of what you do and how you do it. Yeah, I mean, look, I think this is something Jason and I have both kind of struggled with over time, maybe in different kind of ways and different sort of arcs. I find the parasocial element weird, but also absolutely informs much of my lifestyle. Not just TGN, but like the idea that my name might mean something is the reason I have a career. In watches yeah, and and people would want to read the stuff some people want to read the stuff some people want to listen to Jason I ramble on on podcasts each week and that sort of thing so it's it's a two-edged sword is such a kind of Intense way of describing it it can be a little weird at times for sure. I think face to face I don't know that I've ever had more than a handful of weirdness It's very rare. The audience, I think, largely understands the wavelength and I think this show attracts very similar sorts of people, largely conceived. I've had a different sort of experience in terms of my comfort with wider elements with A Blog to Watch and Hodinkee and that sort of thing where you deal with wider groups of people who may not know you very well, but they might know one or two things and it can be kind of kind of problematic at times. But I would say for the most part, I mean, if you know, again, we talked about the spectrum of, you know, lemonade stand to Amazon, we're still like on the lemonade stand of being famous, which is perfect. Right? Yeah. I don't think I would really want to be known. I mean, it's nice to be known for doing something that people like. That's that's a nice feeling for sure. But I think this is the right amount of fame, if that's the term for it, as far as what I've experienced from this. I, you know, I find it, I can find it kind of sometimes strange, the level of familiarity you have in non-familiar communication.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey If that makes any sense, like especially it's text messages or DMs on Instagram and stuff. where people will ask questions, you go like, I don't know you. Right, right. Yeah. And you have to go like, all right, well, it's not, you know, if you go from their perspective, it's not that weird a question, like just figure out an answer and get it to them. But that there is that like initial thing where your brain goes like, I don't this is somebody, what is this? Where'd this come from?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I've had that experience too. And I think, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm not someone, I guess, I think in the past I was, I was less comfortable sharing. Um, but I guess over time, since we've been doing this podcast for such a long time and I've had my name out there via writing and events and things like that over the years, I've gotten, I've grown more comfortable with the social element of it, the parasocial or the in-person part. I think I'm a little, One thing I'm less comfortable with, and I think you touched on this is, you know, in person when, you know, I encounter someone, whether it's at a TGN meetup or, or just at some random watch event or whatever. And, and, and there's this weird dynamic where the person I'm talking to feels a little nervous or uncomfortable talking to me or, or a little bit, um, you know, there's a heightened level of, uh, you know, adulation or somebody wants me to sign something. And I think, you know, I'm just another guy like you, you know, I am, you know, you and I are, we're just people that happen to have this platform where we just talk about something where, you know, things we're passionate about. And that, that could be any, any one of you out there, anybody listening or reading our stuff. It's just that we, you know, we've kind of chosen to take this career path and do this and, and. everybody's got value in terms of what they know. And there are a heck of a lot more people that know a lot more than I do about most of the subjects that we talk about here. It's just that we, we do it regularly. But aside from that, I think, you know, I also write my sub stack and I, I kind of delve into some personal stuff there as well. And we, we not so much on TGN, but you know, as, um, as Dylan mentions, you know, are what we say is preserved, um, you know, maybe not quite for all time, but you know, in perpetuity there out on the web via the podcast and our writing and people don't forget some of those things. And so, um, it can be a little bit awkward when somebody says, well, you know, you, you never used to like that watch back in 2017 or something like that. And now you do, or, or maybe it's something more personal and, know, I've had some personal challenges over the past couple of years, you know, relationships ending, new relationships starting and, you know, just health issues and that sort of stuff. And the way I see it is I've come to this peace with sharing that sort of information because I think the things that I'm going through in life are also things that others do too. And with a platform to talk about or write about those things, by normalizing it, it kind of may help somebody else who's going through a similar struggle quietly or with some sense of shame or insecurity like it can help them realize that there are other people out there battling the same and I've gotten plenty of messages from people saying I'm glad you wrote about that or talked about that because you know I've struggled with social anxiety or I've had you know this issue or that issue and it's it's I think that's something we can offer. And, um, and I'm happy to do that, um, to a point, you know, um, but, uh, yeah, I guess that's, that's kind of where I stand, but all in all it's, uh, it's rewarding and, and it's been such an amazing ride and such an amazing way to meet a lot of people that I never normally would have had, uh, had the opportunity to do so. So, yeah, it's, uh, it's been good. And another thought provoking question, Dylan, I think, uh, you know, we're, we're digging deep here today.
James Stacey For sure. Yeah. Thank you very much for that one, Dylan. I hope that answer suffices for sure. Next up, we've got one from our good pal JR. So he says, what do you see as your favorite North American watch brand? Ideally it should be US or Canada assembled. And as a bonus, is there a North American manufactured watch versus just an assembled one out there? So Jason, anything jumped to mind immediately? There's a few classics as far as America goes.
Jason Heaton Yeah, you know, years ago, RGM was the one that came to mind and I feel like, in terms of my personal tastes, you know, Weiss is one that I really admire and like, but RGM just does not get enough attention. You know, Roland Murphy has been making watches there in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for many years and I had the opportunity to visit his There's a little facility there and they're making some lovely stuff. I remember, you know, they had kind of a cool dive watch that was more of an assembled one, but then on up to, you know, like these watches that are basically old American pocket watch movements in modern wristwatches. And they're just lovely. They're beautiful stuff. And RGM has a service center for Zinn and a few other brands, and they're just kind of quietly doing this amazing work out there. Yeah. Yeah. Other than that, I think in our wheelhouse, something like a Weiss or an Okanosker. I'll leave the north of the border stuff to you because there's some good brands up there as well. But those are the ones that come to mind for me.
James Stacey Yeah, I don't disagree. Okanosker definitely on the list. Weiss, you know, Notice out of California, Astor and Banks. In the states as well. I mean, there's a lot like brew watches. I mean again some of these Would only be partially assembled or even QC'd in North America. I think a lot would you know would have Chinese or external manufacturing which I don't have a problem with As long as it's not something where you're saying one thing and doing something else just say what it is And obviously there's brands, American and otherwise, that have learned the hard way of saying that your brand was one thing and then people finding out something else. As far as the more Canadian element goes, I mean, it's Marathon, it's Momentum, it's Hallios. There's, I mean, there's plenty. There's a lot of pretty solid brands these days. Redwood out of Montreal, I see mentioned on Reddit a fair bit. Yeah, I think, you know, for me, I've seen, you know, Halios pieces are made all over the world, but I've seen Jason building them in his office in Vancouver. You know, I watched Jason Gallop build the C4th Vancouver LE that I have. Those were all Vancouver assembled. So there's stuff like that. And then I think with Momentum and with Marathon, you have different takes on the assembly and manufacturing process, but both with very much Canadian identities and I think representing pretty strong value at their price points. Two slightly different price points that kind of stack up quite nicely, but we've seen nice watches from both. So I think those are the ones that jumped to mind for me.
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. And I know J.R. just from some private chats with you, you know, you're someone who admires Vare, which is a brand I don't think we've ever mentioned. Oh, yeah. Another great brand. But they tout their American assembly as well. And I know that they're doing work with veterans, you know, armed services veterans in terms of training and doing the build. And so they're another one that thought it through. They make a nice watch, too.
James Stacey I've just had a chance to see a couple like post pandemic at wind up and that sort of thing. And they really do make a nice product. And the pricing is often quite reasonable as well. So we'll put some of that in the show notes in case that you don't know any of those brands. But thanks very much for that question, JR. All right.
Jason Heaton Next one up from Albert Metz, who asks us how we each approach our collection in terms of wearing watches versus owning them for the enjoyment of owning them. He says, and as I'm growing my small collection, I find there are watches that I wear a lot and others that don't get as much risk time, but I'm still happy to open my watch box and see them. James, what about you? I mean, would you say you wear most of yours or I mean, are there some that you just that just sit and I know you've got some vintage like small stuff that maybe you pull out once a year or something, right?
James Stacey Yeah, Albert, I think this is a fun question. If I'm really, really honest, which I can be with all of you, of course, if I'm super honest, this is a this is a topic I try not to think about because I probably have I don't know, dozens and dozens of watches that don't get worn every year. They sit in their boxes. Maybe I got them because they were a gift through Hodinkee. I've got all the Swatches. I don't wear any of those, like the Swatch LEs. I like them, but that's not really the type of watch I wear. It's not something that I would go out and... It's the CWN1 is all I'm wearing these days. And even before I had that, it was... The Doxa, the Longines, the Tudor, and one of the Rolexes is pretty common. If not that, then it's probably because I'm doing something really cool and I'm going to wear the Marathon. If you work in this space especially, I don't feel like I need to promote a minimalist approach, unless the watch is somehow like leave like if I need if I need to sell a watch to make room for something else or earn money for something else that's fine but otherwise I try not to think that much about it and there'll definitely be a point where my relationship with this industry changes or I need that I need those funds maybe something like that could come up in which case I would sell a bunch off but yeah my I like I don't one I think I've said that we said this before like I'm not really a collector I'm a little bit more like a hoarder experiencer. So like a lot of times I'm buying watches just so I get a chance to try them, like whether it's to talk about it on the show or do a review or whatever. But I think the longer I do this, and certainly the more that I kind of hone in on exactly what it is that I want, like with an exercise like the CWN1, the less I really consider myself a collector.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. How about you? You know, the process of selling a watch has become, well, with our Slack group, it's become a little, little nicer, a little more pleasant experience, but all in all, like selling watches is kind of an arduous process and not very fun. And that has led to sort of this blase approach to, you know, where you end up with just more watches than you need or want, um, or wear regularly. And then because it's just not fun to sell, they kind of sit and that's kind of the, the place i'm in however i have tried i think you know a few months ago i talked about purging and i sold off i think eight watches you know through slack and otherwise and it kind of felt good to thin down the watches that you know like you i have about three to five watches that get regular wrist time, and the rest just sit. And I will admit, as we're recording this, within the past few days, I actually sold off and sent four of my vintage watches, some of which were in the tournament bracket, I will say, to a vintage dealer in New York, just because I realized that, for one thing, I just don't wear vintage stuff hardly at all. I love it. I loved it, I should say. But the lack of loom, the fragility, the questionable water resistance, et cetera, service issues, as well as the funds tied up in them, I just suddenly realized it's just time to move them on. Um, you know, before people ask, uh, the one that did stay, um, is, is my Breitling Navitimer. That's a tough one to part with. Um, but, um, yeah, to get back to the question, I, I, I do tend to prefer the watches that I wear regularly. And as we talked about in risk check, it's, it's been the CWN one for a month and a half now, or however long it's been just straight, like with, with maybe one or two exceptions for a day or two, but, um, I, yeah, I just don't, I don't collect with a strategy, uh, you know, whether it's investment or a theme or anything like that. So.
James Stacey I also think it's like most things in life, and I feel like this is something I say a lot on the show, and I should have an actual thesis derived from this, but everything comes in phases, I find. Sometimes you're going to be in a phase where you're wanting to pare down, sell a bunch of stuff off, whether that's a pursuit of some level of purity, an essential thing you're chasing to get down to is one thing, or if it's just you feel like, I often sell watches, and I probably will, especially if i end up taking like some leave for the arrival of the kid in a little while i'll need something to do with my time and that's a nice little project i could go through and catalog everything uh well well kid is sitting on the floor or whatever they do when they're that young it's been a few years for me Often I think that would like, sometimes it's just like an itch that suddenly shows up where I'll feel good if I sell a few.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But my problem is, is I can't, I haven't really gotten to the point where I'm not bringing, I'm selling more than I'm bringing in. It has, if anything, it's kind of loosely balanced.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Um, and there's already some stuff that, that I can't talk about for another 12 days or something that I want. uh you know that poses a problem for me because i'm gonna have to talk myself out of it um i think but uh but yeah so yeah there isn't a strategy to to the plan but i do kind of agree that i only wear a few like albert i i only wear a few like you but every now and then i'll open my watch box and i'll go like well which ones do i get rid of and there's like seven or eight in there that are sentimental maybe they were given to me by gifts or or they're from you know legacy family members things like that And then there's a bunch in there that are just like, well, that's that's worth 50 bucks, right? I guess I'll give that to a brother at some point. And then before you know it, I've talked myself out of doing anything and I just close the box and put it away. So what are you going to do, right? Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right. Good one, Albert. Thanks for that. Let's move on to one from Salto, who has a question about kind of Losing interest in hobbies or making a bit of a change when it comes to your mentality around them. He says, a while back I was excited to obtain my dive certification, much of the inspiration from listening to TGN all these years. I completed my e-learning and arranged to complete my in-water training on a vacation to St. Thomas. And through the first day, my excitement quickly diminished, and I ended up making the decision not to continue. It was a difficult decision, and I might not have even been the correct one, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as expected. I suppose the older I get, the more realistic I try to be about time and resources dedicated to hobbies, especially since they can be selfish and take away from family time. Have you had a similar experience? And if so, what was it? James, any parallel experiences for you in this regard?
James Stacey Yeah, I feel like I can, I can pretty deeply recognize everything Salto went through here. One, I would say kudos to you for making the decision.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Um, that's a lot of stress to get a day into something you've looked forward to and done the training on and knowing yourself well enough to go, Hey, I'm not having fun. And it's not like type two fun. We're like, it'll be fun when it's over. I'm not enjoying this. And even if I get certified, I probably won't bother diving after. That's something good to know. The world is full of adventures, diving's only one of them, of course. I would say I experienced something fairly similar with rock climbing, which I attempted several times, and I don't think I had one bit of fun one time. I really enjoyed bouldering, and I would go with my brother, and once I felt like I had gotten the barest, smallest amount of strength into my dumb fingers, You know, he lived in Squamish at the time, and I did it with a couple other people, so it wasn't like just climbing. I love doing everything with my brother, so it's definitely not the company. I just didn't enjoy it. I was deeply uncomfortable. It turns out I'm not, if I'm not the guy, I'm such a control freak that like if I'm not the guy tying the knots, I'm pretty scared of them unraveling right when I need them. So yeah, I just, I didn't, it wasn't for me. I've been on dives, like long after being certified, where I went like, I'm not doing another dive with you guys. i'm good yeah this isn't fun whether it was an attitude from somebody on the boat or on the trip or somebody feeling unsafe or or the conditions were just that bad like don't get me wrong i'm i definitely understand if you're in the mode of your life where you know what what do they call it like a suffer fest or or that sort of thing like you just kind of deal with it and and push through personally i don't think you should do that while diving yeah yeah Diving should be the equivalent of sitting in a chair, comfortable, easy, fun. You know, you should be relaxed and your heart rate low and not worried about stuff. If you get to the point where you're diving at like a high performance level, you can feel differently, but definitely starting out, it should just be fun. So I absolutely understand that. And then look, the other side of this question about trying to be realistic or even intentional with time and resources, man, that hits home for everything in my life.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey All of it. Yeah. I didn't dive for a long time because I had very young kids and you just to go out to get an hour underwater is going to take eight or nine hours of my day, my Saturday. It just doesn't work. Same reason I never got into golf, I figure, right? It's just I have kids. And I think you have to balance and measure out all that stuff. And again, this is another thing, like I've said previously on this show even, things in your life will come in phases. You might have a time where you decide it's time to get back into diving or to finish your cert. And you might not. And I think that's fine. I think no one of these activities is for everybody. you know, we've got diving in right at the top of the show, because it's something Jason, I really enjoy. Yeah. And something that we love, but it's not an assertion that everyone should love it. I think it's something everyone should try. And Salto, you tried it. And I would say that's, you crossed the line on that one, you can definitely check that box and move on and find your hobby. There's certainly a ton of people listening who have no interest in diving and love rock climbing, and there you go. As far as rock climbing goes, I'll stick to reading Mark Twight books and stuff. That's about all I need.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I guess an extension of that is you can probably just substitute in your activity where we say diving at the top of the show. I mean, it could be rock climbing, adventure, travel. I can't even say it with a different word in there, but you know what I mean, and just sort of fill in the blank with whatever your passion is. Yeah. I mean, I can quickly just kind of add to this, uh, Salto. I think, you know, as James said, you made a wise choice, really good decision. Good, good for you for knowing yourself. Yeah. I think for me, the similar experience, um, was downhill skiing. I, I grew up cross country skiing. It's my comfort level. I enjoy doing it. Although we haven't had good snow the past couple of winters, but, um, you know, with downhill skiing, it was, it was always in the back of my mind that I really wanted to have that skill because. Occasionally the opportunity comes up and I'm kind of someone who likes to have skills, you know, that if you're called upon to do something, and I think for me it was, you know, Oris was doing these annual press trips and the first one I went to was in Zermatt over in Switzerland, which is an amazing experience, but I hadn't, I'd only downhill skied when I was a teenager, like once or twice and didn't really remember anything about it. So I took some lessons and then by the time the next year came around and we were in veil, you know, I was proficient enough to kind of do green and maybe some easy blue runs and sort of kept up with it. I had a season pass to like a couple of the hills locally here. Um, but between buying the gear and paying for the lift tickets and the driving out to the hill and kind of doing all of that. or whether it's like a dive trip, you got to fly somewhere to get to mountains if you live in Minnesota. And the risk of kind of injury for a sport that I would do very sporadically was high. And I just thought, I can kind of walk away from this sport comfortably and not really care if I never do it again. I still have my gear in the basement, but I haven't been out for two years and I just don't know when I'd do it again. So yeah, I would say downhill skiing is kind of along those lines as well for me.
James Stacey Yeah, I think that's another great example. The funny thing is, is all of these, rock climbing, diving, downhill skiing, they require gear, they require training, and they require time in the space, underwater, on a mountain, on a slope, right? Yeah. And if any one of those things doesn't really seem like your jam, so yeah, it makes perfect sense. I mean, downhill skiing can be a mate. You have a great day on the slopes. It's a great day for sure. Even even as a very novice skier. But if you get into that world, there's pressure to get better. There's pressure for different gear. There's pressure to ski harder and harder scenarios. You're almost and I'm not saying this is ever a reason not to do something. but I turned down a ski trip this year because I didn't want to hurt myself and then deal with that alongside the rest of my life just because I wasn't in good enough shape to reliably ski at a decent level for a day. I would need some time to warm up and get back up into training and that sort of thing. So I totally get it and I think it makes sense. I've never considered it specifically, but I do appreciate having this other perspective, like having Salto's perspective because We say diving, and we talk a lot about diving, but yeah, you have to be honest that it's not going to be for everybody. It's a niche sport or activity for sure, and it's one that's dangerous. It has both internalized and unavoidable risks, right? Like both sides of it, ones that are up to you and ones that aren't. let me let me backpedal a little bit i have this thing for years which is um it's it's it's called the the like the no dog reply which is when somebody asks you if they should do something whether it's like do you want to dive should i have a kid should i get a dog the dog is the easier one i always just say no because the best dog owners will still go out and get a dog. And if someone goes, do you think I should have a kid? And you just go like, probably not. The best parents are people who really want kids and they go out and do it anyway. And I think that's the same thing with diving. If you go like, should I dive? Nobody should dive. You should dive because you absolutely have to. Same with downhill skiing, because it brings you joy, because you find the gear delightful, because you you buy a new set of skis and you want to learn why they're better than the old one like all the the milieu of that hobby or activity has to be delightful to you yeah and then you're you're in the right mindset to really love it so that that's how i would go with it yeah that's a good perspective continuing uh and again thank you salto for that question continuing with the dive theme we have a wessie or we see b who says what do you both use to memorialize your dives an actual dive journal or like a spreadsheet I can be really quick. I did a paper journal for probably my first 15 dives. Then I switched to a very intense Google Doc. This has every bit of data that you could imagine, including a calculation. I made a little table that would calculate how quickly I went through my air based on starting and ending pressures. and all that kind of stuff, just so I could chart whether or not I was getting better with that. And then once I left Vancouver and I knew I wasn't going to be diving as much, I put that one to rest and largely switched to just letting the Garmin run my dive logs in the Garmin app. And that's what I've done for probably the last 25 dive something like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. I mean, I think the Garmin has been a game changer for me in that, you know, it, it does everything for you. And then if you want to fill in a few details, like what weight you used for the exposure protection or the saltwater or freshwater, I think that those are important things and stuff. But I think, um, yeah, I, I ran through a number of kind of paper log books and in the early days, and then I've still got them somewhere in the basement with my dive gear. But, um, Yeah, I think if I'm memorializing a dive in terms of like the experience of it and what I saw, it's kind of funny. I end up writing an article about it, whether it's for my substack, kind of a trip report or dispatch, I call it, or like my recent Philippines trip with Blancpain, you know, I wrote an article on Hodinkee about it and that will live on and that's kind of the way I memorialize a lot of my dives and that's, you know, kind of a output of my career choice. But yeah, if I want to kind of truly remember something, and if it's that significant, I like to write a story about it. But other than that, if it's just logging, it's it's with the Garmin on the app.
James Stacey All right, let's let's keep moving here through some questions. Thank you very much for that one, Wesley B. Next up from Kai, we've got let's talk gear. Let's say you're going camping or backpacking for a few nights. What's one favorite essential and one favorite non essential? uh i can yeah i think this one could be probably a pretty quick answer uh i love and i i get a very specific amount of joy out of using like a simple rocket stove that's my essential just an easy little stove that you put a pot on and you make some coffee or whatever you're making yeah maybe you're making mr noodles Totally up to you, but there's something so joyful about having your setup, your tent done, the rest of it, put up a little table or maybe sit it on a rock, get your little canister. I use an Optimus Crux, like super compact little stove that just threads onto a canister, and then put your pot on there and let it boil up some water. That's a great one for me. And the non-essential, whew, uh non-essential would either be the the hammock like a packable hammock i have a little little one from a company called kamek uh from way back in the day that i love and have used every summer for a decade or whatever i would say that it's probably that or whiskey would be the non-essential that that really really help a bit of a camping scenario for sure how about you i mean i'm just i'm just gonna copy paste it's funny you mentioned two of the things that i was gonna mention i i think for me it's i've got this
Jason Heaton Primus stove that I got. I used to work at REI and they had like a scratch and dent sale for the employees. And it was an open box, little Primus, ancient thing. Simplest thing. You just thread it onto a canister of fuel, butane or whatever. And it's probably not as efficient. I know it isn't as efficient as like a newer, like a jet boil or something like that, but I can't get rid of it. I love it. It has a lot of memories on it. It's simple. It's reliable. And then the non-essential is for me, it's a flask of scotch. I think there's something about setting up camp first night, build a fire. It's kind of cool. You're sitting there and you just sit back and. Have a nip or two and pass it around if that's your thing, but yeah, flask of scotch for sure.
James Stacey Yeah, I totally agree. There's just, it's so difficult to describe how you feel when you start a little stove that's just for you. The world could be big, it could be tiny, it makes no difference. All that exists is you in that campsite for the next little while and you can make some delicious soup, you can make some mashed potatoes in a weird bag, you can make a great cup of coffee or a tea. It's a great feeling, so yeah, we're aligned. on this deeply yeah all right let's do uh let's do one more thanks very much for that question kai uh next up and to close out the show we've got one from the k33 who asked what is your favorite and least favorite subject in high school jason want to go first with the favorite sure or do we want to start with least favorites
Jason Heaton least favorites easy. I mean, yeah, least favorite was easier. Um, terrible at math. Trigonometry was just absolute black magic to me. I had no idea what was going on there. Um, and then by extension chemistry, like chemistry should be fun cause it's hands on, it's experiments, it's explosions, it's steam and smoke and all that. But there's just too much math involved and chemistry is stuff you can't see like atoms and molecules. Like it just baffled me. I could not wrap my brain around it as a, I guess a more of a right brain thinker. Um, Yeah, trigonometry and chemistry were just horrible for me. I just did poorly and didn't enjoy it.
James Stacey Yeah, I think our answers are very similar. I would only have a small derivation in that I found elements of chemistry very sensible. It aligned with the way my brain worked. But man, physics. I really wanted to be somebody who was smart enough to really grasp even later high school physics, let alone university or college. And I just, I'm not that bright. Let's just be fair. Like I have skills, I'm good at something. Some things come to me innately, but not that many things. And definitely like math was not one of them. Any success I had in math was like going to the gym. It was intentional work. Because it's not the way my brain operates. Where I was the weakest student and thus I had the most frustration and disappointment in myself was definitely math and physics, for sure. And it was also where I, you know, I think you hear this from people, but I think, you know, you get to grade nine or grade 10 and maybe you have one or two bad teachers and it's really difficult to come back from that.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey Uh, from people who kind of, you know, couldn't find a way to teach you or you couldn't find a way to connect with them and learn. So, and it's a two road, a two, two sided road, but still.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. What about favorites? Yeah. Favorites. Um, mine is largely based on the, on the teacher I had. Um, and you know, you'd think I'd say something like English or creative writing or something, but it was, I took two years, I believe, of Latin in high school. You know, that quote-unquote dead language, whatever, kind of difficult, you just don't use it regularly. But the teacher I had, Mr. Vetrano, Joe Vetrano, if you're out there, Man, great teacher. He was fantastic. He was a big Bob Dylan fan. We did toga parties on the Ides of March, which was just a couple of days ago. He just made it fun. And I learned a lot. I actually was Latin student of the year, I think my senior year. Very dubious distinction. Yeah. Entirely based on, on the teacher because I took some Latin in college and hated it. Just did not enjoy it. Um, so yeah. Uh, Latin. I mean, I enjoyed the classes where we read books and did book reports and that sort of thing as well. But yeah, Latin sticks out as, as a class. I really, really liked. How about you?
James Stacey Yeah, I mean, my favorite was, especially once we got into high school, I had a couple really fantastic English teachers who I think are largely to blame, if you will, for my self-assuredness in writing and now becoming the leader of a writing team and that sort of thing. But my absolute favorite was media. Oh, so we were very lucky. I had an amazing teacher. And and we had, you know, like a little classroom that had gotten a grant or something and had a bunch of IMAX and we made a newspaper and we made videos and we made movies and we made all this stuff. And this is, you know, pre YouTube. I remember one of the first things I made was this will give you a very strict date. Uh, one of the first things I made was like a review or like almost more like an ad, if you will, for an iPod mini. I had a blue aluminum iPod mini, uh, from just so, so long ago. Uh, and, uh, and yeah, we, we, we just, it was just a space where like, I got to explore a bunch of the stuff that I still do now. I got to edit audio. I got to create a whole newspaper, like layouts and print text and margins and fonts and just get to experience the whole thing. And that was maybe grade 10, 11, 12 in high school. And yeah, it was just, it was very impactful for me to see the possibility of all of these things as tools for someone's need or interest in being creative and sharing with other people. And I think like a lot of that informed me and what I'm up to today. And definitely my feeling that I can probably do just about any of it myself, if given enough time, for sure. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, yeah, you've certainly carried on from that. That's great. Yeah. Good one.
James Stacey Hey, good teacher makes a big difference.
Jason Heaton It sure does. Yeah. All right. Well, there we go. There's another Q&A. That's part two for this year. We've got so many questions. It's an embarrassment of riches here for us. So thanks to everybody that has written in, and we will certainly get to all of them by the end of the year. This was a fun one to kind of fill in a gap, as you mentioned, in the wasteland before Watches and Wonders prep. And yeah, we'll do another one in a couple of months, I'm sure.
James Stacey Absolutely. Yeah. So thanks very much for everyone for the questions and let's get on to some final notes and put a bow on it. Shows a little longer than we were planning.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. I can be quick with mine. This was one that made me chuckle. I came across it on, it was a kind of a shorter version of this video, a reel that somebody posted on Instagram the other day. And I was just smiling and chuckling while I was watching this. So there was an F1 driver named Jacques Lafitte who is in this video. It's kind of a grainy amateurish looking video of him, you know, starting up and then driving off in a Ferrari F40 LM. And what's great about it is, you know, you don't see much of, well, you hardly, you don't see the car at all, really. You just see him sitting, you know, kind of this low angle perspective of him sitting in the driver's seat. starting it up, driving off and shifting. And then, of course, you hear that wonderful engine noise and a little bit of view out the windscreen. But I had to I went to look for the kind of the full length version and it's on YouTube and it's really only two and a half minutes long, unfortunately, because I'd love to see it longer. But this guy's great. He's got this great billowing head of hair and and he's not wearing any sort of protective suit or helmet or gloves or anything like he's wearing. Like somebody pointed out, he's wearing like a pair of, you know, leather Sperry boat shoes. um driving this incredible car very spiritedly and uh the look on his face and just kind of the way he's driving it he has this sort of grim expression and he's just kind of cruising along and and it's it's just a delightful video i just i i just was smiling and laughing through the whole thing um so i just i had to share it i just added it to my final notes list right after i watched it i was like i just got to share this and i'm sure a lot of people have seen it already but it's it's it's such a delight for sure
James Stacey Yeah, this is a great video and one that has, I think, seen a bit of a resurgence recently on reels on Instagram. Yeah. Just because, again, he's not talking. Well, there is a presentation in the longer video, but again, longer is two and a half minutes. You could fit the whole thing on a reel now if you wanted.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey But, you know, there's very little, like, pretense to the video, especially if you just catch it as a clip. It's just him getting in, starting the car, giving a couple spicy revs and then taking off.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey And I mean, like, it's F40, which is just, it's the car, man. For me, especially for that era of Ferrari, I think it has no competition. I just think that they're such cool things to see and experience. And then, yeah, just him getting in and the loafer thing kind of connects him to Senna in the NSX and that sort of thing. So it's a great video, a real winner.
Jason Heaton Yeah, one of my favorite parts is when he starts it up and he's revving it a bit and then he does this look of annoyance because he has a little bit of trouble getting it in first gear.
James Stacey yeah it's it chops it kind of fights him into gear and he kind of looks at the gearbox and yeah he's got a bit of like a fritz stanberger vibe in this video which i like right yeah i do too yeah uh which is which is great yeah this is a very fun video and will literally take up minutes of your day and provide you with some joy especially if you're an f40 fan yeah yeah it's a good one yeah So mine this week is a TV show, which is available via, at least in Canada, via Stack TV, which is within Amazon Prime. This is the streaming hell we all live in now. It's an absolutely fantastic cartoon from Adult Swim called Common Side Effects. And again, actually, interestingly, this is one that I found out about from a reel. which is, you know, like it was an Instagram clip of a funny moment from the show. And I thought the show was going to be a comedy.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So the show is kind of a comedy in the same way as like a Coen Brothers film.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So it has these dark elements. But the show is so much more than I was expecting. So it's it's created by a guy named Joseph Bennett and Steve Helly. And the the the show itself is the premise is really fantastic. It's about a hobbyist sort of a mycologist, someone who studies mushrooms, discovers or comes across a mushroom that can heal anything, essentially end disease in the entire world. And it's about him trying to figure out how he takes it from what he knows to the world without being stopped by the DEA or major drug companies. He happens to cross paths with a former friend from high school, a woman that he went to high school with. She works for a large pharmaceutical company but doesn't tell him. It's this fantastic story. It's funny. It's dark. It's very real. It deals with things like disease and death and very conflicted sort of elements of human behavior. I really like it. It's super watchable. I think they've got seven or eight episodes, and I think they're on like a short break until maybe next week, and then it comes back with more. Look, I know that me saying it's a cartoon will be enough to turn some people away to begin with, But I think if you enjoy a Coen Brothers film, a Saulnier film, something like that, I think you'd enjoy these. Sounds great. All right.
Jason Heaton Well, it's been kind of a long one.
James Stacey There you go. Yeah, that's the episode. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Thank you so much to everybody who sent in questions. And yeah, looking forward to being able to tell you something about the trip I'm about to leave on in episode 323. So that'll be fun.
Jason Heaton Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Euripides who said, Question everything, learn something, answer nothing.