The Grey NATO - Ep 75 - Watches And...

Published on Thu, 21 Feb 2019 06:00:15 -0500

Synopsis

In this episode, Jason and James discuss how they manage competing hobbies and allocate their disposable income across various interests such as watches, travel, diving, driving, and gear. They share insights on prioritizing experiences over things, buying quality gear and maintaining it, resisting the temptation to constantly upgrade, and focusing on what's truly important. They also talk about their recent watch acquisitions, driving experiences with McLaren and Porsche, and the importance of starting with writing for free if one wants to pursue a career in the field.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a Hodinkee podcast, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This episode is brought to you by Drive Coffee, premium coffee inspired by automotive history and its icons. A quick thank you at the top of the show for all of the love online, the comments, the emails, everything we've gotten. We do read it all. James fields the emails and forwards them to me, and we respond to every single one of them, and it really means a lot to us to see how the show is growing, and we certainly appreciate all of our listeners, both those of you who've been there from the start and those who've joined more recently. For those who don't always make it to the end of the show, you can always write to us at thegraynadoatgmail.com with any questions or feedback or comments, and as I mentioned, we do reply to all of those, and we'll be sure to get to yours just as quickly as we can. So why don't we jump in. James, you're sitting in New York City right now, aren't you?
Jason Heaton I am, yeah. You know, I've been moving around a fair bit lately and currently residing in New York City. I'm in sort of a makeshift studio at Hodinkee's headquarters in Soho. If there's a little bit of background, sort of New York noise, just consider it local color. Yeah, right. And how have you been? What's the weather scenario today? in the Midwest?
James Stacey Well, the snow is piling up. This is, I guess, I just read this morning that this goes down as one of the top 10 snowiest February's and we're only, well, we're not even halfway through it. So, it's piling up. It's snowing again today and I'll have to go out and shovel and my favorite winter activity is raking the roof.
Jason Heaton Oh, wow. Yeah. I didn't even consider it. That'd be so much snow.
James Stacey Yeah. We live in an older house here and it's prone to what are called ice dams and for those of you that don't live in these northern latitudes, what happens is with older houses with not as great of insulation, the heat rises and melts the snow down from the top of the roof and then it freezes as it gets to the gutters or the eaves and then it kind of traps any further melting and then it can back up underneath the the shingles and leak into the house, which, which we've had over the years. And so the, the kind of the trick is to get the snow off the roof as quickly after it snows as possible. So, um, I have this very long, uh, looks like a kind of an inverted shovel on a, on a sort of a, not telescoping, but you sort of have to construct it, this really long aluminum pole that you keep adding sections to, and then you stand on the ground and you just go up and pull the snow down. So, Maybe that's more information than people wanted to hear, but it's going to be my activity here after we get off the call.
Jason Heaton Okay, well, I mean, aside from the weather, how are things? Any new watches? What's the scene with the Land Rover these days?
James Stacey Land Rover's doing well. I'm kind of moving it from one side of the street to the other, kind of banging around. When we get the deep snow, it's kind of my sole opportunity to do any really sort of off-roading, if you will, with it. You know, I live in the city, so there aren't exactly a lot of sort of two-track dirt trails around here. So to get any sort of four-wheeling, these deep snowfalls are quite fun. And it gets through anything. It's a 40-year-old truck, but I just pop it in four-wheel drive, high or low, depending on what's needed. And it just goes. And yeah, it's been starting in the really cold weather. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. But, you know, other than that, I did have a watch here that was sent to me by a fan of the show that is Lorenzo and Lauren, the two owners of Laurier. Oh, of course. They came to our TGN meetup that we had in New York City back during the H10 event back in December. And we got to chatting with them and they asked if one of us would like to check out a watch to kind of chat about on the show. They sent me their latest watch, which is called the Falcon. And I'm really impressed. In fact, I would go out on a limb here as to say that it might be the best choice for a truly affordable watch, maybe aside from a Seiko these days. This watch comes in at $399 US. just it's kind of a perfect size. So it's 39 millimeters in diameter. It's about a 12 millimeter thick case. So it's kind of thick. And then you've had this domed acrylic crystal, which, you know, not everybody likes acrylic crystals. A lot of people prefer a sapphire, but I think they specifically went for acrylic to kind of keep that sort of vintage aesthetic to it. And I certainly like it. It's 48 millimeters lug to lug. So it's a pretty versatile size. It has a great bracelet, kind of a flat, flat oyster style, tapering 20mm bracelet with just a kind of a simple fold over clasp with some push buttons. The dial has this sort of waffle patterning to it and the one that they sent me was the, it's the hunter green dial. Okay, cool. And it has sort of this gilt style gold markers and hands. You know, a few shows back, I talked about that Tudor Prince Oyster Date that I picked up just before the holidays. And to me, this watch has that same sort of appeal to it. It's kind of a do-anything, dressier sort of sports watch that you could just kind of wear. It's just a really reliable, well, I don't know about reliability because I haven't had it very long, but, you know, just sort of a rugged watch. I mean, it's got 200 meters of water resistance. It doesn't have a dive bezel. It's got a bit of loom. but but it's just it's just a watch you know it's it's kind of a classic styled rugged sort of sports watch with a big crown and an acrylic domed crystal um just just i found it really pleasing to wear kind of on a daily basis just really comfortable and and good looking um that's great i like the dial quite a bit and then i also just kind of like it has that sort of a 50s sort of look to it
Jason Heaton Totally. Which is pretty sharp. And I didn't realize they were 38 millimeters. That's obviously a great size, especially for a watch that, you know, it has a lot of dial and a nice legibility to it. I think that's, uh, they're clever. They look good. They don't look like other things, which I like quite a bit. You know, they've got, they've gone their own way as far as style, which, uh, extra points certainly.
James Stacey Yeah. And it has, it runs a Seiko automatic. So, um, you know, a lot of watches at this, uh, price point, kind of that sub thousand dollar, they, they go with the Miyota movement and I, you know, I'm not a watchmaker, so I can't speak to, one versus the other as being a better quality, but certainly with good experiences with Seiko watches and Seiko movements, I think it's a really solid choice. The bracelet, it comes with a, kind of came in like a little leather pouch with a screwdriver tool for sizing the bracelet, which was a very easy process. Some watches with screwed links can be a bit finicky. You have to use two screwdrivers or they're loctited together and can be a little bit tricky to kind of size. This was super easy. It fit really well. It wore really nicely. And I couldn't really find anything bad about the watch. I mean, I guess if you looked at the dial under a loop, you might see a little roughness around the hands and markers and things like that. But let's be honest, for $399, it's a lot of watch for that kind of money. So yeah, I mean, thanks to Laurier for sending that over. I mean, we, you and I have sort of admired their sort of vintage style dive watches for, for a long time. And, um, when they asked, uh, you know, if, if I wanted to check out one of their watches, I thought, you know, this Falcon being their kind of their latest release and then sort of, you know, veering a little bit away from a dive watch. Um, it was a fun one to, uh, to check out.
Jason Heaton Absolutely. I think that's great. And, uh, you know, I also had a, uh, a sort of entry level dive watch in another sort of, you could consider it a, uh, alternative to something like your normal Seiko. And that's the the main Hudson. So this is a 38 millimeter, they make them in 38 and 42, it's a 38 millimeter sort of dress diver. It has more of a modern style, you know, they say on their website that it has kind of a vintage aesthetic and I'm not, aside from the 38 millimeter sizing, I'm not sure I would agree. It kind of has a, not a classically timeless look, but a generally timeless look. So we've got a post on Houdinki of it, you know, just as pretty straightforward, hands on. But it's 400 euros, so it's about 450 US dollars. It has an ETA 2824. It's got a nice balanced dial design, a little bit of color, decent bezel, the same sort of bezel you'd find on a Seiko at a similar price point. Yeah. So it's nicely made. It wears really well at 38 millimeters. And I think it's, you know, it's yet another one of these options where everybody's had a Seiko or you still have a Seiko or you've got 10 or like whatever your scenario is. Yeah. And this is something from, you know, a new brand. They're based in Stockholm. I think it's a handsome kind of simple, straightforward proposition that's well-priced.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, again, you know, here we are with, you know, it seems like this sort of endless stream of choices nowadays at these price points. You know, a while back you had reviewed the Merode, the Bonaire.
Unknown Yep.
James Stacey You know, the Laurier and this, and I had the Tussaino. the Baltic. I mean, we really are spoiled for choice at this price level. And I think these brands are, as I've mentioned before, uh, you know, for, for people maybe that aren't into, you know, smartwatch, Apple watch, um, or sort of a sports, you know, uh, Suntos and that sort of thing. I mean, this is that great sort of sweet spot. And, and I think a lot of the bigger brands, the, the Hamilton's and the Mito's and Sertina's and, and those, uh, Maybe they aren't paying attention. These brands are probably just way too small to kind of make them shake in their boots. I would think so. But these provide such a nice alternative for people that maybe don't want or don't feel the need to have kind of a big name on the dial. And the qualities really come up in these too. I mean, the Laurier, it was just so much more than what I would have expected for $400. And more than you would have gotten years ago for that kind of money. Well, before we move on to, you've driven some fun cars lately. And I thought just before we move away from watches, I would give a quick update on my one watch experiment. If people remember, it was probably our first episode of the year, or maybe the last episode of last year. And I talked about going into 2019 and maybe trying some different scenarios of just wearing one watch all the time. And it lasted about three weeks. Only three weeks, eh? Yeah, well, so my goal was to wear, I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. If I was going to do, you know, see how long I could wear a single watch or if I was going to switch off every month to a different one. But what happened was I had that Oyster Date, which I was, you know, smitten with, and I still am, with kind of that silvery white dial, no dive bezel, just sort of a classic sort of, you know, Oyster watch. And I loved it. I wore it skiing and hiking. you know, everywhere for three weeks from about the end of December till late January. Um, and then I switched over to, to a Submariner and was wearing that for, for a while. And, um, since then I've been kind of, uh, promiscuous, I guess you'd say with, with a few different watches since then. But I, I, I haven't drawn any conclusions, um, from that experiment other than the fact that it wasn't so much boredom that caused me to switch as, as, um, maybe it's just, Simply the matter of having a number of choices on hand, um, compelled me to sort of put something else on. And I, I, I mean, maybe a more thorough or scientific way to do this would literally be to kind of take my other watches and move them off site or give them away or hide them somewhere. Something exclusionary. Yeah. Um, but I guess the one conclusion I did draw was that if I were to go to kind of a one watch model or, or, uh, I guess a type of watch, I think the Oyster case. I mean, I think it comes down to that case. I moved from the Tudor to a Rolex. But what they have in common is the same bracelet, same sort of basic case aesthetic and dimensions. They wear well. They're low profile. They're fairly lightweight. They're very versatile. You can do anything with them. And for all the talk of You know, having funky, you know, colorful, interesting watches. You know, whether it's a Doxer, a Captain Cook or whatever. I think what I would come back to if, you know, when push comes to shove would probably be, you know, some sort of an oyster case watch. If I were to kind of just, if I was forced to make a choice like that.
Jason Heaton I mean, it's just, they're just, it's so hard to beat. It is a case that, you know, that it's been refined and even changed in recent years. Yeah. from the Rolex scope, but those ones that were coming out like your 14-060 and my 16-570, these are like perfect 40-millimeter watches. Yeah, totally. And they're super wearable and they don't wear too big or too small or too thin or too thick, they just seem to be just right. And there's something about the mix of presence and just the balance, the proportions, all of them are really good. And ergonomics really do make a difference if you're going to wear that watch every single day.
James Stacey Right. That's so true. And I think, you know, I got a lot of response to kind of my, um, chatting about this on the show and then on Instagram. Um, and you know, people have varying opinions about, you know, going down to one watch or how to kind of carry out an experiment like this. And, and I think someone had a good point. I don't remember who it was, but somebody mentioned, you know, maybe it's more like a, a three watch collection or two or three watches that you kind of rotate through that kind of scratch various itches. So for instance, um, I, you know, we, you and I both have a sort of well-known love of, of DOXAs and, and I love that aesthetic and that sort of vibe and what it kind of conjures up in my mind, whether it would be a one watch, probably not. Um, but let's say a Speedmaster, a Submariner and, um, and maybe a DOXA, maybe a vintage one. I think I could probably go forward with those three choices. Now, you know, here again, I'm not announcing that I'm going to try that anytime soon, but it might be an interesting experiment to kind of try a different sort of model. I mean, let's face it, we're, I don't necessarily consider myself a collector, but I do have several watches and, um, you know, why sort of artificially force myself to, to kind of whittle down to less than that? I mean, if I had to, sure, but you know, why, why bother, uh, sort of forcing the issue, I guess.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I would agree. I think I would agree. And I mean, there are a lot of guys that do the three watch collection. We've done an episode about the concept of a three watch collection. And I think it can make sense. And I do like the idea of limiting. And this kind of speaks to our main topic, which we'll get to in a moment. But I do really like the idea of limiting in some way the spending. You know, if your goal is to have a lot of watches, then by all means go that route. But if your goal is to maybe be able to do a lot of different things, with your watches, which is, you know, maybe, maybe a little bit more within the scope of TGN. Yeah. Yeah. I like the idea of having some focus. So if you're, if you've got three and there's one that you want, one of them, one of the other ones has to go. Yeah.
James Stacey And I think, I think travel is a good way to sort of experiment a little bit. And when I travel, I do prefer to just take one and maybe have a backup just in case something happens to the first one you're wearing.
Jason Heaton But yeah, I'm on the road for the better part of 20 days right now. Yeah. And I brought with me the Doxa. I decided I wouldn't bother bringing a GMT this time as I'm kind of bouncing around between two time zones that are really only an hour or two off of EST. And so I brought the Doxa, which has been fantastic. You know, I was down in Arizona for a bit with McLaren, which I can talk about in a moment. And then I was up in Montreal as well, and I had the Doxa. And it's just, you know, on an 8.0 or a leather strap, it's basically a perfect sport watch. And I might be missing summer a little bit these days. I might be a little bit on the tired side of winter. And, you know, having the Sea Rambler, which is a very summery, bright watch for me, not only does it kind of just match like a really sunny winter day, there's something kind of like Caribbean, you know, off the beaten path, you know, a beach alone, that sort of thing. I like that. And then other than that, I'm still wearing that gold Buran I picked up from Retro Watch Guy. very different watches but um but yeah kind of a nice uh to use your term sort of palette cleanser to move from one to the other you know sort of get a very different sense yeah a similar era though yes right like i think that you could imagine a guy that one was the one he took on vacation and one was the one he had at the office yeah true or something like that and then i i just put it on a new kind of olive green strap from the hodinke shop it's in my instagram and uh yeah i'm i'm absolutely loving both medium missing my Explorer two, but it's not going anywhere. So yeah, yeah, cool. And then as far as as far as all the driving, I can kind of blast through it because it's a handful of stuff. And you know, some of it's even still embargoed by the time this episode comes up. So yeah, I got a chance to go to the Porsche ice experience, which is a spot called what used to be called camp for it's now Mecca Glees, which is a kind of an interesting mix of various courses for driving cars on snow and ice. They have a five-day course, which is three full days of driving, and they condensed that course roughly down into one day of driving, into four modules, basically. And so you got to do two modules in a 991.2 911, so the C2S, the rear-wheel drive, with studded tires, and then the same generation C4S, the four-wheel drive, also in studded tires. And the whole time there's a radio in the car and they're kind of shouting orders at you about how to, how to manage car control and balance the car and shift balance from one wheel to another and slide the car appropriately. And, uh, and yeah, it's, uh, you know, I, I find these things like medium stressful, uh, but once you get a couple of the basics down in terms of. Like, uh, the nine 11 really handles its own way and has all this front end grip until you get the back really unsettled and then it just swings.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And so once you kind of got a feel for how hard you could push the front end before the back started to, before the balance, you know, being on the front tires would cause the back to slide out. You could really play with the car without using much throttle. So then when you did go to throttle, you just were going so much faster than you expected you could go. So it was a pretty fun event. And certainly if I would say that if you're a, you know, a well-heeled Porsche enthusiast, or somebody looking to not go on a ski holiday, but maybe get a few days doing something else. Yeah. There's lots of options. They have several different levels of the course, including a higher end level where you're driving GT cars.
James Stacey It seems like even historically, you look at photos, and there are a lot of well-known photos that make the rounds of Porsche 911s on snow and ice. I don't know if it's because it's a German car, And, uh, you know, uh, the Germans do like their winter sports and kind of historically you see, uh, you know, images and videos and things of, of nine 11s driving, you know, with skis mounted on the back and, um, ice racing and towing skiers at the, you know, at that, uh, ice race in Austria, things like that. Um, but it always occurred to me, it always, I always thought that having that engine hanging out behind the rear wheels, you know, and being sort of a rear wheel drive, powerful sports car, that it would be pretty, pretty daunting to drive on slippery conditions.
Jason Heaton I think it's just, it's that thing where you have to consider where the weight in the car is all the time. Yeah. Um, and I think it actually is pretty well suited for, uh, slippery surfaces because not only do you get a pendulous effect from the weight being over the rear axle, but you do get grip from having the weight on the rear axle. Not unlike, you know, I don't know if you grew up in a world where you had a Ford Ranger or something and you had to put weight in the back of it in the winter.
James Stacey Sandbags. Yeah. Right.
Jason Heaton Sandbags, diamond plate. Yeah, we did all that as I grew up. And yeah, so I mean, that's a really fun experience. It's super different than the Mercedes one where it was a lot more about on power drifting. And this was a little bit more about direct car control and really trying to understand the way that a 911 is balanced. Yeah. And if you're Porsche and you have kind of what is, you know, format wise, a very strange car.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton A rear engine, not mid rear engine, but a rear engine. sports car. Yeah. You can obviously lean on the strengths, which in that car, it makes it something different than all of its peers.
James Stacey Yeah. And then you had a, yeah, you had another trip, a very different sort of trip, right? You were in Arizona.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I went to Arizona to, uh, just outside Scottsdale and it was the global press launch drive experience for two new Spiders from McLaren. So that's the 600LT Spider, which is the top spec drop top roof version of the 570S. for those keeping score. And then kind of the spider version of the 720S, which is their super series, kind of bonkers. You know, it's the one that I talked about having on Angela's Forest. Back in the summer, I had the coupe and this is simply an experience with the spider. So for the 720S spider, there's still an embargo about driving impression. So if people care, I can put this in the next episode, but I can't put it in this episode as to how it drove. Oh, sure. Yeah. You know, we already chatted about the way the 720 drives back in the summer. Yeah. So a lot of that's already been covered. You know, what's special about this car is it has a electrochromic roof. So you click a button and the glass roof becomes less opaque or more. Oh, wow. Which is kind of fun. And then when you click the button to put the roof down. Jason, you had, um, have you ever had like a car that, or been in a car that has the kind of fully mechanical retracting? Like, I know you have a Miata, but the fully retractable, like where you just click a button and wait for it to finish? Yes. Yeah. So you remember how loud those are? Yes. Yeah. There's like multiple clunks and like a winding motor. The McLaren makes almost no noise. Huh. Wow. Not barely enough to hear it over the sound of its own engine. Yeah. Yeah. So you click a button, it's 11 seconds. You can do it at 30 miles an hour, 38 miles an hour, something like that, 28. And then it's just like, it's gone. And it has these, the only other note that I think is interesting about the car, I mean, it's a 720 horsepower car with no roof. So it's like a lot of how it is is obvious, but it has these gorgeous buttresses that go from the kind of the behind the headrest where the driver and the passenger are to the back of the car. And what you don't instantly notice, and I didn't even notice in the press release, the buttresses are glass. Oh. So that you can see right through them. Oh, wow. So when you shoulder check to make sure there's not a car in your blind spot, or even when you look through your rear view, you can see the buttresses. It's almost like the glass from sunglasses. Yeah, yeah. But you can see right through it. So the visibility's way better than you would expect. Wow, geez. Yeah, pretty clever. And so, you know, got to drive that around a bunch of Arizona through the desert, through sort of a higher mountainous area with a little bit of snow and up to a golf course, had some lunch and then drove it back. And then the next day we drove the 600LT. So again, for the 600LT Spyder, and again, this is more for McLaren people, but the LT designation means it's the most hardcore version that they're going to offer typically. At least LT calls back to the long tail, which was a racing version of the F1, the F1 long tail. you know, it was a bit longer to promote better aerodynamics. LT has now become the kind of top spec, most track ready sort of version of their cars. So there was a 675 LT, and now we have a 600 LT. And that's, again, the basis, you start with a 570S, a car that I've done a lot of time in at this point. And then you take it up a notch with a little bit more power, a little bit more torque. It's much lighter. And now there's no roof. Wow. So the roof drops down at a press of a button. You get the exhaust exits on the top of the car. Oh. Like along the back of the deck lid. It's a tiny exhaust on this, and it shoots flames if you drive the car hard enough. So all good stuff. All good stuff. I had a bright orange one, which was incredible. It had single piece carbon fiber bucket seats from the Sena. And, uh, you know, I'm, uh, I'm not, uh, a lot like I'm a little bit on the tall side, but I'm not a huge guy by any stretch. And these seats felt like they were made for me. Yeah. So that's great. I mean, like you instantly feel like you're in a race car. You're very low. The car's incredibly loud. Um, we did hundreds of kilometers in this car, very comfortably on the road for what is like a very hardcore track car. Yeah. The car is basically an absolute monster and we drove it a good distance all through the desert, like super back roads. It was pretty fun. stopped and got a bunch of photos. Those will be in the write-up on Nouveau Magazine this coming Friday. And the kind of crux is we actually drove to Arizona Motorsport Park. Oh. Which is, it's next to an Air Force base, so you don't have any elevation, but it's a really fun, flat course. It's two point some odd miles, 2.6 miles or something like that. Very fast, super technical. And we got to, I had two track sessions in the car, two 20 minute sessions.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And it doesn't sound like a lot of time, but if you're not a race car driver and somebody gives you a 600 horsepower car that weighs, you know, less than a focus. Yeah. Um, and, and, and so they like give you a helmet, you clip your helmet in, there's a guy sitting next to you. That's like an instructor. And I've done these before where the instructors kind of there to reign you in. Yeah. This guy was way beyond my skill level immediately. And so you do a few laps in the car and like the car is kind of sliding a little bit and you're just trying to keep it in line and listen to the recommendations he's having. And like very quickly, you're like building speed and confidence. Yeah. And then they go from sport to track. So the car gets even more kind of slidey if you're not really smooth. Yeah. And I'm not smooth. Like, let's be, let's face it. I, if I wanted to get into racing, I would get in at a Miata or a front wheel drive car, like a race prep Civic or a Versa or something like that. Sure. you're not going to get in in a $300,000 carbon monocoque with a rear engine that shoots fire in his rear wheel drive only. And so we're doing that. And then the second one, I finally was getting him where I would exit a corner and he'd be like, okay, that was okay. But they're the There was a big straightaway and you would rip down this straight and there's two cones that they had set up to tell you where the braking zone started. Oh, sure. Yeah. And he was looking at my where I was. He wasn't even looking at the track. He's looking at where I was looking, which was directly at those cones, like a normal human being, not a race car driver. Yeah. And he's like, don't even think about touching those brakes. Oh, really? We're doing 135 miles an hour. Wow. And and he's like, after the cones, there's a bump. As soon as the car settled. Get on the brakes like you're going to die. Wow. And I still break too early. Wow. So it's just wild. They had me right on the edge of what my ability was. And then by the last lap or two, I was able to leave corners in a full slide, back on power, which is super fun. I mean, you're seeing smoke. It's great. Yeah. Jeez. And then luckily, he gave me maybe two or three minutes extra. But if another lap, I would have wiped out. I was having way too much fun. Uh, so that was an incredible experience. The car as you like, how is the car going to be bad? It's so light. It's so powerful. It's all bespoke equipment. I mean, I, I didn't try the stereo. I don't know what to tell you. Like the seats were amazing. It was super fun. I got a sunburn because we kept the window down. It was like, it was not, it was like 45 to 50 degrees most of the day in, uh, in Arizona. So it's kind of chilly still managed to sunburn. Arizona is gorgeous. Yeah. And I think that's, I think that's probably, I've probably said way too much, but if anybody's still listening, I don't even know what the takeaway is. McLarens are fun, I guess. That's the same, same, same thing I've said before. Like, uh, if you get a chance, obviously take, take a chance and, uh, and, and drive a McLaren, or if you can do like a, uh, test event or something like that, they're, uh, they're wild and they don't really drive like other cars and the company's tiny and, and, you know, very focused on just a few products. Wow. Wow. That sounds incredible. Yeah, it was super fun. And then while I was on that trip, this is like an aside because the watch is long sold out, but it's one that I very nearly bought, so I thought it was worth talking about. While I was on that trip, Hodinkee, our, you know, benefactors of this podcast, launched this IWC LE, and I think it's one of the coolest things they've made yet.
James Stacey Yeah, yeah, it definitely spoke to me. I mean, I think, you know, a lot of the stuff, pretty much all the LEs they've done with different brands have been really cool, but this one kind of hits that sweet spot. I think that merging of the kind of a Mark 11 style with that blacked out case, the ceramic case, it kind of is the best of breed in terms of what IWC has done over the years.
Jason Heaton Occasionally you swing by the office and you see some of these LEs before they exist.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And I saw this one a while back and I remember being like, I think I need to buy this.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And then I, you know, I opted against it and I don't, I don't know, like sometimes I see them, like there's a couple of people in the office got them and, and kind of kicking myself. Like that's a, it's a really, really good. And if I was going to have an IWC, I think that's, that's an absolute sweet spot. They're killer. I mean, the, the new, the new Spitfires are awesome. Like we talked about on the SIHH episode, but man, they've got some really good stuff.
James Stacey It's the, it's the handset that, that makes that watch, the handset and that font they used for the numerals. It really hearkens to the, the IWC that the era of IWC that I really loved, um, which, you know, was, was kind of into that nineties period where they still had that, those old style hands and that smaller font and the smaller case. And then to marry it with that black case was, uh, um, was just a stroke of genius. Really, really cool watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I absolutely agree. So, uh, good luck to everyone who's on the wait list for that. And what do you think maybe swing into an ad break and then right into the show? Yeah, let's do it. So this week's episode is proudly sponsored by Drive Coffee. We couldn't be more thrilled to have Drive Coffee on as a sponsor for another episode. They sponsored our last episode. It went really well. I've had a chance to try the coffee. I'm really impressed by it. And I mean, they're creators of premium coffee that is inspired by automotive history and icons. They use cars, events and places to help tell the story of their coffee. And I think that's kind of an interesting focus for this little ad break is, you know, kind of Not so much how they package the coffee or even what their connection is to motorsports. We talked about that in the last one. I think it's a little bit more interesting to consider how serious they might be about their coffee. And in this case, it turns out it's fairly serious. One of their main goals is to ensure that they're foremost a coffee company and they're trying to create some of the best coffee available in the marketplace. All of the coffees are purchased in season. Most of the available beans are single origin. And the idea is to maintain direct trade or, you know, one step removed from direct trade whenever possible in the entire supply chain in creating Drive Coffee. The Drive Coffee team is over 10 years literally on the ground in the world's premier coffee producing regions, working with the small businesses and the growers and the producers that bring coffee all over the world. And they get to be kind of at the source.
James Stacey Yeah, and you know, before I got into writing, I worked my way through college roasting coffee. So even though I wouldn't consider myself a coffee expert, I sort of developed a taste for the different varietals from around the world. And the Trophy Blend combines beans from what I think is my favorite region of coffee growing. And the Trophy Blend is specifically made up of beans grown on the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra. They're kind of known for being full-bodied with a bit more of a smoothness to them, kind of an earthy flavor with less acidity than you might find from, say, Central American or East African coffees. So they stand up really well to most kinds of brewing. It also happens to have the Land Rover on the label, which makes me really happy.
Jason Heaton So yeah, Drive Coffee from the season to the origin, to the direct trade, to a huge amount of local knowledge, bringing the coffee from the source to their very interesting and cool packaging and all the way to however it is you like to make coffee in the morning. I love a great cup of coffee and this fills that bill entirely. So we definitely think you should check out their Instagram at drivecoffee and their website drivecoffee.com. And from a variety of coffee, custom machines, and more, they have a style that works well beyond the usual cars and coffee connection. So once you've got some beans in your cart, use the promo code HODINKEY to score 15% off your first order.
James Stacey And thanks to Drive Coffee for sponsoring this episode of The Gray NATO.
Jason Heaton All right. So on with the main topic. And for that, we actually come to an email we received from a listener named Ryan Clark. Ryan, thank you so much for writing in. And to keep it really simple, he actually got it down to one sentence, which I like quite a bit. He's curious to know how we manage competing hobbies specifically around allocating the necessary disposable income to further the pursuits in each. So he's talking about everything from watches to adventure, to diving, to driving, to all the things that we list at the top of the episode. And I think this, I like this question because it's clear that it requires some thoughtfulness, even just to write in with that sort of a topic. So, I mean, how, how do you, how would you approach? And I mean, maybe we should try and do this in two sides. Like if we didn't work in this industry, if we weren't working in watches, if we weren't getting paid to travel, right, how would we approach it? Or, You know, how do you consider these things when deciding how much you might want to spend on a watch versus your next vacation, versus your next camera, versus the Land Rover?
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, I guess I used to, before I got into this career, I had sort of, I guess, a more conventional life. I had a sort of a job at a bigger company, making a bit more money. And I used to, you know, kind of be into cars a little more. I used to kind of flip them, so to speak, every couple of years, you know, Audis and BMWs and Saabs. And then I got into watches and, um, that, that sort of cycle of sort of taking your income and using it to, to sort of buy stuff. Um, I think once I moved into this career, um, it, it had a sort of a twofold, uh, result. And one is for one thing, I was able to kind of pursue a lot of the things that I wanted to do. and explore different watches simply because of the nature of the job, but also because it wasn't as secure or as lucrative a job as I used to have. It forced me to make certain decisions and it forced me to be a little smarter or to prioritize a little bit more about how I wanted to use my income and to kind of be a little bit smarter about the stuff I bought. Um, there's, there's a saying that says, you know, I'm not rich enough to buy this, whatever it is twice. And I think what you learn is, is just to buy better things and fewer things early on so that you don't have to replace them. Um, and then just sort of figure out what, what's important to you. And for me, it really comes down to experiences over, over things. And certainly I have, you know, more sizable watch collection than kind of, you know, probably my neighbors on either side of my house here. Um, but you know, I don't have a huge collection and I kind of get to scratch the itch based on the work that I do. But, um, you know, I kind of chose to kind of own some older vehicles, stay in the same house. Um, you know, I, I don't necessarily buy new cars very often or a lot of clothing. So, you know, that, that money that, that can then be allocated towards, you know, say dive trips or ski trips or, or things like that. So I guess for me it is kind of. been something that I've honed over, you know, 20 years of, of living and kind of just sort of refining down what, what's important to me in my life. And that tends to be more experienced than, than sort of, uh, different things.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think I would, I would, I think I would entirely agree with that. You know, I think in many ways you have to make the most of your general surrounding, you know, you can camp in a lot of different areas. So if you want to have adventures that don't always have to be expensive once you've invested in camping gear, which doesn't have to be a fortune either. you can have that experience again and again. There's a certain time of year, which is the best time of year to buy a Lyft ticket and consider your gas mileage and all those things to get to and from your next ski trip. And if the goal is to ski or if the goal is to camp or if the goal is to dive, try and maximize value in whatever you do there. So don't buy dive gear when you've got stuff that could just be serviced or carefully maintained. And I think a lot of times, if you're talking about the gear side of it. So there's gear for experiences, I think is how we would probably describe this. But if you're talking to the gear side of it, you and I have said this before, and I'm sure we'll say it again, is try and buy, and this doesn't come down to watches, which I think are a little bit more emotional, a little bit more collectible. But if we're talking about the gear that facilitates the other things you get to do, the skis, the dive equipment, even the SUV or whatever gets you to and from a campsite, your tent, Buy something good, but don't obviously don't overspend hit that value point and then maintain it learn how to maintain your products Yeah, you know, maybe maybe I'm not saying you need to get certified so that you're allowed to service your own scuba pro regulator But do do make do you know do make notes as to how the regulators? Performing and how many dives you have on it and how many how long it's been since the last time it was serviced Like just just follow the route like everything has a maintenance cycle Yeah and just learn the maintenance cycle for that. So if you put a hole in your tent, you don't have to get a new tent. You just have to learn how to patch it.
James Stacey Yeah. You know, Ryan and his, uh, we didn't read his entire email, but he did mention that for him, his hobbies are, uh, road cycling, mountain biking, and adventure photography. And, you know, certainly those are fairly gear intensive hobbies. Um, but you know, for me, it might be more skiing, backpacking and diving. And, but I think, you know, whatever hobby you choose, um, You know, the temptation, I think, to upgrade a lot is something that I used to give into a lot more. Um, I used to be into cycling a little bit more and, um, certainly we both fall into the, the photography realm here, but, um, try to squeak out a few extra years with the same stuff. I mean, there's a famous quote by the, the cyclist, Eddie Merckx, who said, um, don't ride upgrades, ride upgrades as in, you know, get faster by riding up hills instead of buying a lighter bike. Um, and I think. You know, that could be the case with a lot of things. I mean, you go on a dive trip and you see a lot of the dive masters have the raddiest looking gear because they've just kept it for a long time because they don't have a lot of money to be upgrading all the time. Or, you know, do you really need that extra 10 megapixels on your camera sensor? Or can that wait another year or two? You know, I think those sorts of tough choices. I think nowadays when we're inundated with reviews and discussions, and we're as guilty as anybody here on TGN, of talking about new and shiny gear and the really cool stuff out there. Um, you have to be really picky about what you truly need and what that means for the other areas of your life where you, you might be able to use that money. Like, do you want to buy a new, you know, a multi hundred dollar dive regulator or do you want to take a trip? You know, do you want to take a dive trip? Um, so I think kind of resisting that temptation to always be upgrading or always getting the next best thing. um, is something that, that I've learned to kind of resist a little bit more.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I mean, the other thing I would say is when you're, when you're getting into, let's use diving and downhill skiing, both requiring investment in gear just to start. So you're renting, learn what it costs to rent something versus what it actually costs to own it. Cause there might be a case for you to very quickly get to owning something.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Both of these activities, and this goes for a lot of activities, both of them are, all the gear involved is designed to last as long as possible, which means it's a good option for used. To buy used, buy used dive gear if you can, buy used, definitely buy used skiing gear. Yeah. And just make sure that, you know, anyone responsible for caring for it or starting a new process of caring for that gear knows what they're doing. And then if you if you want to go through the process of slowly building your way into new gear, get to know some people who are ahead of you in the process, whether that's a dive master or a ski instructor, or something like that where they're going to be able to say like, no, you're going to spend $800 on this BCD or 250 on this one. And I, I dive this one 15 times a week.
Unknown Right.
Jason Heaton They'll just know where the value point is because they've been in it so long. They've probably owned 10. Yeah. And you can skip the nine. Yeah. Right. You know, so there's a lot of local knowledge. I think that you can, you can apply in these scenarios. And then with something like, um, with something like camera gear, Boy, I'm not necessarily the right guy to throw around this piece of advice, but in many ways, get something that hits certain basics that you can learn to shoot manual, for example, and then maybe put you into a lens system that's long standing. That's why I like Canon and Nikon as a starting point, because there's a lot of glass out there that's not that expensive.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And then just shoot a lot. Like every time that you're like, Oh, I really need this other lens. Think like, or I could just go somewhere and shoot more with what I have. Yeah. Like when, when nine out of 10 people are 99 out of a hundred people look at your photo, they don't consider whether you shot it on a 50 or a 35. Right. They don't consider whether you shot it at one eight or one four or two five, like none of that will matter. It's about It's about the image that comes out. And the only way you get better at the image part is by taking a lot of photos. And luckily now that doesn't cost more. The actual taking of the photos, there's no film, there's no processing unless you want to go that route. Once you have a memory card, you can take 10,000 photos a month. Right.
James Stacey I mean, I think that learning also to appreciate longevity or the loyalty to a specific piece of gear or vice versa, the loyalty that that piece of gear has given you over the years, the experiences that you've had with that bike or that camera and where it's been with you, you start to value those things over the latest and greatest. So lately I've been thinking a lot about my Blundstone boots or my Espresso machine that I've had for 20 years or my Patagonia Retro-X pile jacket that I've had since the 90s. I mean, there's a certain Um, sort of respect that you have to give these, these products. And when you see somebody that, you know, the old guy who's worn the same, uh, dive watch, you know, since, since he learned how to dive back in the seventies, I mean, we all, we all appreciate that, but we don't necessarily emulate that. And I think that, that those are sort of traits and, um, that's sort of an aesthetic that I think is a valuable thing to learn and that it took me a while to learn. Um, certainly as I was coming up writing, gear reviews for gear patrol and kind of getting into watches, it all became about the next best thing. And I think I've sort of reached a point in my life where I've sort of throttled back a little bit and sort of start looking around at the things that have been loyal to me over the years, the same tent that I've used, the same regulator and fins and masks since I started diving back in, you know, uh, early two thousands. And, and you know, you start to appreciate those things and you start to take care of them a little bit more. Your hiking boots, your tent, um, And I think it's kind of a mind, a mindset change that, um, it's subtle, but I think, uh, you know, we're not necessarily set up for that given kind of the, the websites that a lot of us follow and the podcasts we listen to that are always kind of talking about the latest and greatest, but keep in mind that, you know, certainly, um, the, the stuff that we talk about here on TGN isn't all things that James and I necessarily are buying or whatever. Sometimes things are loaned to us to review like watches. Um, Or sometimes it's just admiring something from afar, or looking at a McLaren and appreciating it without having to own it. And that doesn't have to be for a supercar. It could be for your buddy's Speedmaster that you get to borrow and put on every now and then. But you don't necessarily have to shell out the $5,000 for it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, no, I completely agree. I think that that's something worth stating. It's like, if I didn't write about cars and watches, I probably wouldn't drive many cars at all, if at all. Yeah. Like I'm on the fence of not even buying a car to own in Toronto.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Just because it's expensive. Right. And it's a depreciating asset that I will have to service and keep insured and dig snow out of and around of and all those sorts of things. And if you can simplify by not having something that costs money just to exist when you're not using it, Yeah, that's that's more money for a really awesome trip or more money for a piece of camera gear that I can actually use or You know worst case worst case scenario more money when I do eventually decide to buy a vehicle Maybe I could buy one that better suits my needs or as it has a little bit less mileage There's been better maintained or doesn't have any rust or something like that. Yeah, you know, I You know, I always think back to some tips that my dad gave me, you know, don't borrow money If you have any other option, you know If you're going to buy something, even something like a pair of pants, consider how it was made, how long it should last, how many times you're probably going to wash it. It's these little things like clothes last a lot longer if you don't have to wash them, so care for your clothes. Be careful how they get treated and those sorts of things. You can save a lot of money by not having to buy a new wardrobe every six months or eight months. I have friends that buy junk clothes and they just kind of fall apart once they're washed a couple times. And yeah, consider the quality, consider what's actually important. Like if you sit down and maybe actually write a priority list, if hiking and camping, let's say, is at the top of that list, or if skiing twice a week for the season is at the top of that list, then it should clarify all the things you're not spending your money on. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? I like a list of goals and I like a list of priorities. If you're buying something complicated, like a camera, like a car, like a second property or something like that, make a list of the things that are most important to you. I do this all the time with people who ask me what car I should buy. And I say, worry less about the car. There aren't that many poorly made cars right now. Worry more about how you, what you believe is important. Is it leather seats? Is it a sunroof? Is it gas mileage? Is it a third row? Is it this? Is it that? Like make a list so that you're not looking at vehicles that don't even apply to what you want.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And if you're spending all your time looking at camera gear rather than shooting, but your goal is to be a better photographer and not just a steward of a lot of camera gear, then I would say you're going in the wrong direction.
James Stacey Yeah. I think, I think stages in life also make a difference too. And, and, you know, Ryan, I don't know much about where you are in life, if you have kids or a house or what, what your job involves, but, um, you know, priorities can change over time. And I think if you're kind of a young single guy and and with a little bit of disposable income, by all means, you know, if you, if you feel like upgrading your bike, if, if you're part of a racing club and, um, you know, you get pro deals, uh, from a certain manufacturer or whatever, take advantage of that stuff. Um, you know, do it wisely, keep your priorities straight, but let's say you move into a house and, um, and you have a kid or, or something, those, those priorities change. And pretty soon you aren't doing that every year. You're not upgrading your bike every year. Um, you know, from the diving side, let's face it, you can, You can dive anywhere and it doesn't always have to be an expensive trip to the Caribbean or the South Pacific. You can ski on your local hills instead of always taking a trip to Colorado. And, you know, these things are certainly sacrifices or compromises, but, you know, this concept of kind of micro adventures, which caught on a few years back about, you know, doing things that are closer to home, less expensive, more accessible, but equally sort of fun and adventurous, I think, is a really sort of valid concept that I've grown to embrace. And everything is kind of what you make of it. So if you want to go kayaking on your local lake, maybe you do it late in the season or at night. Or, you know, camp, if you want to, if you can only go so far as to camp in your local state park, try to do it with less gear or try to ride your bike to it instead of driving to it. You know, make things a little bit more adventurous than they are to begin with, you know?
Jason Heaton I talk to people all the time who just say, I would like to be outside more often.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton But they, you know, they don't, they don't even walk around the block after dinner.
Unknown Right.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Like just go outside. Right. Like walking is not that bad, even in a city or a town or like wherever you live. I used to, I used to love just walking around Vancouver, taking pictures of the same flowers.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. You know, maybe I'd have some $40 like lens was 40 years old or 50 years old. And that would be the fun of the day. But you know, pack up my kids and we go for a stroll around the block. Maybe you stop and get a treat or something at one end of the arc. And if you get bored of that direction, go in a different direction. And sure, in a lot of these things, I was very lucky because Vancouver has access to all these sorts of things. Pretty much anybody can walk outside of their house and take in some fresh air and maybe see some trees or some buildings or something to take a photo of, that sort of thing. And just try and I think if you if you got there, then maybe maybe six months later, you're into running or you're into cycling or you have a trail that you really like to go for a walk on. And, you know, I had lots of friends that transitioned from wanting to go hiking to realizing that because of their busy lives and their their stacked schedules and the fact that they didn't have a lot of money for gear and that kind of thing, they turned hiking into trail running.
Unknown Oh, sure.
Jason Heaton So they're still out in the woods, but it was just for, say, an hour at a time.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton instead of three days at a time or whatever, or seven hours to do a big loop, they would go and run. And then when they got too good or too fast or too comfortable with one trail, they would find another trail. And that became kind of an overlap of a few different things, because I think a lot of times you're not just going to run out of money, you're going to run out of time and focus.
James Stacey Yeah. And I think, I guess I'll kind of close out my thoughts here by saying something that we sort of hinted on at the beginning of this. And that is, you know, James and I both do these sorts of jobs that allow us to travel and try out fun watches and that sort of stuff. But don't discount that as an option. If you are that passionate about something, and that truly is a top priority in your life, Ryan, in your case, it might be, you know, bicycles, racing bikes or something like that. Try to, you know, maybe, maybe you start freelance writing as a bike reviewer, or maybe you get a job at the local bike shop or, you know, part-time on the weekends or something. You know, I used to work at REI just purely for the discount on the gear, because it was kind of important to me to get jackets and camping gear and that sort of thing, you know, 20 years ago. If those things are priorities for you, maybe you can eke out a living doing it or make it even a part of your work life to kind of get a foot in the door there and have access to that stuff.
Jason Heaton I absolutely agree. And everybody I got, Jason, I assume you get it with some frequency too, but about once a week, maybe I'll get an email or a DM saying like, Hey, I think I would like to break into this world of writing about watches or cars or whatever.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And my only tip is like, I, you just have to start, right? Like I'm, nobody's going to hand you your first job. Nobody's going to say like, please, you have no, you have no history writing by all means come and write for my established magazine. And like people will reach out to the finest magazines or websites or whatever that they can. And I think that in many ways you should start by like, if you really want to start writing, Um, maybe take a photo on Instagram and write three or 400 words for the caption.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That's yours. You can control it. It stays there for other people to see. You can use it as a portfolio. That's what's important. Otherwise I would say, and I know that this is not a popular opinion, but this is how I got my start. And Jason, I assume it's how you got your start at some level, reach out to the sites you really like reading and tell them you're willing to work for free.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Even if it's just, I would like to write I'm happy to write 10 pieces to learn about how this business works, and I will take whatever feedback is available, even if that's, we can't publish this. Because what people don't realize is, sure, they're going to spend a couple hours writing this piece, but then they're asking for time of an overstrapped editor to proofread the piece, maybe provide notes or feedback, put the piece in the CMS on their website, And then have that piece be part of the editorial calendar, and then put the piece online and deal with whatever the comments are, the other conditions of how a site operates. You may see it as you giving somebody something of value for free, but you're actually giving somebody some level of work. Right. Yeah. So you have to be prepared for your work to be worth more than the time they put in to put it on their website, which when you start, it might not be. Right. And that's okay. The big thing is, and what would be different between Jason and I and maybe somebody else, is we just kept working. There were times where I wrote for my own website. There were times where I wrote for websites for free. There are times where you took a job that put you in the right geographic location, like at a press launch for something, but didn't pay anything.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Or paid peanuts nowhere near enough to live on, and you knew that you couldn't live on it forever. But you know what? The job is never forever. You do this job kind of one story at a time, Or maybe you consider it six months at a time and agreements come and go. These things don't last. The cost of this role is you have to maintain a high level of flexibility, especially as you're building your kind of verite in the space.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, I think that kind of takes it full circle. You know, we kind of said that we would talk about kind of both with or without doing this as a living. And I think the majority of it really applies to anybody that isn't even necessarily planning on pursuing what we do as a, as a job, it really just comes down to life priorities. And if, if the priority is high enough, you make it your living. But, but on a sliding scale from there, you know, it's, it's just all about sacrifice, compromise and, and sort of just hard decisions.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Know your priorities, know your goals. Don't spend the money twice, let alone three times or five times if you can spend it once. Take good care of the stuff that you buy as it will take good care of you. And, uh, and always prioritize as much as possible experiences over product.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton I think that's what we would say. And I also think that as we're doing a nice long show, it's probably time for final notes.
James Stacey Yeah. Let's jump into it. Um, I can go first. Actually. The first one I have is, uh, somewhat relevant to, to Ryan's question and kind of our main topic today. It, uh, it was, it's a relatively new podcast out of the UK called Tara incognita, the adventure podcast. And, um, I learned about this through Instagram at some point. And I, and I believe, um, one of the producers of this podcast is, uh, Pip Saunders, who's, uh, the Bremont ambassador, Ben Saunders, his wife. Um, and it's kind of, uh, it's hosted by a guy named Matt Pycroft, who, um, is sort of a British adventurer. And each episode he interviews a different, um, To date, it's been largely British subjects on the show, but adventurers. So he's had Alistair Humphreys, who was the progenitor of the microadventure sort of term. He sort of coined that term about 10 years ago. And, you know, he's someone who's like bicycled across Europe and rode across the Atlantic and things like this. Most recently, he had a guy named Aldo Kane, who's a good follow on Instagram if you're not familiar with him. Aldo is a former special forces soldier from the UK who's since started, he does a lot of sort of support work on expeditions and movie sets and things like this where he's kind of the safety guy and he's very familiar with, you know, cave diving and climbing and sort of all around adventuring. There's a guy who is a professional tree climber and kind of an adventure tree climber, mountaineering, polar exploration. Each episode is an interview with somebody and it's very in-depth. It's a really sort of intelligent conversation with each of these people. And I think more than, you know, I'm not a huge podcast consumer, but I think of the ones that I've sort of subscribed to or listened to regularly, this one is kind of the closest to what I really like, which it's a very one-on-one sort of personal conversation with people that are doing really unique, adventurous, kind of things for living and very unpretentious, very, very thoughtful. And, you know, I just kind of can't wait to see where, where this, this series goes. I think they're up to about eight, eight episodes now. So yeah, check it out. Terra Incognita, The Adventure Podcast.
Jason Heaton That's great. Sounds like a strong addition to any, any podcast feed. I'll be sure to subscribe to that. Always good to have those sorts of stories for when you've got to be inside for a bit or not kicking around. Yeah. So my first is kind of a series of books, a collection from Taschen. So this is their Bibliotheca Universalis series. They're all $20 and they're all the same size. So they make kind of a little collectible. I think they make incredible gifts. I got the first one that I knew of as a gift, which is called 100 Contemporary Homes. And it's this beautiful kind of, I think it's like 600 pages, but it's small. They're quite small and chunky. And it's this beautiful photography and it's not just architecture. It's literally, all sorts of anything. It's a very wide collection of books, but at 20 bucks to get into something not only from Tashin, but you kind of lean on your various interests. Really, really cool. I came across a handful of these just kicking around the other day in New York City, and I think they're great. I think they make a great gift. I think if you want to build out a little collection So I ended up getting this book as a gift, and I absolutely love the book. And now I'm starting to see them in other places. And I think it's 20 bucks. It's great.
James Stacey Yeah, that's an incredible collection. I'm looking at it now. I mean, it just goes on and on.
Jason Heaton Photography, architecture. Movies, travel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, there's all these ones that were like, to live here, to live there, just that are kind of like city guides. And they lean heavily on photography. The 100 Contemporary Homes is in more than one language, which is pretty clever. That would explain some of its thickness as well. And I think they're pretty cool. I'll put a link in for the entire collection. Maybe go on there and just order one and see what you think. They look cool on a coffee table. They look great on a bookshelf. And I think if you're killing 20 minutes waiting for some food or something, you could sit there and flip through and learn something or see something new. Nice.
James Stacey Yeah. My second one is, I think it actually came from the Outside podcast. And we've talked about Outside many, many times. But this one was an article called Frozen Alive. And very fitting for this time of year. Hopefully not too fitting. But you can either listen to it as sort of an audio version or you can just sort of read the long form article, which is what I did. It kind of goes through in a lot of detail what happens to a body as you're freezing to death. And they kind of do it in a story version. So it's to kind of set the scene. The first paragraph says, when your Jeep spins lazily off the mountain road, and slams backwards into a snowbank, you don't worry immediately about the cold. So that's kind of where you, that's where they leave you. You know, your, your vehicle is slid off the road. Um, you're kind of in the wilderness and then it sort of takes you step by step by step. The decisions you make, what's happening to your body as the, as the cold sort of creeps in and you make maybe one or two mistakes along the way. Um, really kind of grim, um, in its, in its detail and kind of what's happening here. But it's, uh, it's fascinating. I mean, I think, you know, um, there can be sort of this morbid curiosity as to, you know, how, how, how people drown or how people freeze to death or, you know, what happens to the body in certain scenarios. And I think, you know, um, we often hear about people as they're freezing to death, you know, they're getting hypothermic, they rip off their clothes because they feel hot. Um, and kind of all these things you've heard this, this goes into detail about each of those scenarios. It's certainly a fictional story, but we always hear, especially this time of year, about things like this happening. And I just thought it was kind of an interesting sort of bit of forensic pathology to kind of deconstruct this scene. Also a very, I guess, a cautionary tale about what to do and what not to do if your vehicle goes off the road.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, probably worthwhile for anyone driving in sort of remote areas where you're maybe not going to have cell service or if you don't really even trust that to work in a really bad scenario. Yeah. All right, well, my last one is a follow up to final notes that I had quite some time ago, which was the Lego Speed Champions lineup, which I bought this little two car Porsche set, and they just released an F40 Competizione. Oh, wow. So it's a little Lego, it's 20 bucks. So I guess US, it's probably 15 bucks. It's $15, we'll say. I just ordered it. And it's a little red F40. I don't know what more you want. I'm never gonna own an F40, probably never get to drive or even sit in an F40, but now I can build one at home and kind of shut off that side of my brain that's worried about emails and that sort of thing. Yeah. I absolutely love these things and I'm always tempted to just buy a bunch of them, but to the points we spoke about at length earlier in the episode, I haven't bought any more. I said that they're in my mind, I was like, well, if they do a 959 or an F40, Or, you know, a Tipo 33 or something wild like that. I'll buy that and have it next to the Porsche. But I saw this F40 pop up the other day. And so now it's in the mail. Nice.
James Stacey I mean, I think, you know, 15, 20 bucks is that hardly even falls into the realm of what what we were talking about earlier today. I think I think the body and the mind sort of need these sorts of diversions from time to time. And Legos are just one of those sort of they get a free pass, I think.
Jason Heaton Yeah, especially this time of year, you know, you are inside a little bit more or you come in and you'd like to warm up and maybe, you know, sit and listen to a podcast or some music and this, you know, if you're done looking through your 100 contemporary homes book, then I guess this is the next step. Yeah, right. So I think it looks hilarious. And I especially think they nailed the rear three quarter of an F40, which is tough to do in Lego blocks. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm excited to get it and, you know, stay tuned to Instagram to see what it looks like kind of on the shelf next to the 9-11. Cool. All right. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening and a big thanks to Hodinkee for supporting the show and for Drive Coffee's sponsorship of this episode. Hit the show notes via hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. And you can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at JayStacy and follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGreyNado at gmail.com or throw a comment in the post for this episode on Hodinkee. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts and music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from the late poet, Mary Oliver, who said, tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?