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The Grey NATO – 383 – Slack Crew & A 2026 [Part 2]

Published on Thu, 09 Jul 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In episode 383 of The Graynato (TGN) podcast, hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton discuss their upcoming trip to Wind Up Chicago, where they'll be hosting an event with Citizen at Forbidden Root. Both hosts are wearing vintage Citizen Aqualand watches in anticipation of a dive trip during the show. They've also launched a newly redesigned website at thegraynato.com.

The main segment features a "Slack Crew Q&A," where they answer text questions from their paid supporter community. Topics range from their favorite moments in the TGN Slack community to creating mixtapes for each other, discussing dream adventures (Jason wants to sail across the Pacific, James wants to join a Top Gear-style road trip), and debating brand logos and their impact on watch design. They also share their production workflow and humorously debate which Muppet would win in a battle royale. The episode concludes with final notes: Jason recommends a new YouTube series from Anordain about their Model One watch, while James enthusiastically reviews a Hoto handheld vacuum he uses around his office.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello and welcome to another episode of the Great NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode three hundred and eighty three, and it's priorly brought to you by the always growing TG and supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and might want to support the show, it starts at as little as five dollars a month, and you can visit the newly revamped thegreynato.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Eaton. Hey Jason, how are we doing? I'm doing
Jason Heaton pretty well. It's uh an exciting week. We got a new new TGN website up, um, which uh hopefully people will go check out. There's not a ton of new stuff there, but it looks nice. It looks great. You did a good job with that.
James Stacy Nice to uh nice to have a bit of a refresh. I think we had one of maybe the most basic websites still on the internet, uh at least for an active yeah, an active element on the internet. Um but yeah, we uh I I needed I was able to get some help from uh from Claude uh with a plan. Uh and then uh you know, once you actually have the plan, putting it through uh Squarespace is easy enough. But yeah, we've got a new new website, the Grenado.com. Check it out if you like. Um nice place to kind of find spots to subscribe if you want to be part of the uh TGN supporter crew. You can get in there and then certainly links out to all the show notes for every single episode. So everything we talk about we link and all that kind of stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, bringing
James Stacy us up to this week now that we've got that uh new website launched, we have uh wind up Chicago. So we're recording this on Tuesday in a couple of days. We'll both fly to Chicago. And then the evening of the 10th on Friday, we have our event with Citizen at Forbidden Root. It's a fully RSVP'd event. It's very full. So if you RSVP'd and aren't going to go, please cancel your tickets so somebody else can claim it. And otherwise, if you weren't able to get in, we apologize, but we hope to see you either at the show or at any of the other hangouts kind of happening around the city uh that weekend. Uh Jason, looking forward to that.
Jason Heaton I am. Yeah. It's gonna be a whirlwind trip. And if you know, we skipped last year and uh so it feels like a while and I'm I'm also looking forward to our annual sushi, sushi dinner. So we won't be partaking in much of the food probably at Forbidden Root. We'll leave that for others, but uh we're gonna fill our bellies with uh
James Stacy uni. Yeah
Jason Heaton should be great. Yeah, I'm looking
James Stacy forward to it. Yeah. The sushi uh our our our you know semi annual sushi date, always looking forward to that. We've got we found an equally uh awesome spot here in Toronto. Right. Oh man, it's so good. But yeah, uh speaking of the Toronto show, that is the weekend of September 26th. It's coming up really fast. Uh so please plan on being there if you can. I believe the tickets launch sometime soon. So I would say, you know, pay attention to uh the the link in the show notes if that's something you're interested in. And uh be sure to stay tuned to the show as we're gonna do another uh big party with Marathon. I think it's one of the best parties of the year. It's a great time, and it's something we're really excited about. So uh lots going on as far as shows in the next couple of months, and I know it's only July, but the time from July to September feels like a couple of weeks.
Jason Heaton Sure. Usually. Yeah. Especially
James Stacy at uh this summer's pace. But yeah, outside of uh events and travel and that sort of thing, uh what have you been up to?
Jason Heaton Man, I'm just in heavy duty uh editing mode here at home. I'm I'm moving um in a few weeks and so I've just been kind of brutally purging. I think I've I've mentioned it before. So um I I can't tell you how good it feels. I mean it really does. I I've you know lived in this house for twenty plus years and so it's just you would tend to accumulate a lot of stuff and living living in the city, you know, it's I put it put something out on the curb with a free sign on it and it's gone within the hour. So that that's helpful. And then I've been, you know, selling a lot of stuff on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and whatever else. And it's been uh yeah, it's been good. It's been a process. But uh yeah. It's uh That's great.
James Stacy And you excited for the move? I am excited for the new spot.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah, definitely. Just just moving across town. Um and uh I should have a proper garage for the first time in pretty much my whole life. So I'm pretty pretty stoked about that. Been spent a little time last week kind of uh setting that up with workbenches and moving some things around and plotting and planning uh where the Land Rover will go and so yeah, all all super exciting stuff. It's uh it's a little different type of summer than than usual, you know, a lot less kind of travel and adventuring and more just kind of logistics here at home. But I think, you know, that's uh that's equally rewarding and it's uh it has to be done. And I'd rather be doing it now than, you know, hauling stuff around in in slush and ice in the winter. So
James Stacy Yeah, the move the move is not to have to do this in January for sure.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah. Yeah. And how about that? That's great. Anything else uh besides packing for Chicago? Or unpacking. Maybe you don't even bother unpacking these days.
James Stacy I I do. You know, it's it's different every time. And with Chicago, I really kind of set myself a goal to do just a backpack. It's just a weekend.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I used to be really good at this. And
James Stacy now like even now I you know I I'm uh I'm kind of a I guess a stressed packer is is how it works for me. I like to start a few days before. I have a folding table in my office, I'll bring it out, and that becomes like my place to put things that I would like to pack and bring with me.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um but yeah, whatever
James Stacy it is, I have lost my talent for packing pretty lightly.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um you know I I'm still very
James Stacy good at keeping it to a carry-on and you know, a second bag. But as soon as you drop that roller and you go to the fully on foot mode,
Jason Heaton yeah, uh I I gotta I gotta work
James Stacy on it a bit. I really gotta kind of like think about what I need and you know we',re going on a dive, so how much space am I sacrificing for a mask and the kind of stuff I'm not gonna rent, which really at this point I'll I'll I'll rent or borrow everything but the mask, uh which is the kind of my mode when I'm when I'm on on foot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh but yeah, I I''mm definitely looking forward
James Stacy to the weekend. Uh and otherwise I haven't really been doing much other than work. Um, you know, we were at the cottage this weekend um hanging out and uh and otherwise uh just been at the desk kind of you know keeping Hodinkee on on track here and kind of prepping to be able to be as offline as possible for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday of Chicago.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Um speaking of packing, what uh we this kind of a good segue into risk check, but uh besides besides a citizen, which uh I think we're both wearing today, um are you gonna be bringing any other watches to Chicago or are you gonna go light on that front as well?
James Stacy I'm I'll bring the DWC Terra.
Jason Heaton Oh the Delhi watchco. Uh
James Stacy because I've I've said on the pod that I'd bring it with me that's an easy one to have around. And I think people will like to see it. Um, you know, I I had it at at a recent um Hodinkee Happy Hour that we did at the end of June in uh in New York, and people really got a kick out of it, and you know, it's nice to see that that watch is getting some attention but yeah the the plan is to wear my my aqualant duplex which is what i'm wearing for the show today i've been wearing it a bunch i wore it last weekend i just i I don't know I have such a obviously it's like a well on record as having a real soft spot for any diggy. But I also really just have a a soft spot for like this kind of ugly's the wrong term, but they are like an awkward watch. Like there's something very kind of um intentional direct about a standard Aqualand like the one we all know and love, the one that you and I own a couple of. I think you're wearing your vintage what's that, a C two oh three or whatever today?
Jason Heaton Yeah. And these
James Stacy ones that that are a little bit more nineties coded, we'll say a little bit f more fast and loose on the the sort of direction with the semi-skeletonized hands and two screens. It has two screens and it does less than a standard Aqua load in many ways, but it can show you a little bit more at the same time.
Jason Heaton Oh sure. If that makes sense. Like you can you
James Stacy can have your your chronograph minutes up top and your seconds down bottom, but that's not more really. It's just different.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but I I love the
James Stacy kind of nineties techie dive watch computer before computers were as kind of prolific as they are now or or available as they are now.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It wears really nicely on a NATO,
James Stacy which is probably how I'll have it, but uh a good buddy of the show has sourced me the original titanium um bracelet for it, uh which shout out Ben for that uh hookup and uh and so uh we're gonna do a little trade. I have I have to find something cool in my office here to bring, also fit that, whatever that is, in the backpack. That's great. And but I'll have a bracelet for it sh theoretically by the by this weekend. So whether or not I'm able to fit that bracelet and size it and take it on a dive, I don't know, but I'll bring a couple tools. Again, more things for the back.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. You can see why I'm not good
James Stacy at this. And you know I'm gonna have to end up buying somet something to ship everything home that I'm given or buy at wind up and all that kind of thing. So I should probably just go with a roller. But then you gotta carry it around the whole time.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And uh and
James Stacy you know, it's you know, yeah, I I don't know. But yeah, uh I'm I'm I'm rocking the uh the titanium aqualand duplex, and I just I absolutely love this watch. I had it in the water at the cottage this past weekend and I did a couple of kind of very short, you know, sub one minute little free dives.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And uh the once
James Stacy you're about four feet down, the dive function initiates automatically and it starts a log with the date and the time and all that kind of stuff. So it's it still has all of its seemingly all of its ability. Uh who knows what what we'll see when we get down to depth.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Hopefully it's still
James Stacy you know fully watertight uh but we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get to it um but I'm looking forward to taking it diving and and uh and I think it's uh the right watch for the weekend for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah yeah oh that's great yeah I yeah, as you mentioned, I've got my my vintage Aqualand on. This is the one from eighty five. I had to pull it out yesterday in anticipation of the trip because you know the battery life on these were was quite short back in the day, still is. Um it this is the first generation that had three small batteries in it. And uh, you know, one one I think powered the depth sensor, one the analog display and one the digital display or maybe whatever. And they're they're they're a real pain to replace. Um, you know, I've done them in my past, uh I've done them myself in the past and um it's doable. You know, you got a a steady hand and it's a bunch of tiny little screws that hold the case back on. But I I took it out thinking like, uh if it's if the battery's flat, you know, I need to address that before the weekend before I fly 'cause this is the watch I'll be I'll be taking with me. So yeah, whether or not I I dive with this one or not, I did I did the last time we did a a wind up in a lake, um and and it worked fine and it's a it's it's kind of kinda cool that a watch from 1985 still still functions as it does. But uh regardless, uh I've got it on the original you know, printed rubber long strap, which is so incredibly long. I have it on the second to smallest whole and I've got you know seven and a quarter inch wrists or thereabouts and so not super tiny wrists. I mean I you you really couldn't have a wrist any smaller than mine and get away with this strap. They're just they were really made to be worn over a wetsuit, so which is really
James Stacy cool.. Ye Yeahah, th that's a great watch. And certainly if I didn't have this um this sort of later generation um duplex, uh I I would bring one of one of my standard aqualans. I still have I still have the 40th and the the 71W, the loom dial, and I love them both.
Jason Heaton Well I think the duplex is I I'm I I haven't seen one in person for a long time, but it was it's kind of my second favorite vintage Aqualand. I think um
James Stacy the hyper's pretty nutty, but it's not it's not any diggy.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Just digital. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I I I love the duplex. There was just something about the the different variations. I think they made an orange dial and a blue dial and some others and and they're
James Stacy think there's a loom dial as well. They're just cool.
Jason Heaton I think once um once the Aqualand went into the the fully analog space, I don't know, maybe later nineties or whatever, um they kind of lost me a little bit for a while using the hands for for depth. Um so I I still have such a soft spot for the the digital versions. So be fun to to uh reunite these two or or or bring these two together, these different generations later this week.
James Stacy Yeah, I I I think this one's from the mid to late nineties. Uh we can definitely do a little bit more research and maybe tell a little bit of a story uh post dive. Uh but I yeah, I you know obviously we're big Aqualand sort of knuckleheads, and I'm not gonna miss my chance to throw this on my wrist alongside uh, you know, I guess a descent mark two as my current uh dive computer. But yeah, looking forward to it. It'll be fun to be in the water. Hopefully not too cold. It'll be
Jason Heaton fine. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I think it should be warmish. I think.
James Stacy I did. I I mean like uh sometimes I worry about it for a minute and then go like I've survived all those seven mil dives in Vancouver. It's not going to be significantly colder or even I don't know. I guess we'll find out. Um what
Jason Heaton I dove dry the past couple times I did this and this time I'm bringing a wetsuit and most of the guys will wear wetsuits. So um if I remember right, it was quite balmy last time. I think it'll be fine. It's pretty shallow drive. So it should be sushi
James Stacy diving, watch show. Not so bad.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh so yeah, that'll be that'll be good. Um
James Stacy but look, let's get into uh today's main topic. As you know from the title, it's uh the part two of our Slack crew and a. We just did two episodes that required a fair amount of editing and production uh for the sort of Rolex uh Explorers episode and then mine from Sale GP and we thought it'd be fun to kind of follow up uh with a a second uh outing of the 2026 Slack crew and A. Uh I should have written this down, but of course I didn't. Uh if you're brand new to the slack crew and a welcome. Nice to have you here. Weird episode to start with, but God bless. And basically, normally we do QA episodes with recorded audio files from the paid side of our audience from the TGN supporter crew. They can send in files. We do a monthly thereabouts episode where we kind of make it sound like a radio show. Um and this idea of the Slack crew and a kind of flips that on its head where we take text questions from the Slack crew and offer it as a public episode. I think that's reasonably direct. Basically, those are questions from the paid side of the audience that are in the TGN Slack, and it kind of gives you an idea what's going on in in there. Uh the some of these questions are pretty zany, some of them are pretty straightforward. But uh Jason, do you want to kick it off with one from our good pal Jackson B?
Jason Heaton Jackson B. our uh devoted uh moderator and longtime uh supporter. Um he says you guys generally are hands off on the slack, participating more so than driving things day to day. So what's each of your favorite things that have happened within or come out of And then flip side, anything you wish your favorite group of knuckleheads would do less of. Where do you start with this one? Um,
James Stacy yeah, I mean I I think the the the big
James Stacy moments for me are always when we're able to launch a product that people are excited about. Uh like the the the moment on the T GN Slack when we launched the CWN one and you know, suddenly we had a three hundred comment thread uh that was just kind of melting my phone when notifications were on. Uh that kind of stuff is is really fun. And then I like that it's a it's a very direct line to what I would call like real feedback. You know, the internet these days is and and I complain about this a lot, so I I won't belabor it, but the internet these days to me, as someone who grew up when the internet was uh essentially just a digital handshake with another human being, today it you have to filter for an algorithm. So you're not even seeing the stuff that your friends want or like or enjoy or are sharing. And then you have to deal with uh bots and other AI elements, like things that aren't even real humans but are operating in a human like fashion. And I think probably my favorite thing about the crew and about the the slack is the ability to get like actual human feedback, good and bad. And everybody's super like uh people will will call me on something if I'm wrong or give me an edit note. I give give me another hour to talk on mic. I will mispronounce something for sure. And someone will tell me that I you know, said Appalachia wrong.
Jason Heaton Right. And fair play,
James Stacy that's all fine, but I like that it comes from a human being and it can be delivered in that way. And even if if the feedback is like we really liked this,
Jason Heaton yeah, I like that I can I feel like it's still
James Stacy a place where I can absorb that as actual feedback, not as something that's gone through a filter where a platform is trying to convince me to spend more time on that platform. So it gives me either positive or negative feedback to keep me hooked, if that makes
Jason Heaton sense.. Mm-hmm It still feels like a human
James Stacy noise layer, which I which I like quite a bit.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I think too, um, I I think you know, for a community that has you know two thousand members and it it's um it's remarkably unanonymous. I think that's you know kind of b you know riffing off of your point about the the difference between that and social media and kind of the the difference between what social media used to be and what it is nowadays, I think it it kind of does go back to that era when, you know, you felt like it kind of like what it was when I first got into the watch forums. You know, there were there was some kind of snarkiness and and you know back and forth sort of whatever, but I I think that even at that time some of the smaller forums were just kind of fun community places. And and I I like that this has kind of come about come around to that. And there even though we all have kind of handles and usernames or or some of us do, um, we've kind of fostered this, you know, community or this idea that let's be less anonymous, let's be forthright, especially when it comes to buying, selling, and trading. It just feels like a little bit more of a a safe space, if you will, not just for that, but for for communicating. And you know, uh we've also seen some remarkable acts of humanity, um, you know, people supporting each other, um, you know, long threads about you know mental health, physical health, um, you know, life changes. Yeah, and people just rallying around causes and the kind of the like the collaboration that came out of our wild f wildfire relief efforts last year in California. Um, you know, I get supportive direct messages, well, not even just supportive, just direct messages from people regularly. Just, you know, they might be asking a question or just offering a bit of support or reinforcement or uh thanks or um criticism or whatever it might be. And I I just I appreciate all of that because I I really feel like um you know not to not to belabor this or go on too much too long about it, but you know, the the kind of the overarching thing that we're seeing in the news these days about the manosphere and kind of uh, you know, a lot of the kind of negativity around some online communities, um, I I feel like we we can kind of counteract that to a certain degree. And and I think it's a space where um, you know, we we certainly have our share of women in the audience, but it is a largely male audience, and it's kind of nice to see kind of men coming together specifically um in this case and and and just being supportive of each other and kind of talking openly and vulnerably and I I think that's that's really great.
James Stacy Yeah, I would agree. And then the other one that that really strikes me is is how much that digital part actually does just simply make it to the real world. There's big TGN hangouts, there's local contingents, there are you know friends being made and then we even have people who travel international, you know, shout out Chris F, for example. Um, you know, people who who come a really long way, and then I'll find out, oh, you know, you find out that person went to Vancouver recently or went to Minneapolis recently and like extended that reach all based on what's kind of going in there. And uh, you know, the autonomy of that, where like, sure, we do the marathon parties or the citizen party this week or that sort of thing. But the fact that it just extends into we can do this ourselves is perfect.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Which I like a lot. Yeah. Anything
James Stacy you would love uh less of? I
Jason Heaton can't really think of anything. You know, we've had a couple of isolated incidents of um you know, we had a bit of a scandal on the on the BST, bad actors, uh which we which we addressed. Um you know.
James Stacy Yeah. Um but uh no,
Jason Heaton other than that, I I I I'm I'm just constantly amazed at how civil and respectful um that community remains even with that many members. I can't really think of anything that uh that I see that that I kind of shake my head and say, boy, I wish that wasn't going on. You know, a few kind of little bickers and arguments and things, but it all it usually gets resolved like like normal humans do. So that's great.
James Stacy Yeah. Okay. Cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, all right. Well look,
James Stacy thank you so much for that question, Jackson B. That was a solid one and a good way to kick it off. Uh next up we've got one from Kai about oh I'm immediately in the mode of of expecting to hear Kai's voice. Yeah. We have to read the question. Uh James. Uh so next up we've got one from Kai who says, It's been 10 years of TGN and you've decided to make a mixtape for your co-host. What is your thematic approach and what are a few tracks that you'd have on their tape? It was kind of a fun one.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think you know, you and I have overlapped on kind of music and and shared music things back and forth several times over the years. I wouldn't say we're it's like a main theme of of ours, but you know, when I've visited you, we've sat and listened to music and you've recommended things, and of course, you I think we've both done it a bit on in final notes or on the show, you more than me. Um, but I wouldn't necessarily say that like our tastes are entirely perfectly aligned. Um, but I've learned a lot about uh a lot of different music from you and, the temptation with a mixtape was to like kind of incl include only that stuff that we kind of overlap on. But um I think you have a broad enough appreciation of music in general um that you know a lot of stuff that I would put on a mixtape that inspires me would resonate with you as well. And I think rather than specific tracks, um, I just thought of a few artists that I would put on there. And I think one band that came to me relatively recently, like within the past couple of years that I wish I had gotten into earlier and I think you did, um, was the war on drugs. Um I just think you know, thinking of a place or um under the pressure are just songs I listened to almost on repeat. I listen to those a lot. Um Neil Young, I'd put some Neil Young on there, some some you know got to do some Gordon Lightfoot. I mean, leaning into the the Canada uh angle with both of those guys. Um big fan of the police. Um not sure where you came down on them. I think you know you have at least some healthy respect for them. Pink Floyd, I know you're a fan. Um
James Stacy huge fan. So yeah, I'd kinda do that. I
Jason Heaton think it'd take more of a kind of a thematic approach um in terms of of kind uh you know, I I mean I could do like a full tape that was like old school kind of progressive rock or kind of guitar hero stuff or or kind of try to emulate your taste, but I think I'm just gonna kind of pull from my own playlist and and put a few of those acts that I mentioned on there. So
James Stacy I love it. Yeah. I mean I would love a mixed tape of you of like here's the ten police songs you've gotta listen to from like a real fan, 'cause I think I just know the hits.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. Yeah. And like I know that you like
James Stacy the police and you like all the stuff Sting has done since.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I feel like that's almost too
James Stacy much music for me to figure out. Yeah. I'm
Jason Heaton too old to be like, oh, I'm gonna I'm
James Stacy gonna go through the 17 albums that are probably more than
Jason Heaton that. Yeah. Right. Um that are out there.
James Stacy But yeah, no, I love that idea. That's great.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And not like broadly different than
James Stacy the scope I was taking. So for my mixtape, you know, I know that you're uh something of an anglophile and you enjoy uh British music as well, but not necessarily for the same reasons. Um so mine was sort of like newer in the last decade, we'll call it British stuff that you that I think you should know.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Um and so I have
James Stacy five songs that I I thought up pretty quickly. I I used to include the music in these episodes. Spotify gets really upset about it. Nobody else seems to care. I I think it falls under commentary. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I I'm never quite sure. So unfortunately, I can't include any of these, but I will put show notes to YouTube where you can just listen to the track at least a decent-ish quality.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh the first one is uh Funeral
James Stacy by James Blake. Um this is um from a recent album. It's absolutely I mean the whole album's incredible, uh, but this is a great one. Uh the next one is uh a song that I remain have been obsessed with now for nine I think nine years. I think it came out in twenty seventeen. Um and it's uh it's a band the band is called Hers and the song is What Once Was. Um very interesting band, very sad story. Neither of the the two young men from the band are around. They passed in a car accident uh while touring in the States. Um, but this song has remained like this kind of calling card and it shows up on the internet in interesting places in this memory of of uh of the band. Um the next one would be a Rose Betts song from I think like a I think it's from like a Zack Snyder version of one of the DC films, like a Batman movie.
Jason Heaton Huh. I'm the wrong like I I know a fair
James Stacy bit about films. I don't do comic book movies very well. Um, but this song is incredible. It's called Song to the Siren. Um and it's incredi it's just it it's absolutely nuts. And on a decent set of speakers, it'll blow your hair back. It's it's uh it's it's a good one. Um the next one is a band that I know I've shared with you before, London Grammar, and this is a more recent uh cut from them called Californian Soil, which has I think like a sort of pace that I could see you kind of enjoying. Um it's it's a really good one. And then uh more recently um there's a great band called The Japanese House, and the song is I Saw You in a Dream. Um, a little bit harder to describe that one. Uh, it's a mix of several different, like very modern or current uh musical influences. Um, but those those would be the five that I'd recommend. I think some of it would be pseudo-familiar to you, and some of it would be fairly fresh. Um but I'll I'll include all of those in the show notes.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's great. I mean I remember years ago you introduced me to London Grammar and uh like that's their their definite regular rotation on my playlists these days. So yeah. I'll take anything else too.
James Stacy They just have they have an an incredible KEXP
James Stacy performance and the keyboardist um is wearing an aerospace. I love it. Oh uh that's
Jason Heaton great. Young young guy in uh in
James Stacy a with a two tone aerospace. Uh oh
Jason Heaton my gosh. It's it's a it's I'll include that
James Stacy as well because it's a it's a good one if you don't know Latin grammar. Simply amazing. Uh great stuff. Some of my favorite driving music. Um because it all all has a pretty good beat, but it's not too intense. All right, Kai, that was a good one. Fun question.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. All right. Next up we have for one from uh Ninad who asks uh which article editorial or project written or created by the other person do you wish you'd had a chance to write or be involved in? I two came to mind for me initially, and and not that I would have wanted to write them. Um I just think it would have been a blast to kind of ride shotgun with you on these. Um one literally, um, which was the the one you did for Hodinkee about um doing the r driving the vintage Porsches over the Gross Glockner, the in the Austrian Alps. Um I mean just on the weight of of your photography alone on that one, like that bright crisp alpine sky and the snow and those beautiful cars um and the color. Um I I I don't know, just just something about crisp mountain air and you know, vintage cars. I I I can just imagine the buzz, but you know, like a good cup of coffee and like just kind of hanging out, keeping warm with with friends. I just I it just it had this vibe to it that just immediately was attractive to me. And it was just such a great, great story, you know, whether or not um, you know, I I know a lot of automotive related stuff kind of is controversial on watch websites for whatever reason. Um it's kind of silly, but um I I I found that one really compelling. And then the other one was from your earlier days at uh a blog to watch, and that is the uh the the the the famed Clipperton um expedition. I think, you know, to
James Stacy have you on that boat. Driving and diving.
Jason Heaton Um, you know, this this is this is quintessential TGN stuff, and I think that story, and of course we did an early episode where you talked about it um for the full episode. Um yeah, I I think the two of those we could have really c I could have been a wingman easily on either of those and and really enjoyed myself.
James Stacy Yeah, I mean I I I definitely think it would have been amazing to have yet either of those. I I was just reminiscing about the Porsche chute that's with all the five fifties and a couple seventeen seven eighteens up up at the top of Gross Glockner for uh a GP Ice Race thing that that company I believe is now FAT or has kind of splintered off into other things, but they you know that's still Ferdy Porsche's sort of uh one of his projects and and they do some very cool stuff. But I I was thinking back on that because I have such limited memories and I I I realize it's something I don't think I've talked about on the show, but I was going through like a fairly severe medical reaction to um a booster shot I had gotten.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Uh do you remember me talking
James Stacy about that? I know I told you at some point, but like basically I couldn't have anything really touch my skin without it like wherever it was, wherever it touched, I would get hives.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then about 10 minutes later they
James Stacy would go away. I had to change clothes because I couldn't be wearing a belt. I couldn't really have shirts with like a collar.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Or and I was
James Stacy just on so much Benadryl that I I don't have like a lot of I have to go back and look at the photos to kind of like remember that day. Oh boy. I was in Switzerland for like seven or eight days. We were kind of changing hotels. It was and it was all very nice, but like the flight out there was absolutely terrible and and I just it was very difficult to be comfortable. Yeah. And I I that's that's weirdly like the thing that I remember when I and when I see that is and it comes up. It's what I think it's some of my best photography work that I've ever done.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um we got incredibly lucky with
James Stacy you know the conditions and the light and get being up there very early in the morning. Shout out Tino for driving me up the mountain, uh like like like uh you know a bat out of hell. And uh and we got up there before first light and of course I was shooting with some very, very talented photographers that were there for, you know, magazines like Curves, like Stefan Bauer and and uh these guys and yeah, I had a great time. I think a lot of those photos held up really nicely. Um, but it's always weird that there's that kind of background that I you know, you just gotta keep that kind of stuff to yourself. But it was that that condition or whatever you would that reaction lasted like about nine months.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. Um and
James Stacy was was a real bummer uh during that time.
Jason Heaton Um That's a weird memory to attach to such an amazing super weird, right? Gosh.
James Stacy was on one of the recordings I was like, Oh, I remember hanging out with Mark Weber and there's like, What did we talk about? I get like uh you know,
Jason Heaton yes, uh as as up in the mountains with Mark Weber.
James Stacy I remember having uh a schnitzel of some sort with him at that chalet at the time. But um but yeah, no it, was uh it was a very, very, very cool thing that I'm I'm very thankful to have been a part of. And then as far as for yours, I mean it it's weirdly similar in some ways. It's the Blanc Pond dive trips.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. I would you know, I would have loved a
James Stacy seat on on any of those boats. You know, there's camp vibes when you're on a dive boat, like on a on a on a live aboard. And to have that with you I think would be such a delight.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'd I'd love the Tudor splashdown
James Stacy story to go with something more recent um than uh than sort of the Blanc Pond series. But really, it's probably yeah, it's your it's your sort of far-flung Terramina, you know, diving in in cool places with with Blanc Pond or supporting whatever cool you know ambassador or or spokesperson they're they're doing the next thing with.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think you know a lot of those look like
James Stacy so such a good time and kind of like with Clipperton, really not a watch thing.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. It's just that a watch brand is
James Stacy involved, and so you kind of get attached. Like that's how Clipperton kind of came about. There was no to this day, I'm sure Ores didn't make any money or had reap any significant benefits from Clipperton. I think they did it because it it kind of matched the way that they wanted to spend that kind of money from their brand. Um but yeah, just I mean, just the an anything like that really, you know, remains quite appealing to me. And, you know, now it's nine years ago, ten ten years ago for uh for Clipperton. So
Jason Heaton yeah. It's been a while for sure. It's funny how you know we we've had so much overlap in terms of our interests and topics that you and I generally cover, and yet we've done I mean the number of press trips we actually did together over the years, I could count on one hand or less. You know, I mean it's well I guess you can't have less than one hand, but I mean it's you know, I mean I the one that stands out was you know the Tudor trip in in Florida a couple of years ago for the FXC Black. But like, you know, like you'd think we would have been on five diving trips together or something like that, but it just doesn't come about. It's uh it's weird. Yeah.
James Stacy Man, how many dives have we even done together? Not that many. Yeah, I know. A couple in Vancouver.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Uh we did uh Florida.
James Stacy Yeah. Um we'll have Chicago next week.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And even when we worked on the Tudor
James Stacy project, this is years and years ago, but up in Tobermore, I didn't
Jason Heaton know running I was manning the drone
James Stacy and I was kind of running the topside operations. That was uh Sarah and I had kind of designed this uh shoot back when Tudor was doing more sponsored stuff and Hodinkee did this big spread. I can I can link it
Jason Heaton mm-hmm um but I shot everything topside
James Stacy and and you handled shooting uh we had a model uh but like that was a diver and uh and you handled shooting underwater in Tobermory but we got to spend that time together but we didn't even get to dive together. I didn't get in the water.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. There's too much too much to do. And you know,
James Stacy when your goal is really to get the photos, another person in the water is not helping anything.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Right. All right. Good question, Ninad. Um all right. Let's move on to one from uh Matt Fretz and Dials. You want to read that one?
James Stacy Yeah. He says, uh James and Jason, if you could have one dream adventure that you could make happen, what would that be? I think the two of you have been fortunate to have parts of that dream happen for you, but what would be the ultimate prize? Could be anything, such as playing the tambourine for Bob Dylan on stage or diving to the deepest depths. I think both of those options sound terrifying.
Jason Heaton I love the tampering might
James Stacy be the might be the absolute max of my ability musically. Um and even then I think I could let Bob down. Yeah,
Jason Heaton right, right. Uh there's
James Stacy only one that really immediately jumps to mind for me.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And you know, it's it's growing
James Stacy up obsessed with top gear and then the grand tour.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Uh and it would be to go along
James Stacy on one of those adventures where they're sent to the other side of the world, they have to buy a car there, they do some crazy stuff to it, then they have to complete some ridiculous drive.
Jason Heaton Yeah. You know, the the Craigslist
James Stacy four by fours in, you know, the Andes, amazing. Or the uh the Mauritania trip more recently. Um, and I've obviously exceptionally excited to see what Thomas and James and uh and the new team for the Grand Tour get up to uh in the upcoming season. But that that's the one that immediately leaps to mind. Like I've done a lot of cool adventures, but I mean one of the one of those ones where you get to go somewhere that some people can't even pronounce and figure out a car, you know, drive across the Macaddy Caddy or uh or really any of those. I mean like all of them just sound like such a blast. Uh uh uncomfortable for sure, but you know, it's that type two fun or whatever.
Jason Heaton Yeah, those are good ones. How about you? Yeah. For me, um it would be uh this lifelong fascination that I've had and and if I'm honest of a fear, um is just offshore open water sailing, like long distance sailing. Oh cool. I've talked about it a little bit before, um kind of my fascination with it. And uh, you know, I've dabbled in kind of inshore sailing and kind of crewing on boats and stuff, but to sail across the Pacific, you know, over several weeks from you know, it could be San Francisco to to Hawaii or, you know, further. Um but to to live on a on a sailboat and to crew on a sailboat, not single-handed, that's uh a bit beyond even my my f fantasy here, um, but to to kind of just spend time in that kind of minimalist environment doing something that I would find one of the last kind of true adventures um on Earth, you know, that's still kind of very old school and very hands-on and analog. And that would be um yeah, just you know, I I'm not sure what size boat or whatever, but just, you know, just sailing across the Pacific, I think would be both terrifying and incredibly satisfying and and just kind of a dream of mine. I'm not sure I'd ever I'll ever get around to that sort of thing in in my lifetime, but uh you know we I think we all have yeah we all have those uh you know windmills that we're chasing, so that's that's mine, I guess.
James Stacy Sure. I love that. Yeah, that's uh that's a a great answer for sure. Uh I don't know that it's something I would aspire to do, but I sure like reading about it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um and uh and
James Stacy yeah, I I the storytelling from it is quite quite amazing for sure. All right. Thanks so much for that question, Matt Fretz and Dials. Next up, we've got one from Mark M who says: How does a brand's logo affect how you feel about a watch, whether the company is old and established or relatively new? A contentious uh question because that lots of lots of brands, especially some recent brands, do take a lot of heat for the logo, have changed their logos uh because of that heat and that sort of thing. Jason, do you feel strongly about this? Or is it like for me, I think it's just if it's bad, I will notice it. As long as it crosses a certain line, I don't really pay that much attention to a logo. If that makes sense?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think uh at first my uh at first when I read this, I thought, nope, logo doesn't really matter to me. But I it does because it it it's part of the overall um design aesthetic of of a watch, you know, as much as dial color or font used on a bezel or, you know, crown guards or whatever. Um I I think and the logo is something you look at a lot. And you know some brands just have a word mark, you know, in fact most of them, like quite a few of them, and then some actually have a legitimate logo. And I feel like one that that changed that, I think is probably one that you had in mind as well, was was Braymont. You know, when they changed from the old kind of more subtle word mark with the propeller underneath, um to kind of the newer blockier font with the kind of the compass rendering there. I I just I I just don't care for it. It just it kind of went along with the overall vibe or direction of the brand that I just I wasn't on board with anyway. And the the the logo just kind of encapsulated that. I think another, you know, coincidentally British brand that that kind of struggled with logos for years was Christopher Ward and and kind of famously so. I think people used to give them some grief because they were changing fairly often and none of them really struck a chord with people. And I think they've finally settled on a good one. And it's very minimalist. It's kind of this combination of an English and Swiss fl flag together. And and I I I find that very compelling. I think it's a great subtle logo that doesn't get in the way. Yeah, so I I I do think, you know, I think there's some really great logos. I think I think, you know, looking at some of the big brands, I think a brand like like Omega, I I've always just liked their logo. I mean, it's it's just an Omega symbol, but like that with the word underneath just works. It just and they've kept it the same for forever. And it's it's it's great. Same thing with Rolex, of course. But
James Stacy yeah, um I love CWCs, especially the old one.
Jason Heaton Oh the old one. I love the way it sits on the dial.
James Stacy the there's like a there's a a pleasant symmetry to C W and C. They're they're all kind of a balance.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um yeah no there's definitely
James Stacy ones that stand out as being good, but for me it is one of those things and I think this is kind of how it is with like with fonts as well because I know some people are so dialed into fonts.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I I just I don't have
James Stacy that wiring. It has to be like bad. It has to be papyrus. It has to be uh you know a mix of fonts that don't make any sense where I go, I just this doesn't work for me. Like you the the sudden application of script in an otherwise you know serifed scenario or non like just it can be kind of jarring, yeah, I suppose. Um but I just I don't find myself that picky about it. But there are you know there are logos that are bad and you just like I would notice them and it would bother me. Um once they hit a certain line, it bothers me less. Um, but that's also kind of how I feel about a lot of watch brand names in general.
Jason Heaton Yeah. You know, I've never understanded it. And to
James Stacy be clear, this isn't a poke at Christopher Ward. I think that that name works nicely for a watch. But there are a lot of watch brand names that are just some dude's whole name.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. You know, like first
James Stacy and last, right on the dial. And I gotta be honest, it could just be that there's no watch I want less than the new James Stacey diver.
Jason Heaton Like it could just be that I like I don't
James Stacy it it's that kind of a feeling. Yeah. But it I if you're starting a watch brand, try and come up with something that isn't your whole name, for example. Right. You know what I
Jason Heaton mean just right there
James Stacy on the dial. Yeah, yeah, right. I think it's it's it's there's enough out there that are just some guy's name for sure.
Jason Heaton I think you know uh what I do like is is um you know a brand like like Citizen, like th they've kind of kept theirs the same, the word mark for for many years. It's subtle, it's fine, it's kind of unobtrusive. Um, but then they add that great element that, you know, we've used in collaboration with with T GN and will be later this week as little hints. I'm wearing has it on the dial from nineteen eighty five and it's it's really cool. The I uh you know, to close uh out I guess with a bit of a gripe it would be you know, you talked about fonts and I'm I'm not that dialed into them personally, but Seiko's mix of typefaces always has bothered me. Especially Grand Seiko. Like you know, they'll they'll they'll have like three different fonts on the same dial and it's just it it's always just kind of irked me. But uh not enough to dislike the brand or anything like that. But uh yeah it's an interesting question. Uh I'd love to get kind of a list going on Slack and see how people react to this as well and kind of uh
James Stacy Yeah, because I'm guesses it'll be somewhat subjective, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Like there'll
James Stacy be logos that people don't like or and there'll be others that they go, Oh, I do like that one. I don't like this one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but yeah, I you know, there's some that I
James Stacy think are quite successful. Victorinox, always kind of I like to see.
Jason Heaton Yeah, same. Long jeans is nice with the wings,
James Stacy feels very automotive to me. Yeah. Um, but uh yeah, it's it's definitely a mix. I love the Brightling wings as well. Yeah, I like seeing them in an applique on on the dial.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Uh so yeah, there's lots of uh lots of
James Stacy good stuff there. But I agree this could be a really fun one for uh for the slack.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Thanks for watching,
James Stacy Mark M. All right. Next up we have
Jason Heaton a question from Adam Peterson. Um, my simple question is this do you have any questions for the crew at large? Anything you wonder about your audience as a whole?
James Stacy There's an interesting one. Yeah, and nothing really
James Stacy comes to mind simply because if I have a question, that's what the Slack is for.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And if I ask on the episode, I'm
James Stacy not sure how I would get necessarily I'd get the answer at some point when people are listening. But no, I f I feel like we have that kind of two way. If I have a question, if I'm I'm curious about something, there's a way I can usually put it down. But I would say for the most part not nothinghing leaps to mind as far as uh a question for the crew. How about you?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean I I'm the same. I th I feel like with with the advent of Slack over the past few years and and kind of our to our earlier point about the feedback loop that we get there. I think that's And I I'm I'm just always impressed with with you know all these members there that and what people are doing and overcoming and accomplishing. It's just I'm constantly amazed. Um at you know, in fact it it it it gives me a bit of imposter syndrome. Sometimes I I look and, you know, for all that we talk about and kind of you know, do the show every week, then I go on Slack and I'm like, you know, yeah, I did this, but that guy has done it seven times And it's humbling. And I I love that. Um and I guess, you know, if I were to ask any specific questions, I I'd just love to flip all these questions that we get in the crew and A or the QA and just ask
James Stacy Yeah, good good question, Adam. Sorry I don't have a better answer, but it's definitely a good question. I think yeah, when when when pushed we have the ability to kind of ping a good portion of uh of the of the crew pretty easily via Slack. So
Jason Heaton yeah. Uh should a question arise, I'll
James Stacy be sure to ask and uh if I if my Alright,
Jason Heaton next up we have one from the Lugi guy who says, what is your workflow for episodes? Preparation, guest invitations, shared documents, and how do you always find fitting quotes?
James Stacy Got a good one for today. Stay tuned for it. Do you want me to break this down, Jason? Is that the
Jason Heaton same? Yeah. Yeah. I mean we we've really changed
James Stacy very little in a decade. We use a Google Doc um that's basically copy and pasted from the previous episode and then we just update what number it is and delete the parts that aren't part of the form, I guess. Um, but you know, we have a a set intro, which I'm sure many of you would would recognize if it's not your first episode. And then we have some very simple, you know, we're gonna do what's the sort of news that you might want to hear at the top, show topics, you know, housekeeping that, sort of thing, risk check, main episode, final notes, quote, and get out. We pick a topic that's usually done just a couple days before unless we know we have a guest. Um, then we will get on a Zoom call. It's typically done at the same time on Tuesdays, uh, or at least traditionally has been. That will adjust if we have a guest, but we would invite the guest to the Zoom. Um in a scenario where it's possible we will send that guest an inexpensive USB microphone. Jason and I have learned that even if you do that, people won't know how to connect it or won't have the correct connection on their computer. So sometimes it's just you do your best. Uh it it if you can hear the kind of like sad frustration in my voice, it's it's because it's just so much harder than it than I think it should be to plug in a microphone and put it two or three inches from your face. But I've just I've learned both in T GN and doing this for Hodinkee and doing this for just producing content in general, that it is something that other people find difficult. Um, that, you know, I just have enough practice to not find it difficult, I suppose. Basically, we record the zoom call, which gives us, you know, the three, let's say we have a guest, the three audio files. Let's say it's just Jason and I, then we have backup, and then Jason is recording his side locally, I'm recording my side locally. Um, and then we just use uh like a shared folder to put the two big wave files, you know, uh uh an episode's probably about a gigabyte each. And then I use uh garage band to cut those together, both removing parts that we don't like or that we reset if we misspeak or we lose the point. I will trim that so that it's not too lost in the sauce at times. Um and then I'll you know kind of trim it for pacing if there's any discrepancy in in our audio because of timing over the internet, I will remove that so it sounds more conversational and kind of paste uh correctly. Uh export the file and then that goes over to Buzz Sprout, which is where we host the show. The Buzz Sprout one links to Substack, which is where we host the notes for the show so that they're perpetually searchable and available for things like the complete TGN project, which is a like a full transcript and searchability of um of everything we've done over the last decade. Thanks, Paul Hubbard, very much for that one. And then basically you create the show notes. So it's a couple of paragraphs, it's an image and then it's a link to everything that we talked about. Um I I handle that and then you schedule it to publish at six AM on a Thursday. Go from there. And then for quotes. Oh
Jason Heaton yeah, quotes. Right. Please go ahead. Yeah. Quotes, I mean we you know, we it's it's it's kind of fun, but it oftentimes is kind of a last minute almost almost an afterthought, almost like, oh we we need a quote. Um
James Stacy sometimes, yeah. We never used to really
Jason Heaton tie them that closely to the topic, but I think, you know, I remember maybe it was during the pandemic you started to kind of just focus strictly on kind of quotes from the stoics and we did that for a while. And then now we uh you know, whenever I'm looking for a quote, we kind of just trade off. We don't really have a assignment for who gets the quote, but uh we kind of just look for for quotes that are loosely related to to the topic and kind of just Google around and look and find some good ones and hope that we hadn't run them before, which I think we're we've got a good track record for not repeating quotes, I think.
James Stacy I genuinely don't know. It's something that I stress about and then I just try and say, hey, if we run it twice in ten years,
Jason Heaton what are you gonna do? And uh yeah, I I
James Stacy usually just try and think like what's the broader theme of the show like in this case it's questions so maybe the theme is curiosity or or or have or living a curiosity life or how to ask questions and I'll just find an interesting quote so stay tuned for the one we have at the end. Um it's a it's a goodie. But uh but yeah, thank you so much for that one, uh the Loogie guy. I I hope that informs something. If there's if you want to make a podcast of your own and you want a bit of advice, uh you're welcome to uh to send me uh a DM. Um I'm sure that the technology has evolved in the decade that we've been doing this. I I've made very small adjustments to the way that we do things because we have a certain comfort for it. But certainly, you know, now you have Riverside, which would handle a lot of this for you in terms of dealing with the files and possibly even the microphones and giving me more of a comp troller setting over a room of people who might be speaking and that sort of thing. But uh for Jason and I for this show this is what works and and and we find it light enough to remain efficient. Let's uh let's get to the last question here and then we'll jump into some final notes. This comes from JP Radalay, who asks, uh who would each of you back in an all-out fight to the death for the Muppets? So a Muppet Battle Royale. Uh who would I guess who would who would we, you know, be, you know, kind of rubbing the shoulders and encouraging them to get back out there for another round of uh of a fight to the death, which for the Muppets feels desperately out of context and and kind of tone, but uh a fun question nonetheless. Uh Jason, I'm what what kind of um leapt to mind? Because you kind of got to get into the the mentality of the Muppet, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I there was one that came to mind immediately. And I'm and as I had to refresh my memory about who the Muppets were, you know, who all the the members were. I I I I still stick with my initial kind of brainwave. Um and that is Animal, the wild frenzied monster drummer. I'm reading this off of uh Wikipedia. Um author Christopher Finch calls animal the ultimate representation of a long line of Muppets who pr who personify unbridled appetite, both carnivorous beast and physical manifestation of pure libido. I always liked animal. You know, I I hav haven'ent't why watched the Muppets since I was a kid. Yeah. Um, just to be honest. And I don't have kids, so I they never re-entered my life. But I'm happy to see that Animal still remains in the in the in the lineup and uh I always liked him. And I I just read something recently. It was like one of these Instagram posts that's that's posting like videos of great concerts and songs. And I think it was one of John Bonzo Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin back in the sixties and seventies. And um apparently he was the inspiration for for Animal and that's very fitting. So
James Stacy it's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think Animal
Jason Heaton would do great in a battle royal. Yeah,
James Stacy I agree. I agree. You know, I I kind of went two different ways. My m the first one was beaker for me. Um so obviously, due to his time as the assistant to Dr. Bunsen honeydew, he's been burned, blowed up, beat up. I think the guy can take a punch, right? Um that's true. And and I mean just look that look on his face, he's seen some stuff, he's got that thousand-yard stare. He may not he may not have the technique or the strength, but I think you know, to to to paraphrase fight club, you know, skinny guys fight till they're burger.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think I think Beaker would too.
James Stacy And then the the other the other one that occurred to me is like I just I don't think he's got the spirit for it. But I could be wrong. Maybe he's got a dark side. Isn't Big Bird like eight foot two?
Jason Heaton Yeah, you're right. Was Big Bird a Muppet technically though, or was he more of the Sesame Street thing? I would would was he on the Muppets?
James Stacy Oh, maybe maybe maybe I've got it wrong. I don't know let's see. I mean he could be an honorary Muppets.
Jason Heaton I think he might have been a Jim Henson creation, so that might be an honorary Muppet.
James Stacy Is Big Bird a Muppet? Cool search, James. Big Bird is a Muppet. He is an anthropomorphic eight foot, two inch tall yellow birds. Eight foot two and got the height right. Eight foot
Jason Heaton two. Wow. Uh wow, yeah.
James Stacy So apparently he for Sesame Street, but I guess the the characters on Sesame Street were Muppets.
Jason Heaton Okay. Um flightless birds. I feel quite the fight. For not
James Stacy knowing that.. Yeah, right And he's huge.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I can't tell. I I think
James Stacy you know, he often seems to have the presence of a child.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Uh, not to be unfair to
James Stacy Big Bird, of course. Uh he seems kind of sweet and curious about the world. Yeah.
Jason Heaton He may not have the fight in him. I don't
James Stacy know. Does Big Bird have a dog inside him? I'm not sure. Um I'm just not sure. But if he did, I think pretty dangerous. I have to assume pretty pretty strong legs.
Jason Heaton Yeah. The wings could be a factor that's
James Stacy a lot of reach typically on a large bird.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Beak. Yeah. And then that beak,
James Stacy of course, and those piercing eyes. Terrifying.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. That's
James Stacy the that's the best I got for you, JP Radlett. I think I think I put my money on Beaker, but I think animal is a good call. I also think if you could convince Fon Z Bear that the other person had wronged somebody that he loved,
Jason Heaton he'd be terrifying. Yeah. He's a you
James Stacy know a man of of strong principle, yeah, and kindness. Um, so yeah, uh fun fun question for sure. And I think that'll wrap up our second outing of the 2026 crew and a. Thank you so much, JP, the Loogie guy, Adam Peterson, Mark M, Matt Fretzendals, Nanad, Kai, and Jackson B for your questions. We have so many more. And uh and we will get to them over the course of the year. So if you offered a question. Uh stay tuned uh for it on uh on an upcoming outing of the uh Slack crew and a but Jason, how about uh some final notes when we can put a bow on it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, boy we're answering the uh we're answering the important questions here on T GN. Never say we aren't, you know. Yeah, right.
James Stacy Really hard hitting important topical concepts.
Jason Heaton an email link, I'm on the email list for Anne Ordain, um, you know, beloved Scottish watch brand. We've had Lewis Heath, the founder on before. Um I did the project with Paulin, kind of their sister brand last year. Um anyway, they're they're kicking off kind of a new YouTube series called Origin Stories about, you know, kind of the origins of the brand and various uh pieces in their collection. And they released the first one, and it's about the Model One, which was their first first outing, their first watch when the brand was founded, um and kind of where they cut their teeth and became known for making enamel dial watches. And uh this is just a great it's a twelve minute video. So I mean, you know, as kind of brand videos go, it's on the longer side um but it has a lot of kind of interviews with Lewis and various members of the team and kind of digs into kind of the background of the design and the development of the Model 1 and some of the challenges that they faced and and inspirations. And uh it's just really good. I I think um you know, it's funny, it's it's one of those brands that um you wouldn't think would be in my wheelhouse, but I've you know, as as with so often is the case, uh you know, uh in this business, um it tends to be all about the people and and once you kinda dig in and kinda learn more about these smaller brands, um I've kind of developed a real fondness for them and really enjoyed this uh this video. So check it out.
James Stacy Yeah, that's great. Looks uh looks awesome. This is brand new to me, so I uh I appreciate it uh deeply. Uh looks like a good one. And yeah, I've I'm definitely have become a fan of their watches, haven't had the pleasure of owning one. Uh, but I like the way that they kinda go about things their own way and uh and have sort of a an interesting focus on traditional craft. Um, but at a price point that's that's uh can be sometimes kind of surprising.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Which is nice. All right.
James Stacy All right. So last week I talked about a fan. I think that was last week. And uh this week I have a vacuum. Uh so we're sticking with the uh you know, household appliances. Um to be fair, I might need a vacuum because I run a fan all the time. Uh I find my office to be kind of dusty. I am always kind of uh battling that element. And over time I I waited uh probably six months for a sale, but I picked up this Hodo handheld vacuum and I just dude, I absolutely love it. It's a little tiny vacuum. It's probably the size of like a a little bit bigger than like a tall boy.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Beer can. And then
James Stacy it's got attachments and it can it the air goes in and out, so it can also be a blower. Um I think it's designed to be useful like in cars. I use it all over my office now and it's it's just excellent.
Jason Heaton Yeah. My uh baby son pulled
James Stacy over a plant the other day, spilled dirt everywhere, and then two seconds later it was all zapped up. It's a popular enough model that I was able to go on to um the internet and find like a 3D printable uh rack for it for my IKEA status board, which I have in my room with a bunch of other tools on it. And yeah, I I paid uh a little under a hundred Canadian for this. That puts it in the neighborhood about 70 bucks.
Jason Heaton Yeah. If if if the use case
James Stacy for this exists in your life too, I it's quite a nice product. USB C chargeable, uh simple, light, definitely great for things like cars, but also like, you know, sometimes you just have a backpack and it's got like some dirt or something at the bottom. You put shoes in it or something. And you can just kind of zip that out instead of tipping it out on the floor. And if I have to go downstairs and get the full size vacuum, then I'm always just kind of delaying doing
James Stacy that. Um, whereas you
James Stacy know, this is this is just kind of nice where you see a little spot and you can grab it off the board and zip it up and and you're good.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I like it. Handy handy thing to have
James Stacy around. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. They do kind of market it
Jason Heaton for auto care, it says, but I think uh in a workshop or whatever I think it'd be yeah, that's great. Nice.
James Stacy Yeah, it's not gonna do the shop vac and like I also have the DeWalt,
Jason Heaton mm-hmm, which is like a little bit s well not a
James Stacy little bit, quite a bit stronger, quite a bit more powerful, that sort of thing. Um, but for those those smaller sort of yeah, around the house, certainly for automotive.
Jason Heaton Yeah, uh jobs it seems quite capable.
James Stacy So all right. Well between this episode
Jason Heaton and the one we're gonna record uh together um at our Airbnb in Chicago, um next week, uh that'll take us to our midsummer break. We're gonna be taking the last two weeks of July off back in early August. Um but for now, 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 the allw-ne redesigned thegreynato.com. Music Throughout is siesta by Jazz R via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacy And with Wind Up Chicago on the horizon, we leave you with this quote from Chicago Native author and activist Saul D. Alinsky, who said, Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love. A burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going back anyways and to live to the end.