Garth Looney & AJ Spencer

welcome back to another episode of out on the road podcast i'm ty linker today i am joined by aj spencer garth looney well i mean you can hand it to him oh yeah i did there we go are you gonna be able to edit this yeah garth looney i've had all sorts of mix-ups on here we're not professional i'm you know everybody knows i'm a pipeline welder um today's episode is brought to you by slickman Welding Apparel, best gloves on the market. Wobro's Welding Shirts, FRs, Wobro.us. Also brought to you by TNN Welding Supply, Taos and Miss Mary out in Big Springs, Texas. They can get you any welding supplies for the pipeliner, welding in general. Southern Leatherworks makes the Sugar Scoop, Tiger Hood, customized them all. Also brought to you by Pearl Snap Pimps. Johnny, coming out with the latest, greatest FR shirt. I won't say that. Let me rephrase that. Johnny's coming out with FR shirts too. He has plenty of t-shirts, the golf polos, skeleton TIG gloves, a lot of great stuff from Johnny. All right, so let's go ahead and get started. I'm going to revert to AJ here. Now, I'll say your name, AJ. Where are you from? How old are you? I'm from Southern Kentucky, and I'm 29 years old. I'm Garth Looney. I'm from Bald Knob, Arkansas, and I'm 34 years old. We could have just kept the mic, but this will work too. All right, so we'll start with you here, AJ. How long have you been pipelining? I've been pipelining. I want to say now it's going on nine years. Nine years. So I know we talked about the story yesterday in here, what got you going on the pipeline, but let's have a quick little refresher for the podcaster. So I had to be honest in the fact of every reason why I wanted to start pipelining wasn't really for the right reasons. I seen the money, I seen the flash and all the stuff, and it was a quick way to do it and whatnot. And now looking in nine years now, I wish I'd go back and tell you. I wish I'd go back and tell my younger self of, hey, there's a better way of doing things and there's more important things, but it is what it is. All right, Garth. Hold it up a little closer. I've been pipelining for six years now, seven total. I spent a year non-union, joined the union. Can I say that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're going to talk about all that. All right. I joined the union in 19, so I've been six years. I got into pipelining really, I was a farmer and we quit farming, didn't really know what else to do. And I had some buddies at Pipeline, so I kind of just fell into it. Okay, just keep the mic over there. You mentioned, so you went straight into the local, to the 798? No, I actually spent a year labor. Laboring on a non-union job. Okay. And then the next year, I was able to get, I had an opportunity to get my book. Your helper book? Yes. Yeah. Got my helper book. All right, we'll go back to AJ here. AJ, and you have your 798 helper book, obviously. Yep. But you've done a stint on the non-union side, too. Yes. Yeah. Helping or laboring or what was that? I was helping, did a little bit of welding for some kind of more of a, not necessarily pipeline. But kind of on the drilling side of things and whatnot. What was your ultimate factor in getting your 798 helper book? Not to be propaganda here, but. Yeah, and it's one of those things that everybody has their own way in life. And this is what was the big deciding factor of me for joining the local was, not only was there better pay, but I know I'm not smart enough to plan for my future. And the retirement that I can get from it is outstanding. Well, I've been in for eight years now, and I'm already close to bumping on two grand for my retirement, for my pension and the insurance, having insurance, even when, you know, I can work six months, seven months, and then I can spend the rest of the year. I can be at home doing what I want to do because I've made more money and enough. But also, man, my insurance is covering me still. And if you have a family, that's a big thing of it, too, is that like I had a buddy had a kid and he spent a grand out of his own pocket. And you, you know, you've had to pay for all of it. And you understand how expensive that can be. And that was really the big factor of just wanting better for not just right now, but better in the long run. For sure. All right, Garth, kind of the same question there. What made your decision to go with the local? Well, I just, I had family in it. And kind of when I did the non-union thing, which it was just one of them deals, it was right there by the house. And I was making money. I was making money there. Had an opportunity that year to get a book. Kind of just said, man, I'm doing fine and I'm sleeping in my bed. So, you know, I turned it down. Then some more of my family found out that I was doing it. And also just kind of got my ass chewed, you know. And then the next year started still with working non-union and just kind of got around. Some of the 798 guys and they were just, they were great people. And I didn't know them. They were nice to me and good to me. They were helping me, showing me things, doing things for me and teaching me how to do things. And I was just like, wow, you know, this is way better. And I got to looking and they were getting way more truck time than what we were doing laboring. So, because I worked for a company that non-union labor and union welders and helpers. And I just looked at it and was like, man, I think, I think I, I think I messed up when I had an opportunity and turned it down. And so called my cousin and just kind of said, you know, do you think, you think you'd get me a book? And he said, if you'd, you know, called me last year, I could have had you a book in 30 minutes. But this year, there ain't a whole lot of work. You might not, you know, he said, I'll do what I can, but it could be a couple months. And a week later, they had a job. Go on the dispatch unfilled. And he called me and he said, Are you sure you want to do this? Like, you need to make sure this is what you want to do. He said, because I have a job I can send you to that went unfilled. And he said, or I can send somebody that's already got a book. But he said, I need to know for sure. And I said, Yeah, you know, I told you, I wanted to be a part of that. And, you know, wanted to be a part of the brotherhood, you know, because that's what we are. And so I just told him, I was like, Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm down. And he was like, Well, you need to be sure because it's in Watford City, North Dakota. And I was like, Oh, you know, kind of made me check up a little bit. But at the same time, you know, I grew up on a farm, never really been more than three or four hours from the house. And it was just kind of like this new adventure, you know, and new thing to do something I didn't know anything about. And just said, Hell, yeah, let's do it. And told him I had to be there. I think I had like, three days to get there. And I was on a, you know, a job in South Arkansas at that time, and had to go home, load crap up and just haul ass to North Dakota, man. And been doing that since 19 going and living the union life. And I, you know, I can't, I wouldn't change anything about it. You know, and it's just you meet some of the best. I've met some of the best people. Never thought one time about maybe going back to non union or anything like that. So that's that's how I got my start. On the AJ here. We'll let you rest your vocal cords for a minute there as good as the water. The you think about the first steps of your career when you when you're non union going into the seven and eight, you know, it's a, it's off school. And then you, you know, if you didn't have any experience, you got to, you know, earn your experience one way or another, you which I know, you know, after being up north and stuff, I know that they kind of give you the reins on a lot of things, you know, because you've got to have your hands. Yeah, I've been fortunate enough. And it, you know, and a lot of credit to the non union side of things is you have to earn your keep. And you're working every day is there's no, like, really saving grace is somebody wants you gone, whether or not you're good, bad at your job, or they want their cousin to have a job. Sure. Like you could be gone. But it's the effort that I put in. put into things that no matter where i walk through in life was given these opportunities and you know you come to the union side of it and it's not you know well where you come from or this or this or you know whatever it's well how do you work do you work hard and a lot of guys will come over and they kind of have an attitude or and i have buddies that come from the non-union side that one of them's my best friend was going to name a kid after him and it's because he's a good dude and he come over to the union side and you know he didn't have an attitude about it he showed up because what are we doing we're going to work and so that's all you have to worry about with it you know people can have a misconceptions about both sides of things now do i have aside well yeah because this is what i'm a part of this is what i'm putting into this is a future i would like to have for my kids to have and some people it doesn't fit in their life and that's all right but you know if you're going to do this professionally you might as well get paid really good for it paid what you're worth and in the end of it we're all going to go blind or we're all going to be old and crippled because we worked ourselves through our younger years and and it's going to be really easy sitting at hopefully 67 years old with a pretty good retirement sure they uh like i like to say since i you know i swapped from the non-union to the union side is welding's welding you know how much money you want to get paid to do it and you know we got the benefits package and everything all right so just to pause at the beginning of the careers here what's one piece of advice that you kind of gathered in this first you know the first couple years of pipeline so the most important thing is check your pride pride will cost you everything pride will feel fuel you going forward and thinking i'm doing this to make myself proud to make my family proud of this and this and pride will absolutely strip you of everything it has happened to me i lost everything and we can talk about it is you know three months ago i was going to be at a point in my life where pipeline and it served its purpose and i was going to stay home i was perfectly fine with it i've got you know a retirement already built up a man a really decent 401k and it's just one of those things that pride cost me everything and you think you know when you break out you see people and you know there's nothing wrong with being confident if you're a good welder you're a good hand like you know i can walk on and take the reins over a tying crew or whatever and i have and it's just one of those things i'm not proud of it but i'm confident in of myself my abilities but as much as i've done good and i can look at my resume and say this this and that man pride also stripped me of absolutely everything so that is the number one thing it doesn't matter what you drive what you weld with where you weld how much money you made that year is your pride check that that one of the most dangerous things we do is you know just let pride in sure uh i guess probably the yeah i guess probably the best uh piece of advice i got was um then it's something that stuck with me um on my first job uh i was in williston north dakota didn't know anyone i got the steward's name and uh the welder foreman's name got told you know you talked to the steward you sign up with the steward first which is the way we do things and i just walked over there before i didn't realize that we weren't you know supposed to talk work before we start getting paid so i walked over there and i was like i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do this and i said or you're todd right and he said yep and i said well i'm you know i'm supposed to be trying to get my book on this job i'm here to sign up he's like we don't talk work till seven but he's like come here i want to talk to you and he just kind of pulled me aside and he said you know you're from the same place i'm from you have to be better he said you're from he said because people know that and it's our reputation so you have to be better he said you have family in this local so you have to be better and he said you're from the same place i'm from he said so every day you come here you know you try to be better try to get faster try to get you know try to learn and uh always he said it's okay to be slow at first but he said you know try to get faster try to get going and once you get a grasp of it you can really run but he said just basically you know just you have to be better and uh you know i'll look back and you know it's always something like across the pipe okay well can i get rolled out before the helper over there can i get this buffed or grounded before the helper over there and it's driven me to be um as good as i am at it and uh where you know i do have the opportunity to work when i want to and i kind of get to make decisions on where i want to go next and stuff like that and so you know just that and and you know listening to i guess the best piece of advice is when somebody that knows what they're doing is giving you advice you know shut up and listen you know there's so many mentors you've had we've had you know going through here that it's hard to pick one but you know that was probably the best piece of advice i got rude ass operators on here yeah the uh one thing i picked up pretty quick you know louisiana was my first 798 job you know we didn't we didn't handle business before seven o'clock because we wasn't getting paid but after 5 30 when we was all home you know and some of us stayed in the same campground uh we ate at some of the same restaurants and stuff so we would go eat together and stuff no talk about work yeah it's the first time in my life that you know i used to i used to be one of the guys you know i would go home and i'd brag about how fast i was that day this and that bring your hood with you yeah but they they don't do that you know like y'all know jody spradlin uh very well he uh tiger there kind of was the first person i mean i knew scotty jackson because i had scotty on the podcast but he was the only other person i knew there but tiger kind of come and you know he kind of done some pep talking you know and he's i wrote it with greg berry which was great he's a great guy great welder but he kind of uh tiger was a little bit more outgoing you know y'all know how he is so it's you know when i met him in town i was eating at this restaurant and i just got back from uh new orleans my head was pounding and uh tiger was in there him and uh kevin uh guy i can't remember kevin's last name i met too many people the last couple months but uh they was in there and uh i mean jody's one of the guys you'll never forget if you ever meet him but he just come over and he's talking he's like i've seen you i've seen your truck i've seen you at the job site and stuff i want to introduce myself you know i'm jody spradlin blah blah blah we're just our little joe you know jody spradlin jr uh unbelievable he's uh he's a great dude and that right guy you know uh coming from the non-union side is sometimes i wrote up on a job site you know i'm the two t's have been on every truck i've owned uh welding truck anyways so kind of was like my i don't know my stamp brand whatever you want to call it well they you know you kind of like i got some other buddies that are big on tiktok stuff people kind of build this begrudging you know towards you i didn't feel any animosity you know like i went straight to tie-ins which is you know kind of an unheard of thing when nobody knows you you know you all i've done for for bread at this moment put a weld test together that's it yeah straight to tie-ins you know but it's i like that part of it that it was built on work you know which on the non-union side i kind of done a lot of hot passing that's what i was tend to known for doing a lot of you know that and fab i do a lot of in-service work or did a lot of in-service work that sort of thing all right to not talk about myself because i do that every podcast back to uh this part of it um y'all are on a journey here uh hopefully y'all's helper part of the journey is rounding out but both of y'all have been in positions to where it's so much more than helping uh with some of the responsibilities that's been put on y'all you know and we pay a different like you know like on the non-union side if they if a if the foreman left and left you in charge of doing these next time stuff well there's no bump in pay where for us you know a helper you know they call it what a graded helper so it's you get that little step up we talk a little bit about that y'all's experiences with that oh i got the mic so for me personally i've been in positions where i did get the bump up in pay and i did you know taking on more responsibility of carrying line putting tines together and whatnot and i've also done all that work and not get paid no more but it's that responsibility and initiative that took things forward of you know i'm tying in pipe on the north slope under power lines are over 480,000 volts or whatever and if a piece of equipment gets within 10 feet hey everybody's cooked and a lot of things on you know the non-union side of things kind of you get to cut your own deal but it's also they're cutting their own deal too towards you where it's like you might be worth more but you're not going to get paid that money no matter what you do they're just going to be you know hey be grateful you got a job sure sure there's a lot of that on them on the non-union side you know the like we kind of spoke a little bit about yesterday you know i've lost jobs for going home for weddings uh and i'm not saying that couldn't happen on the you know you could get asked to take like my deal in minnesota i was you know i had this this event coming up so it you know instead of laying off a guy to keep me you know i'm going to be gone a whole week let's you know which i agreed to it you know i'll take my layoff let's keep them got most of them guys their own right and i've been in the position we just come off that job of man i was trying to hire somebody else to take my spot i was fighting begging every day superintendent come by weld boss come by hey man you got my checks ready oh well you know but that's where you know making a hand and i was doing so much for them that and i'm you know humbly speaking when i left people noticed oh yeah hundred percent and it's just one of those things but because what you say to me is that it's just one of those things and i think that's one of those things and i think that's one of those things and i think that's one of those things and i think that's one of those things no no we all we all got a week it was a week i guess the job was there it was a day after yeah yeah it was a day after i think you got maybe the one thing it was that no i so they got laid off that saturday and i'd gotten to a point in my life where everything had fallen apart and i was doing everything i could to get home and they just kept well you know one more week at one more week at one more week yet and we're at three weeks now that i had to go up to that weld boss and i said hey y'all been really good to me and i really appreciate that you know everything you have done for me but either i'm dragging up and i'll give you till tuesday because i knew kind of their scheduling and it would put them in a bind or like y'all can lay me off and they were nice enough when i walked into that office to because he said well you're going to go tell the person above me that that when i get in there they had already knew what was kind of going on because like i said i've been begging for a layoff for three weeks that they were just really nice about it they said hey you know sometimes family it's all time is family more important than money and you go home and take care of it and they gave me a clean layoff there was no animal care or anything like that and i was like well you know about it and even to the point they called me a couple weeks later hey man did you you want to come back a month later hey man you want to come back yeah it was a it was a notice it was noticed rather quick you know when they could have to move some guys around you know it just and we didn't have a lot of guys to move around to get the puzzle pieces right you know it took them two a week or two to kind of get everything lined out how they wanted you know it always is never good for any contractor you know when our welding foremans or superintendents when they lose good hands you know somebody y'all have been up there for a while so they was already relying on that right then it changes you know it's a whole new uh kind of vibe so to speak so the middle of y'all's career here we'll talk about that the middle of y'all's helping career here what's uh you know it's got it's like we talked about this yesterday you know people's careers vary as helpers you know i know some guys that help for 10 years i know some guys that help for a year you know like i helped for seven or eight months but i had a lot of pressure on me i mean at a house note there's a lot of stuff that goes into a lot of um you know confidence is the i think is the biggest factor in in uh getting ready to break out but you got to spend that time and for a lot of us that take you know to get it to where it just weighs on your mind it's you know it's a big thing so um talk about the middle of it here think back to the middle of the career you know uh what was something that kind of that kind of stuck with you in that part of it so to speak so the middle of my career is at a point now you can talk to people around me that said i should have been a lot further than where i'm at now that i didn't uh take advantage of opportunities that were given to me i didn't really uh you know do what i should have been doing right and just at and i can't hold nobody accountable but myself and like you're saying you know some people help for seven months and break out and i can't hold nobody accountable but myself and like you're saying you know some people help you had a family you had payments and whatnot other people that they make their whole careers as helpers sure and it's one of those deals of i probably could have been a lot further ahead if i would have stayed out of my own way and the thing that stuck with me the most is the people that still even when they see me screw up was like hey man like you need to get it together because you had the potential and the opportunity the people that reached out to me and is now where it's at the point of my career is at another point of taking off again because i had to completely restart i gave it all up i stayed home i didn't want to ever come back to it right away and so a lot of people don't understand that it takes time you know if you step like i've had buddies that stepped away on the non-union side and they don't matter pop on it in general they stepped away for a little bit during covid and all that stuff well now they're back to welding and it takes time to build your reputation back up you know like um i got him i got him one job and then kind of i mean he just absolutely sailed he's about to go back to work for them people actually well he went to work for this other outfit you know i kind of pitched him some numbers here and there and he went out here about work because he'd been out of it you know two or three years you know i knew he had the talent there and the want to just he like you said he had to step away to handle some get his mind right and handle a lot of personal business but he uh he got it done um all right you want you want to talk about uh so i was just very fortunate in my 708 career why i didn't i kind of drug my feet with where i'm at now is i talked up a little bit sorry the reason i drug i kind of drug my feet and still where i'm at now and haven't moved up is uh you know i've had like aj said you know so many people telling me like hey you need to get after it like you know the work you know what you're doing you know how to weld like you need to do it and you need to make that jump because you know you start as a helper you feel like you know how to do things and you get like that because you've been around really good people that know how to do things you know uh but you get like that because you been around really good people that know how to do things and uh and that teach you a certain way to do it and i was just fortunate in my career that two really big impacts on my career are todd hardell and black mackinac and those are the two welders that i've helped you know for the most part and uh they're just they're great people and they get the job done um they're very very good welders uh but they're more than that they they know the work they sure and they you know they kind of took me under their wing um and either one of them now i could call and you know either one of them now i could call and uh you know they would do anything for me um and so just kind of with that and you know you get to looking and you're thinking okay well i helped across from that guy or that person and i was a better hand than him but now he's further ahead because he's welding yeah and especially me i started later in life and i'm you know really should just jump into it quicker i think i was 28 when i got my book sure um so i you know i just kind of pussyfooted around really and and kind of wanted to do it kind of hoped it was going to work out and then just quit on opportunities that i had to take advantage of and uh so really it's been the last year that i've started getting serious about trying to break out but at the same time i still got bills so i can't like you know skip jobs and just go take time to weld and so when i got laid off up there they asked me if i would stay i said uh no man i'm i'm gonna be broke out and and i told them i said but if you need a welder in a couple months give me a call sure you gotta you gotta go into it having that mindset like this is it you know like i told you the story earlier about how i wound up breaking out i mean i don't know that i was 100 ready because it just you know it's a lot of pressure i had you know i had child support on one kid i had a wife at the time a house note all this stuff you know it's a lot of pressure to make that make that jump i kind of got that uh like your dad when you're trying to learn how to swim and you're four years old just kind of kicked you kicked me off in the pool you'll never really be ready a hundred percent it's one of those things of like you know you're not going to be entirely ready to do it but you're just going to have to do it because if you sit on the sideline because you're too scared to step in the game there's always a reason not to do something but you gotta have every reason to do it just go for it like uh your number one enemy i feel like as a welder the number one enemy that everybody has is complacency you know that's kind of uh that kind of uh sorry we're at the welding school here and they're moving tables out we're trying to get stuff done i'm pretty sure some kid just hit another kid with a table we got microphones go ahead but uh yeah but yeah complacency real and raw but it makes a difference to me uh it's one of those things where you kind of get comfortable and set in your ways and you know it's habits oh habits are not trying to step forward trying to do better because it goes back to complacency right that same if you just get set in your ways or you're like well i'm comfortable living here then you know when you want to look for it it looks that much you know scarier or whatnot you want to say but you just got to push through that and like i said you'll never be ready just you know keep your hand shut nod your head and go for it because what's if you don't do it you're never going to win but if you try at least you have the opportunity to win that was amazing achievers let's hope he welds better than he carries chairs yeah sure he's trying to carry like seven of them so back to the uh all right so we talked about the middle of it and we're kind of talking about the verge of you know uh y'all going to the hall to you know to take our welding test to to swap your books over um and like you know i know from earlier i've been doing this for a long time and i've been doing this for a long time and i've been earlier but y'all been practicing you know fortunate enough to get y'all's hands on some 24 inch 500 wall which is our test to to swap your book or get a 798 book um let's talk about that a little bit the feats of you know uh you know for like when i broke out it was 250 wall bell home branch you know it's a little bit more intimidating the way it wasn't i mean let me be honest when i went up there to the hall i'm not saying that this is the case for everybody well why not for everybody when i went up there to the hall they said uh you want some practice coupons and i said to practice what they was like well practice as well so brother i weld every day i've been doing it every day so i just went in there knocked it out you know but i can see is coming from a helper never making you know i know i know y'all done some of them because i've seen it in minnesota but like um like my first test was a bell home branch that's that's easy to cap you know that's we'd like we put a bead in up there at the hall with a 532 you know it's it's it there's a lot to go there's a lot of thought that goes into this. You know, it's a lot of metal to keep clean, you know, metal to keep clean um so let's talk about that journey a little bit because i know y'all been practicing on it so what what's kind of some of the hurdles y'all been dealing with on that so a lot of things is it's just kind of figuring things out because i've run a lot of 1.8 bead rod right and capping i've been on you know tying crew and i threw a jack stand and a chunk of 12 inch on the back of my buddy's truck and while we didn't have nothing to do i was capping it and you know 532 bead seems like it's this whole big ordeal but it's not it's just like you say it's just welding pipe it's different rod now you get past you know going uphill and putting in low high beads like yeah that's another beast but as far as this goes it's just another weld believe it or not my 1.8 60 10 beads when i weld 70 16 it's with the 332 it's exactly the same process just upwards and not down stern but fair but and that's just that's the deal of it and it's you know to and i've had buddies the same way that come from the non-union side got a book and when they said hey you want to practice they're like what are you talking about practice i've been welding for seven years and that's just where and you kind of been through it all you know understand things and it's like for somebody that doesn't get to sit on a firing line for six months or you know all the stuff it's a lot of not only is it pressure everybody's going to know whether you make it or you're not it's the money i don't live close to tulsa i'm seven hours away say hundred bucks to take eight hundred dollars now to take the test so it's one of those things of man i really want to make sure everything's kind of lined out got it right that's one thing i don't i'm not going to say i disagree but if we're if we're promoting inside of us it should be you know kind of a little bit different maybe one day it will be it's kind of well you get to the point now it also makes you take it real serious too and you got your own money on the way well that's 100 what it is because when it was cheaper how many people went down there and just kind of well it was only 250 bucks and they they really didn't want to like we used to have the uh school was there was a weld off and people well people would uh you know you show up and you had to there was like a little welding competition kind of like what's going on and you know the instructor seen you know it wasn't just their welding ability either it was if i gave him instruction did he pay attention or was he kind of an arrogant prick and oh i know what to do because my daddy taught me yeah and we used to you could get paid you were paid a certain amount and you could draw your unemployment so you could sit at tulsa all winter long and do that but you know work kind of died down they kind of took that away and when the test like i said was cheap people didn't take it serious sure 800 is a lot of money nowadays you know staying a week away from home that's a lot of money and it makes you kind of weeds out the who's talking about it who's going to walk yeah who's about it and who ain't i don't even remember the question kind of like you know Tracks in this 24 inch 5.1. Oh, like what hurdles we had. Yeah, your hurdles. Well, I'll tell you, you know, coming from the union side, I'm not really used to paying for air, you know, and oxygen and settling. And boy, that was a hit, you know, when I started filling my own tanks. Had to rent some bottles. Yeah, it started making me real careful about them cuts that I was making, making sure those gauges were off, you know, whenever I got done. Yeah, it comes out of your pocket. Yeah, that was a little different. No, I think it's just the same thing. It's like, you know, you feel like you do something, you do something one way and there's always like a different way to do something. And it might be a better way for you. It might be a worse way for you. And, you know, talking to the people that I've talked to, you know, you get eight different ways that you can weld the bottom. Oh, sure. And so. Sure, but like I tell a lot of, like I've told helpers in the past that I broke out and dealing with younger guys and stuff, their first jobs. And we're not like, you're going to have a way to weld. You're going to have a way to weld. I got a way to weld, you know. You're signing your name. Everybody's got a way to weld, right? Even when I, like when I weld with somebody new, like I'll, like making tie-ins, fabrication and stuff. I ground my beads real clean. I pile a heavy hot pass in there. Like I'm either going to burn through or I'm about to stack some iron. I don't care. Right. You know, and sometimes it's almost flushing out the top. You know, your sides are always going to be a little bit more concave. And then when I run that hot filler, I'm flushing it out. I'm trying my best to flush it out. So I get beat to the bottom a lot, you know. Well, then I weld it with gray. I get buried down there, and he's carrying the same amount of iron. But he's beating me to the bottom by a rod. And I'm like, man, what's he doing different, you know? So I study that stuff, you know. And, I mean, mostly I've determined that it's the right arm that got him going around the pot better. But, you know, there's a million ways to skin a cat. You just, you know, you've got to take a little bit here and try it out. And like, was it Brett or Todd saying it yesterday? You know, don't change one thing at a time. Yeah, one thing at a time. You know, kind of just take it, pick and choose. You know, put this in your suitcase. For me, and I know probably for AJ, too, it's also just about putting in the best product you can. Oh, yeah. Doing the best you can every time you weld. Like, you know, grind your beak right. Don't be lazy just because, you know, you're trying to practice welding. Practice, and when you're practicing, you're practicing for welding tests. That's what you're practicing for. Like, it's hard to get that through a lot of, especially when I've had younger helpers, you know, that are practicing to weld. You're not welding like you're on the right-of-way or in a fab yard. Exactly. You're practicing. You're going to pass a welding test. And so that's been one thing for me is, like, you know, on the job we were all just on, they turned me and AJ loose on. It wasn't a money weld. It wasn't a permanent weld, but it was a 48-inch thousand-wall weld. And so it was kind of, you know, Blake telling me, hey, you take this serious. And it's like, but at the same time, it's like, dude, this is seven hours here. You know, like, let's try to speed it up a little bit. And then, but you get it. You get it to where, you know, you get comfortable, just like with anything else. You get comfortable doing things a certain way. And then, so, like, I'm practicing. I'm, you know, telling Blake to come check it out, see what he thinks. And he's like, you need to slow down. Yeah. Like, and you need to learn how to test. Like, that's what you're practicing to test right now, you know. And so, to me, just because, like, you know, I got in such a rhythm as a helper, and it's completely different. Because I got in such a rhythm as a helper to do everything as fast as I can. Like, now, I need to step back, slow down, you know, carry a titer puddle. Teach you the detail. And, yeah, take it, you know, make sure I'm burning stuff out if I leave it in there. But you got that in your mind anyway. Right. Especially working for Blake. Yes, absolutely. Blake's super, I mean, I've been around Blake a couple times, and I know that he's a super detail-oriented person. You know, like, anal about it. Right. And so, and, you know, and it's just like trying to do everything the right way. And as much as he is particular about stuff, like, he's also just as laid back. Oh, yeah. You know, and so, there's things like, you know, and he, I mean, he's really good at what he does. So, like, he'll try stuff, you know, and he'll just get out there, and he'll make it look great. And you're just like, okay. But, yeah, you know, it's just, and to me, I'm sitting here back like, dude, I'm never going to be able, like, are you kidding me? You know, it's just. Well, you do something every day for six, three hours a week. Yeah. It's muscle memory. Right. And that's, and that's, like, the point. And I think that was one hurdle that I had to get through with deciding, okay, I'm going to do this. It's because, like, it is. It's like, you put the time in, you're going to be able to weld. Sure. And you're going to. You're going to learn it, and you're going to be able to do that. It's like these kids here putting in 760 hours of welding. I mean, that's four and a half months. You know, they come here four days a week. Yeah. Great opportunity. Five days a week sometimes. I think four days. I can tell you from a personal experience of how a bad habit cost me my welding career from starting. I drove 26 hours to North Dakota, turned into, like, a 30-something hour trip, lost the duals off the truck. Buddy had to come get me, show up to a welding test. And it was about midway through the day by the time I get up there into Watford. And I pulled around back, and they say, hey, it's two super, two-inch super coupons, one downhill, one uphill. You think you can knock it out? I've been welding. I've been practicing. My buddy called me for an opportunity and a job. And, yeah, dude, I'll do it. So all this trip, make it all that way. Welding both of them at the same time, let one kind of cool off while I work on the other one. Man, wore out, tired. What did I fall back to? My habits. That downhill, I just sprayed a filler. And just had that rod kicked up because I knew it would look all right. And that's why I was just trying to, you know, trap slag. So by the time I get done with that uphill one, they went and cut my straps for me. They were nice enough to do that. But he come back and was like, man, you busted your test. Well, we'll see what, you know, this low-high one looks like. Man, it was clean. It was good. I was pretty good uphill. Way better than I was downhill. That little bit of complacency. Right. That little bit, that bad habit is what come back, and it'll get you all through life. It's bad habit. And the next day, that dude was cool enough to let me retest. And that same inspector put a bead in there, and I was like, man, this is going to be it. I'm going to take this opportunity. I'm not going to screw it up like last time. That old boy walked up to that coupon, and it's sitting on a 45. Doesn't even fully click his flashlight on. Says, you can go ahead and roll up. I'm 26 hours from my house. And I said, man, you're not even going to turn your flashlight on and completely look at it? He turned that light on, never looked at that pipe, kept looking at me. He said, if you could fix that spot. In the bottom, I might let you go on. I don't know what spot he's talking about. It was a pretty good bead in there. I was proud of it. Grind through, kind of rerun it. Seems like it pushed, and I'm like, all right, cool. Walks up again, doesn't even turn the flashlight on. You go ahead and roll that truck up. But what I could, you know, I could sit here and bad mouth that inspector. Why? I busted the test, and why? He didn't run my heat. He didn't weld it for me. I did. My bad habit cost me what could have been the jump start of my welding career. Sure. And it's kind of a kickback, kind of kicking the nuts. Right. I get that pride pretty quick. Oh, yeah, but it's one of those. of those things now like hey you know i got that first busting the test out of the books i don't have to worry about that one but i don't want that to happen again and i definitely don't want bad habits and complacency to put me back in that humbled spot sure 100 the um to to jump past the hurdle of it you know it's a big it's a huge mental block the you know we talked about this the the breaking out part of it is it's for a lot of guys you know i had this helper decky poo he freaking struggled for a long time just getting out of his own way you know like just let let your equipment do the job you know you know what you're looking at you know and that's a lot of it people get in their own way a lot um now let's talk let's talk a little bit about this i know uh i know you got your rig truck and and aj's or garth has got his rig truck um kind of two different routes on the rig trucks here you yeah so i got the old stick shift dodge it's fourth gen old bertha the old goat has been through hey everybody worries about the miles that's been put on the truck it's the miles on the driver they're probably the worst of it and got i call it more of like the east texas style bed that's what i like and a lot of people hate on the west texas style beds to me i'm more of a hot rod guy of clean sharp and it looks all right and there's other beds out there that now growing we can say kind of growing up but maturing is i can look back at you know more of a arkansas style bed or somebody that almost has what looks like a dang utility truck and i can go man you can get to every single tool fast quick and in a hurry and everything's organized that's what it comes down to for no way i put a utility bed on my truck i wouldn't do it either but i've seen i've seen some things that i wouldn't talk a little crazy to somebody on the right way amen but it's they're all going to make the same way i'm going to make the same way i'm going to make the same way i'm and if all you have to start with is some farmer's truck in a utility bed and that's what gets your jump starts and then you can go build that pimping bed or have somebody build it for you sure but it's just one of those things where i come from you know where i come from you know there's a lot west texas where i broke out at right so there's guys that got 2500 i've seen well machines and 1500s and stuff just a welder that i worked for expected to be a certain kind of way you know because my name's attached to his name he's from clinton arkansas over here he's very he's a military guy very peculiar about all his shit he didn't have the nicest he had a second gen dodge wasn't the nicest pickup but it made a shit ton of money and he was very peculiar about it you know like don't slide your ass out of the seat a lot of things that i'm still the same way about my pickup when i drive you know uh 2024 f350 with leather seats in and not i'll run a helper off a little different now you know being on the union side you don't just get to run somebody off but uh you definitely get some choice words on on a guy and told him that you know like i don't allow smoking in my truck yeah i don't like i don't like for you to smoke a cigarette and then get in my pickup and i in uh up there they the helper that i wound up with towards the end there he smoked cigarettes and i told that welding for him and i said hey brother i i don't care how y'all get him out there but he won't ride in that truck he's like what do you mean i was like he smoked cigarettes and he and it wasn't even it wasn't an argument you know very told him so do you park your truck here you know troy get you out there to where we need to go to you know it which is nice but i straight up on the non-union side if you smoke cigarettes you don't work for me yeah you can smoke a vape well it's one of those things of you know people can say that and whatnot and you know you get paid hourly for that truck right sure so on the union side it's 22 an hour would that person that helper if you gave them 22 could you go smoking their truck and they might think smoking's cool or you know tear up their seats or beat the piss out of their truck because they look at everybody not everybody a lot of people say well that's a work truck oh man that's that's my that's my living that ain't your work truck that's your living that's how you make your money that's how your your kids have food on the table and when you take pride in something like that man it you know it goes a long way less things have to happen and you're doing a great job man it's just one of those things you take pride in it but that shows to other people like you know and i said you got to be careful about pride and whatnot but it's hey i earned this and i want to be a good steward of it sure and whether it's you know an old second gen dodge with cloth seats it's leaking everything because well it's a dodge i own one i know 200 right yeah but when you appreciate it and you take care of it when somebody else comes up and disrespects that man that means a lot and they might not think of it personally disrespecting but hey that's your living that's your hard-earned money went into all of that so you got to take care of it i kind of never thought about this way and i'll just say this then we'll talk about garth's rear truck um i never thought about this until recently is you know like we talked about the rig truck the truck you know it's got to be nice equipment good equipment all this stuff but i can literally take that as long as i got the weld machine that's my most prized possession it's that weld machine that and my in my eyes you know my right arm and my eyes and that weld machine as long as i have those three things i can make a living you know because if you're down you know i know some guys that wrecked the truck through their machine in a u-haul rental truck and you know made a job it's not ideal but it can be done so i'm very peculiar on changing oil and all that stuff in my weld machine all right garth let's talk about your rig truck experience uh well um being from ball knob hold the microphone up being from ball knob and helping a couple guys from ball knob i have what we like to call a ball knob bed it's not the fanciest but it uh is very easy to work off of um every everything is kind of right where it needs to be you don't have to do a whole lot of digging to get stuff out you can get stuff out of there quick um uh it's the welder i helped selling his i bought it so got a bed and everything didn't have to build it um thank god because that's not really my forte and it's just it's kind of one of them deals man it's just like you you can sit there and have this big fancy truck and be super scared of getting it dirty and and and that that type of deal uh or you can get a truck that you know it is an older truck but hey guess what you take care of that and well you know you know you know and i know a proven truck right yeah it's got many uh many a right away mile on it and uh you know it's i know it's a good truck and so it's kind of one of them deals it's also pretty cool that uh the truck that i'm breaking out with is going to be the truck is the truck that i helped off of so i like that and i would just like the toolboxes yeah the toolboxes are nice yeah the toolbox are nice you know you can sometimes they fly open they do uh they do and you know there's something about that truck it's uh it's got a reputation for holding on to stuff that doesn't like you you know everybody thinks that's falling off but it you know it just never does and so yeah no it's just kind of one of them deals like as far as you know taking care of stuff you know i just you know we do we make our livings in a truck in a truck seat one way or the other whether you're on a firing line and you're just pulling up 60 feet at a time 40 foot at a time or you're sitting in a spot waiting to make one or testing or whatever you make your living in your truck and so and it does you know it does get down to one of those deals like when you know they pay you for that truck but when it breaks down like that's yours to fix or if something goes wrong with it that's yours to fix you know so it is well that's why i like to make the 22 an hour yeah 100 but i also like that my you know my truck's new got a warranty and stuff you know i didn't bury the crap out of it up there in minnesota though yeah forage don't have no weight in them yeah i just buried it pretty soggy up there the uh to kind of make everything full circle here um y'all don't know when y'all are going to go test obviously um but you're pretty much done working for the year y'all ain't going to go back to work this year huh not as a helper no and i got well the phone call today somebody's trying to hire me out and then he hey man i want to keep you in the loop i like you good dude you know stay working and i had to say no man i'm down here trying to finish what i started sure yeah that's good you you know y'all got that goal in front of y'all to to go hit you know i hope we get it hit and absolutely you know 2026 is coming and i hope that y'all are welding out there yep uh because i intend on you know i've been i'm fairly busy this year you know i've been doing a lot of work and i've been doing a lot of work and i've been doing a lot of work and i've been doing a lot of work and you know i've only i only started using my book the last five not even five months june july well the end of june so july august september and the first week so i mean maybe five months total and uh you know a lot of people talk about this out of work list and stuff and i don't even bat an eye at it because i've already had opportunities you know on two jobs one of them you know small job one of them a big pipeline very decent size pipeline already had opportunities you know i think you're um you know work kind of speaks for itself i try to have always have a lot of pride in what i do and i i think that's something that's instilled top to bottom you know yeah you know it's it's a lot easier to uh go have pride in your work when you're getting paid what you get paid to do yeah i mean it's just another thing is too it's like i to me and you know i i did a little bit of the non-union but like i'm i don't want to take less than what i'm worth because at the end of the day it's you know it's what you know when it's your time That's what they're paying you for and your skills. And so do you want to sell that for something and for less than, you know, I don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to me. And, you know, I love the people for the most part. I mean, there's, you know, in every group and that can bring, you know, stuff down. But, you know, just being in the union, you know, I've met some of the best guys, you know, some of my best friends that I've met on the pipeline aren't from the same states that I live in, and I still talk to them all the time. AJ's come down, and we're well together. But, you know, it's a brotherhood like anything else, and in every brotherhood that I've seen or been a part of in my life, you know, you do have to pay something to get in that. You know, it's anything else. It's like anything else. And, you know, it's just to be a part of our local, you know, and it might be a little different for me because I've been in the union for a long time. I've been in the union for a long time. I have family in it, and so it's kind of that tradition, you know, and trying to speak or try to let your work speak for their reputations, too, because they put their names on the line for me. It's just trying to get out there and work. And I think, you know, coming from either side, you know, I think that's a true statement no matter where you're at. You know, it's your reputation, your name, and your work. That's what gets you further along in this topic. And so I am the complete opposite of what he's in. My last name has never been on the right-of-way except for myself. So if somebody's thinking about, you know, and I've got some of my best friends are non-union and some of my best friends are union. Good people are good people. You'll find them anywhere you walk in life, and you'll find bad people anywhere you walk in life. But I knew for me, like, and I was scared to death my first job of, man, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know if I'm going to, if this is going to work out for me. Is people going to, you know, want to hire me again? And you hear about all this stuff, but, you know, I showed up, and I worked my ass off, and people recognized it, and I haven't looked back since. Sure. My phone, I turn down jobs all the time, and I've been on jobs. You get laid off, and the welder foreman calls somebody else, and before you get home, hey, man, you want to come work for me? Yeah. And it's just one of those things of I don't have any family. I don't have any leg up. It was. It was God's grace and God's gift that, you know, hey, man, and I didn't waste the opportunity that he gave me. Sure. You take, like we're talking about, you take pride in yourself, and it makes you sell yourself, you know. That's all you got. That's all you got is your last name, and it's one of those things of, well, is he going to be a hard worker? Is he going to handle his business? Or is he going to be lazy, or is he going to screw things up and whatnot? And that's what determines whether you're not successful. It doesn't matter if you have a book or you don't have a book. You know, buddy's on. I mean, the non-union side that, man, they might be good dudes, but like you said, they can't stay out of their own way, and they can't make a living just as much as I know people on this side that, man, they wasted their whole life, couldn't get out of their own way, and threw everything away and had to start over. To touch on one more point here, like y'all both said, you know, like when you're across the pipe helping, you know, like we don't truly have competition on the, you know, but if you go into it like me and Blake talked about yesterday, you know, like if me and Blake was going together, it would be, it would be. It would be a competition every time, you know. And it's good, you know, it's good that you have that mindset. You know, that's the non-union mindset is every time is, you know, if you're on the fire line, it's racing. You know, them machines start up and pipe gets heated up. You know, if you're pulling up here the first thing in the morning, you know, on the fire line, pipe gets heated up. Somebody does that sissy wave and y'all kick off going. You bet. Right down. Well, and. I'm back and we do leapfrogging different than how, a little bit different than how it's done in the 798, still the same concept, you know. And to the competition thing of it, like, is there probably less of it now? And on the, I can only speak for now is because I've been on the union side now, but my first union job, a dude I called dad, I was coasting with the helper across from me. Cause I was like, man, this is easy. I don't have to work that hard and whatnot. And he come around to me there at break and gave me the football coach, pulled me down. He's four foot four or five foot four. You know, that's giving grace. So this little man is pulling me down and said, listen, I know how hard you can work. If that weather foreman drives by and we're waiting on you, I will find a new helper. You will not have a job. And that mentality pushed me. And it's not even being in competition where if we're across the pipe from each other, yeah, we're probably going to race because we're buddies or whatever. Or sometimes you just have to show people like, Hey, like I've had to do it where welding out the entire or rolling out the entire sled and, you know, the helper crossing me. He's taking his time or, you know, screwing things up. And I say, Hey, step back and watch this. And you show them how to do it and you show them what's faster and whatnot. And it's not the competition with another person, you know, across from you, but the competition of selling yourself of your quality, your work ethic and how you're going to handle your business. And that's great advice that it gave you because it's not the welder that you directly work for that, you know, or the, or, you know, you don't like, when I went to Louisiana, I didn't know that there was other welders. And for me, that was down there welding too, you know, that run work as well. Right. So when you just do, do my job right here, you know, and I mean, which it was, I only went to the fire line one time and it was a, it was kind of a weight for me because I weld one way and that's wide, wide open, you know? So it's kind of, I'd pull the reins back a little bit, you know, but it's, it's the reason why they do it the way they do it is to keep everything moving. And I kind of understand that a little bit now, you know, it's, it's a lot of people, you know, from the non-union side say, well, you know, it's, it's, it's to keep everybody the same. Well, I can promise you out there, it's still not the same because the guy behind me, you know, when he started two rods behind me, but he, you know, he reached the bottom before I did. Well, it's like, uh, there's a welder grant and, you know, we have rules of, you know, you're not welding out on somebody. And I've got buddies from the non-union side that, you know, there's a younger kind of guy and he thought he was going to weld on the old man, weld out on the old man in front of him, about got his ass whooped on the right way for it because of his arrogance and his attitude. So, there's checks and balances everywhere. But with grant we're doing 36 inch seven 50 wall and Leroy comes up to him and says, Hey, I need you to weld out on everybody and go catch another one so we can get out of here early. And he absolutely did. Sure enough, got down with it and it's not just, you know, well, you make everybody the same. It helps out the slow people, the slow people still get weeded out. Oh yeah. Now it's not like, you know, where a well boss can come up to you at 10 o'clock and say, Hey, hand, if you don't figure it out by lunch, you might as well, leave, but you will get weeded out. And it's also the next job. What's your name of man. We remember you took, you know, you're basically the boat anchor back there and whatnot. And sometimes, you know, people's first jobs are going through something. They might need a little help, whatever. But if you're consistently, you know, we'll be honest crappy and you weed yourself out. Sure. A hundred percent. All right. So at the end of the podcast, I like to go with what's one final piece of advice. Advice that, you know, like younger kids, younger self, you think about now that you didn't think about eight years ago, you know, man, I could sit here for another hour and give all that advice, but it's just a swift one. It's the most important one is at the end of the day, we're going to have to answer for every action word and thing that we do. Right. This, this life is like that. And it's over. We're going to have to answer to a higher power and that's God. So, and it will, 100% put your life better is if you find him and get your life right. And so you say a whole lot during this week here is, you know, every time you get done talking to somebody, you know, you always say, try to be a better person, you know, be a better person. And when you, like when you put Jesus, try to be a good person, be a good, yeah, be a good person. We're never perfect. There was one man that was perfect. He was hung on a cross, crucified, mutilated for my sin, your sin, his sin, everybody's sin around. And when you put that in your life, man, the decisions you make are so much better when you do good. And you're a good person. I talked about all the time, handle your business. That's a big part of business. You're going to, everybody's going to have to stand and answer for it. This life is a fleeting moment. Eternity's a long time. Where are you going to spend it? I tell everybody, well, it was a small part of the big picture. It's just a small part of life, even smaller part of life, man. We're, I appreciate you coming down and putting this on, helping these kids out. You didn't have to do that. You don't know who you're going to be. Right. But you don't know the seeds that you're sowing down the road for these younger kids. And even not in the younger people, I've gotten more out of this. This two days here, man, has made my whole trip worth it. Even if I go to Tulsa and waste $800 and bust my test, this means something. And I appreciate you doing it. Yeah. I appreciate that. You know, when we, when we come up here last year, we had a goal in mind and that me and Reed sat around and talked for a while. We didn't feel like we really reached that. That goal. You know, we didn't really get the kids involved and I didn't get to give back the way that I wanted to give back. You know, you know, like you take 20 kids and not all of them is going to be popliners. Take 60 kids. You might get two of them out of 60, you know, but this year I feel like we were kind of hammered at home. Well, in the morning we got 17 kids competing in the second annual show dark and showdown. And I hope it's something that continues going. And I appreciate y'all coming up. All right, Garth, you're, you're a piece of advice here, brother. Well, I don't really know how to follow that. Uh, but I guess just my piece of advice would be like you know just when you get if you want to make sure you want a pipeline you know before you do it because there's probably a lot easier ways to make livings out out there and it's one of them deals like if you know if you don't if you can't travel then you can't do this you know and it's and if you don't want to get out there and bust your ass and make a name for yourself you can't do this and all you're going to do is embarrass yourself and probably get yourself in a bind um you know take care of your money don't let them pipeline bills get eat up them pipeline paychecks you know what i mean and yeah so i mean yeah so fast you you know and i know like for me working on the farm heck i didn't really make much money and then start making money you're like oh shit how did i spend it so fast i've never spent this kind of money you know and but yeah you just got to take care of your business handle your business and uh you know i'll tell you a funny thing that job down in louisiana i was making so much money i didn't know how to spend it on yeah that's a that's a that's a thing for me because i like to spend money yeah don't we all don't we all uh like i said we're here let's uh wrapping up the second day of uh the welding the welding events here you know uh tomorrow we start bright and early with the welding competition uh first wave like i said we got 17 young men and women young adults signed up for it that's that's 18 plus um you can go to outontheroad.com you know if you want to get involved you can send an email there for next year uh gonna try to get started earlier on planning it out for next year have a you know uh have a few more people here that we thought maybe get to come this year but it kind of all happened fast i'm gonna try to do a lot better next year as i said previously in some other videos um i'm gonna try to get back to a regular schedule um i'm gonna try to get back to a regular schedule and i'm gonna try to get back to a regular schedule um just mental health's a hell of a thing dealt with a lot of that here but not here but this past year a lot of life choices been made and moving around on some things um outontheroad.com uh you can you know you can find this spotify apple youtube it's all there uh i'm trying to do better about tiktok posting little snippets and stuff there uh yeah i appreciate everybody coming out to this deal i'll give you two quick quick clips you can put on tiktok the first one i think my welding career probably would have went way faster and better if i had them slickman gloves because they are the absolute most comfortable and i don't i'm not sponsored by him i just see nate wouldn't mind a sponsorship but i also but i know a guy that can get you a pair of them but hey i don't mind to spend my money on them and not just the welding gloves there's vaqueros and everything like we're trying to push for our side of contractors to carry them because not only he beats tillman on price but i see the way nate handles himself and handles his business and i can appreciate that goodness and man the same with the woe bros shirts he just talked about you know you said mental health is a serious thing especially pipelining is lonely unless you have your family with you man it's great that a lot of guys uh that are prominent you know uh got a president on the internet of starting to talk about it a lot more you know it's a it's a heck of a thing i've buried a lot of stuff and i'm not going to do it again i'm not going to do it again so we're waiting through a lot of stuff this past year and it's uh bad habits can can numb you of that and you think you're doing the right thing and burying it and it's serious if you're out there and you're dealing with something reach out oh 100 there's people that we have buried that man you know things were in a bind i was in that position you talk about pipeline and save my life real quick is i was in a really terrible spot making a lot of jokes that i had a he's now one of my greatest friends didn't know him nothing but from that job pulled me aside and said hey man what's going on yeah sure reach now reach out to somebody but if you need reaching out don't be afraid to reach out we're all human we all need help if we didn't need help we wouldn't need none of this so 100 mental health that's a serious thing don't jody spradley say 100 100 you got anything else scarf are you good uh i appreciate you coming on yeah thanks for having me it's cool to come out here and do this got to talk in front of them just kind of about 798 and i'll probably preach it more than some people because it changed my life you know and uh i love being in the union i'm in uh a lot of people have probably tried it and some people probably don't like it it's it is what it is you know i think you put it's just like the job we do you get into it what you put out of it so like to me like i get to go when i go to can go to the meetings i try to go to the meetings when i even though some of it's kind of boring but you get to meet people maybe you hadn't seen in a couple years and it's good to talk to them and uh you know then just stuff like that so uh yeah that's that's about all i got all righty like i said out on the road.com get your merch um like i'm trying to do a 50 50 split between the 2t stuff going towards my scholarship for next year and uh you know affording to be able to buy more merch so uh yep that is it we'll see y'all down the road oh shit that was pretty