Your boys are BACK this week, answering the question you've been waiting for. IF you only had $25, what kinds of things could you put in your pockets? Spoiler, Brandon wins. Jerk.

THE CHALLENGE

Must buy
- Writing
- Light
- Cut
- 2 others: paper, tool, wallet, keychain, time, etc
What is your EDC philosophy?
- Aesthetics vs function
What WERE you carrying?
What did you replace?
What did you add?
Would you keep?
What would you upgrade?
Did you change your daily habits?

Price Points:

Brandon - $14: 9

Aaron- $22: 3

Collin- $27: -2

Keep points:

Brandon: Chapstick, knife: 2

Aaron: Chapstick, notebook: 2

Collin: Pen, notebook: 2

Winner:

Branon: 11

Aaron: 5

Collin: 0

A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

Unknown Speaker 0:22

Oh hey what's up?

Unknown Speaker 0:34

went to the dentist the other day. You don't say

Brandon 0:38

funny how that works. But no I did have I did have the interesting experience of going to the dentist and to the like the barber, whatever, not the hair salon in the same week. Right? Two very drastic, drastically different experiences in your life right now. So like One is where the classic trope of like, you're very close to the dentist, they're like all up in your business and you can't say a word to them, because they have their fingers in your mouth basically. Whereas the hairstylist lady is, you know, she's there, he's having a good time hanging out chatting with over here. It's very odd, because I always think of all kinds of interesting questions. Not necessarily, maybe not interesting. I'd be a strong word to talk to the dental hygienists, people about things I want to ask them, but I physically incapable of asking them these questions.

Unknown Speaker 1:33

Oh, yeah, yeah, no, totally 100%

Brandon 1:36

because you're like, you know, it's a medical profession that I do not understand. They're sitting there and they're saying words at you. And I'm like, What? What does that mean? Like at the doctor? Like, I can sort of follow along most of the conversations, dental hygienists office or dentist be I have no idea what you're saying to me. Yeah, right. They're saying like numbers and like stuff and I'm like, What? What do you think about the counting thing? Yeah. You know, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what these things are. You're saying words that I have no idea what they mean. Especially when the dentist come in and look at the X rays and all that stuff. And they blather on about things. And I'm just like, sitting there like, what? Okay? Like, it's very awkward because they're talking about you and you're sitting like, inches away from them, and you have no idea. You can't decode what's happening.

Unknown Speaker 2:32

You might as well be in a foreign country

Brandon 2:34

at that point. Yeah, it's weird. Okay, cool. I always want to know things like, why dental hygienist? Why was that? How did you how did you come across this career path? Like, what do you find interesting about this? Because the people that I mean, she's worked there forever. I've talked to you know, she couldn't do it several times and talked to her a lot you know about kids and everything, but like, why dentistry? What is that? What about is is interesting to you? Like what? What makes you think that because like, to me sounds very terrifying. Right? Like, some people's mouths and everything that's kind of like the worst things in the entire world about the worst ever but it's definitely there. They're also notice it's kind of they also are similar to hair stylists. And that hair stylist hair is always looking good. Right? You know, because it's it's weird if you go to get your hair cut by somebody and their hair is like all messed up. Yeah, you're gonna mess there. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna go Oh.

Unknown Speaker 3:50

Oh dear.

Brandon 3:52

Also, you'll notice that dental people their teeth are like the best teeth you've ever seen. Like people like actors and actresses, their teeth are not as good as your dental hygiene tests or your dentist teeth is not like a pressure thing. Is there like a an industry pressure to have the best teeth ever? Because you're like, you are the forefront most representative of the dental industry. I mean Your smile is like a bulletin board for the place that you work is that thing? Yeah, he do. Babies words cuz I have like this weird like hose stuck in my mouth. Like you're

Unknown Speaker 4:30

like you're right. Yeah, not exactly the time to be like So tell me about

Unknown Speaker 4:35

your life choices that led you here.

Brandon 4:38

Yeah. Yeah, hundred percent agree. That's very Yeah, I have those same questions. Plus, it's like, I don't know. Most of the dental hygienists tend to be like, really, like younger

Unknown Speaker 4:52

or older. There's no middle aged people that I have found. At least.

Brandon 4:59

Lady the Mind she's like my age. Okay. So yeah, a bunch of men like that. But it is like 100% female profession from Yeah. And like the dentist is a guy. Right? There's another there was another guy that worked there is a it was one of the people that did like cavities and stuff. He was a guy, but the rest of them is basically all women, which is on not like bad, odd. It's just like yes, like, you know, you don't like see that very often.

Unknown Speaker 5:31

It's weird.

Brandon 5:34

Yeah, that's why I also are my work finally got like, dental insurance. It's not terrible. So it was a really weird experience. Like I had to like, you know, go in there. And also, I want to know, this isn't a question for the hygienist. This is more of an industry question. Why does the dental industry fully comprehend how it insurance works. And the rest of the medical profession. It's like a big giant mystery and they can't figure it out. They have no idea. I know, like getting ready to check out with so we went, we went. And it's like, they have already,

Unknown Speaker 6:16

like, run it through, they know exactly what you're going to Oh, that's like, it's like boom, boom, boom and at the doctor's office, it's like, well, I don't know this could either be zero or $12,000. And,

Brandon 6:29

and they know exactly how much I'm gonna pay the next time I go in there. Right? They come up here like treatment plan when you have stuff to work on. They're like, this is exactly what here it's all itemized broken down for you on this list. Here is all this stuff is all this stuff that your insurance will cover. And here is everything that's going to be left out of pocket, and you're like, this is the this is the best thing ever. What I don't what? It's so good. It's like They're so nice about it. They're so like, oh yeah. And then here's Plan B. So we can do this work next time so we can split this bill up if it's inconvenient Like what? Well, I love all of you. You're just Yes. I don't Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 7:14

Personal the doctor's office with

Brandon 7:16

Yeah. Yeah. Well, here's your copay and the rest of it's a mystery for six to eight weeks, like what?

Unknown Speaker 7:22

Definitely will have forgotten that you even were in here. By the time this deal comes

Brandon 7:26

out. You will have no idea why you're receiving this. Yeah. And maybe blindside you with the charges. So that you know, it's like, Oh, here we go. What rest of the health. healthcare needs to be like dental insurance there. They need to get they need to look to the dental industry for some figure out what's going on. Because those people know what's up. solve that. Yeah, they've already solved it. We just nobody pays attention to them. They need credit for this. Get to tell them go find them. Ask them how to make it better. They already know.

Unknown Speaker 8:04

They're literally already doing it.

Brandon 8:06

It's already this mystery nonsense. It was my week existential crisis of the healthcare industry, like

Unknown Speaker 8:17

join the club. But I don't have too much to add to that story because we've been to the dentist to Aaron,

Brandon 8:23

did you go to the dentist?

Unknown Speaker 8:27

Aaron did not go to the dentist and

Brandon 8:32

I spent a good chunk of the weekend with Shelley. And then we watched football. And we had Monday off so that was actually really nice. So we just chilled and hung out and did Star Wars marathon as best we could. Oh, yeah. And then I've been working last few days. already feels like the whole weekend. It felt like a Friday to be honest today, but now Anyone did not go to the dentist.

Unknown Speaker 9:04

Did any of your work require

Unknown Speaker 9:07

things in your pockets?

Brandon 9:16

It was a sacred challenge. Yes, I picked up on that.

Unknown Speaker 9:25

So this week's to our challenge that we set before us was to wasn't a cheap EDC challenge being every day carry challenge and we had to buy. It had to have five items though guys let me know if I'm getting this right.

Unknown Speaker 9:44

Yeah, I have five. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 9:48

I have three of them had to be the same. So we

Unknown Speaker 9:51

all had to get a writing item, a light source, something to cut with and we have to tip them had to choose two other items. And we had paper tools, wallet key chain,

Brandon 10:05

time telling device other sort of things if you had to come up with five items all under $25. And this would was very interesting for me. But I think, Who wants to go first? I think we should let you go first. And you have very strong thoughts about all of this. You've been well, like,

Unknown Speaker 10:26

okay, so I'm gonna melt down about this like, it's been a bit like, so I don't know how to. I don't know how to send a picture to you guys. How do I send a picture to you through text message? Okay.

Unknown Speaker 10:38

They will I wasn't sure because oh, true. I don't have Aaron.

Brandon 10:43

Aaron, if I text you Can you see them? Probably. also find out, send it in a period of on, Brandon. So here's what here's,

Unknown Speaker 10:55

as I said in two places, Skype and text Metallo.

Unknown Speaker 10:57

So this is

Unknown Speaker 11:01

This is my etc before this is my before shot

Brandon 11:05

oh that's your before shot. Yeah

Unknown Speaker 11:12

so and we'll include pictures and stuff like this all in this week's episode show notes and links to all the stuff that we decided that we were going to get. So these items that I'm carrying before so I'm going to start on the left so I'm I started carrying so I always have a an Apple Watch Series three that I always wear with a nylon band.

Brandon 11:32

I have

Unknown Speaker 11:34

an in wallet, that is a fossil origin that is probably about 15 to 18 years old. I have a carry

Brandon 11:47

Pentel pencil. I have one of those. Spin some somewhere around here.

Unknown Speaker 11:53

This is it's literally one of the best fidget spinners because you can sit there and hold the capital and the Thank you

Brandon 12:01

for your text didn't go through by the way. Oh, you gotta test it on mine. Oh, I didn't get a picture with Oh, I have the chat

Unknown Speaker 12:09

box. You have a chapel okay.

Unknown Speaker 12:12

I also have a knife. It's a benchmade.

Brandon 12:19

pocketknife and then care field notes,

Unknown Speaker 12:24

jet, Black Edition, Jet Black dotted grid, an iPhone 11 with an otter cylinder case, that wired earbuds because I don't really like the wireless ones. And then my key chain which just has my car key on it, because when we moved into this house, one of the systems we made was to get doors that just had a keypad with a key battle, so we wouldn't have to carry house keys. So we just have a number that we enter on our on the pad to get into our house. And that was a wave like helping to reduce stuff. And I don't know if you guys really think about this kind of stuff, but my phone goes in my back right pocket. back right pocket person. My wallet goes on my left or my right front pocket along with my pencil, my writing utensil, my watches on my left arm, my field notes, go in my back, left pocket,

Unknown Speaker 13:22

Unknown Speaker 13:25

keys go with my wallet as well. And then my knife and earbuds go in my front left pocket. That's how things are

Unknown Speaker 13:34

distributed

Brandon 13:36

around important in distribution is important.

Unknown Speaker 13:39

It is really hard because one of the things that I run into is

Unknown Speaker 13:43

I really like wearing blue jeans. But my work pants are more, have more pockets in them. So I always have this idea of carrying more things, but I'm not at work. I don't wear those pants. So I have to keep things they're limited right?

Brandon 14:02

So I don't know what do you guys think of what I was carrying? And well, yeah, it's pretty standard. It's a more I will tell you small preview it's way more than I normally have on my voice in any given moment. Like I'm

Unknown Speaker 14:19

have and yeah, so I do just things that I carry with me typically I also have a I don't know I carry a backpack usually was just stuffing it to and from work but that's not pictured here because that doesn't fit in your pockets and I've etc I think more like pocket carry. Yeah. And so you notice like, my stuff really isn't matching. It's not any of one color. It's you know, it's not all themed or anything like that. It's really more functional. I love the Pentel carry because it got that cap. It's small And it's metal. So it's really, really hard to break. And then Field Notes obviously just last forever, that kind of thing. So, what I replayed I don't know anything else about that before I tell you what I replaced with.

Brandon 15:15

Now that's pretty good. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 15:19

So I'll send this in the two different locations a

Brandon 15:25

text and our super secret chat channel. Let me know when those come through. Well, those are going I see it on the chat now.

Unknown Speaker 15:35

This was very hot.

Unknown Speaker 15:38

part was very hard.

Unknown Speaker 15:41

And then I had to add stuff, because in that that was that was

Brandon 15:50

my decision making. So I kept things that I kept. I kept the watch. I kept

Unknown Speaker 15:57

phone case. I kept the wall It I looked into trying to replace the wallet but

Unknown Speaker 16:03

Unknown Speaker 16:04

I really liked this thing. And I'm going to be so sad when it dies. Because it's super thin.

Brandon 16:11

I hardly care. I have like

Unknown Speaker 16:15

seven, seven things in here.

Unknown Speaker 16:18

And, and I don't, I don't really want to catch. You don't have anything big. One of the problems with the wallets that I found are the ones that are kind of like a folio where you like if you have a bifold wallet and you go yeah, exactly find. It makes it really fat. Because you've got card leather card, leather card, leather card leather, I don't want I just want to bring next to each other. Yes. And because it keeps it really super thin and so these slide out from the side and what you can do is you can hold your thumb and your middle finger on each side of it and use your index finger to push you can push them all just a smidge and grab the one you want. And I just can do that without looking and grab a certain card. I've had it again. In like almost 15 years at this point so I, I don't know how I'm going to replace that because I kept my my key chain I wasn't gonna add anything to that and my earbuds and well in phone

Brandon 17:11

case Yeah, but

Unknown Speaker 17:14

technically I did add something to my TJ and I guess I'll start there. So I added a tool and I cuz I thought that would be kind of interesting of what kind of tool can I add in my pocket?

Unknown Speaker 17:27

And what I have here is the Gerber shard

Unknown Speaker 17:32

in it,

Brandon 17:33

it is your let me send you

Unknown Speaker 17:39

let me send you I don't know if you guys can open up and look at this stuff on your.

Brandon 17:44

Anyway, I'll send you an Amazon link to that. Anyway, it

Unknown Speaker 17:49

is a key to key chain tool. That is really it's not really not that big and it's got like a Phillips head flat blades screwdriver. It's got a bottle opener. And it's got like a little pry bar thing on on the on the edge into that kind of forked on one end. And so it's three, four tools in one.

Unknown Speaker 18:17

I can tell you right now, I will not be keeping this thing. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 18:24

It's very pokey. And

Unknown Speaker 18:27

that I learned, I learned about myself is I fidget with my keys a lot.

Brandon 18:33

And that's something I already knew about you and me actually

Unknown Speaker 18:37

know well, when you have something there that's sharp, and has that rules, all those points on it. You really learned that fast about like, Oh, I am caught catching my key chain and now there's something that hurts me whenever I do that.

Unknown Speaker 18:54

And so, I

Unknown Speaker 18:56

what I would, what I want to change with that is I want to get a credit card tool. Have you guys

Brandon 19:03

I don't Oh, yes, yes, that is that is what i would i would upgrade with that. Just because a those things look crazy

Unknown Speaker 19:17

and I don't know if I would ever use one or not, but I can tell you right now that the Gerber shard is

Brandon 19:22

not going to be on my teaching much longer.

Unknown Speaker 19:30

So the other thing that I had that I bought was a light that's that little black thing up there at the top it's called the ultra fire seven watts 300 lm mini Cree LED flashlight torch adjustable focus zoom light lamps on am I from wish calm that's one of those wishing buzz words in the title so that you'll search find it on Amazon, it's made by ultra fire and it's called the mini Cree le

Unknown Speaker 19:59

the tip expands

Unknown Speaker 20:02

group

Unknown Speaker 20:02

make a broader fine Pope focused and it's got a very satisfying button click on the back. I wanted a button because I figured the flashlight wanted to be able to operate with one hand instead of trying to twist it open you know like a mag light has to typically the only thing with this that I didn't see before I got it is it has three

Brandon 20:23

white mode to the first click is bright, you click it again,

Unknown Speaker 20:29

it's dim. If you click it a third time it flashes

Brandon 20:32

strobe, strobe.

Unknown Speaker 20:34

However, if you click it on, it automatically comes up too bright. And then if you shut it off, and if you wait a while and click it again, it'll come back to

Unknown Speaker 20:45

it will cycle through that each time. Here's that button close.

Brandon 20:49

Yeah. So if you click it,

Unknown Speaker 20:53

keep clicking it time and time again. You have to cycle through that to get back to that original light that you had. I hate this It's so annoying.

Unknown Speaker 21:01

I terrible.

Unknown Speaker 21:03

I wish this light just had one button and did one thing.

Brandon 21:07

Turn on

Unknown Speaker 21:07

bright light and then turn it off. I don't need three different ones. And I don't need to be all controlled by the same button because I don't know which light is going to come on next. Basically.

Brandon 21:20

It would be nice if there was a separate button for strobe because that's a very specialty button. Yeah, like you're not searching that one out. Like when you drop something behind your desk. You're not like ooh, strobe. That's what I wanted to beat strobe No, nobody. disco party right now. Here we go.

Unknown Speaker 21:36

Yeah. And the reason I went I wanted to get a you know, well,

Unknown Speaker 21:41

the light,

Unknown Speaker 21:43

you know, obviously, because it's part of the challenge, but secondly, because

Brandon 21:46

I use the flashlight on my phone. probably four or five times a day. Really? Yeah. Well, because little kids

Unknown Speaker 21:56

drop things as show their hand and They want to run upstairs and they can't quite hit the light in their bedroom. So I'll hand them my phone with a flashlight on so they can go upstairs and you know, see the way up the dark scary stairs and into the room to grab something and then come back down. So I now I just hand them a flashlight and go go. So I actually have found this very useful. It also has a little metal pen clip so that it's very tight. It's very, this whole thing is sturdy, you could this would have hurt if he chucked it at somebody. It does. It does just take one double A and and what I am interested in is battery technology. And I didn't do this for this challenge but apparently you can get different kinds of batteries such as lithium ion and it changes how flashlights operate. And I'm very interested in this.

Brandon 22:51

I do know I have seen some that are like USB rechargeable, like rechargeable battery. That's what

Unknown Speaker 22:58

that's feeling. Yeah. So that was on my list but

Unknown Speaker 23:02

for price that's yeah

Unknown Speaker 23:03

price point and out of the app that was that was out and you could get some little like there were some that looked just like crazy cheap but I was like I don't I went with this but an upgrade for this one I don't have a specific upgrade for this one but an upgrade would actually just be a USB rechargeable because i would i would really want to come back to upgrade at the end. Oh yeah, sorry. Sorry. So it'll cycle back. Okay, it's like so this just going through will do fast. I'll fast track this and then you guys can do the same thing. I have an I have a knife here. It's for cutting.

Brandon 23:34

This one a fixed blade knife.

Unknown Speaker 23:36

Maybe it is a K bar Becker skeleton fixed 3.25 in blade stainless steel handle. And I The reason I made this switch is because I love that benchmade that's a foldable, however, I don't like putting this whole thing in my pocket because it's very thick and heavy and it I use the clip to put on my pocket to keep it higher that clip scratches getting into and out of our cards leather seats like

Unknown Speaker 24:10

raising

Unknown Speaker 24:12

tears that up and so I can't have that I so that's it makes me not want to carry that benchmade so then I was like if I have a small fixed blade, I can just put the whole thing in my pocket. And this is small I mean this thing is it's not even I mean the blade itself is three and a half inches or three and a quarter inch and the handle is not much longer than that either. Maybe four inches total. So you know six inches seven inches in length. It's really it's super thin and it has a little plastic cover over the blade that slides and locks into. I've really enjoyed having this thing just because of how slender it is and of how

Brandon 24:53

light this

Unknown Speaker 24:56

my writing utensil

Unknown Speaker 25:00

replaced with a right in the rain all weather pin number 47. And I did that because my paper choice they wanted to change as a right in the rain Notepad. I've used right in the rain notepads and previously not the reporter style. And I really wanted to try an all right in the rain experience of pen plus Notepad.

Brandon 25:27

So did you just go outside today and try it? You

Unknown Speaker 25:31

know, I've been I've been writing in this and in honestly, I've probably been using this more heavily for this challenge because I think in the past week, I've been I filled up a lot more pages than I typically do.

Brandon 25:46

But, um, but yeah, so

Unknown Speaker 25:50

that is and then the earbuds in the startup but that's what I that's that's what I have for that's been carrying the past. So I will, will will Lou will go to somebody else and then we'll

Brandon 26:05

circle back there look like so Aaron, do you want to give it a shot? Well, I didn't know we're supposed to take pictures. So I'm kind of organized. Yeah. Well, you can start talking first and then we'll do that later. Yeah. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker 26:17

I, it took me a while to get everything because I was still a little bit confused on what exactly we're doing. Because there's a lot of times where I'm either I'm in the field or I'm out of the office, and I could either be gone an hour or it could literally be gone all day. And so I kind of have to deal with you know, what, now I call in what Chile calls adventure pants to where they are, you know, there's numerous pockets. And so I have a little bit of an advantage but I always have a backpack with me as well. So in my initial starter pack, if you will, I do have weirdly enough, I'll sit there when Collin was talking about the right of right as rain or right in the rain notebooks. I was like, this sounds like a stupid name. And then I'm actually looking at my little notebooks and he goes, Oh, it's right in the rain. Oh, crap. So I actually have some of those minor green though.

Brandon 27:18

And so I Harry, I have a few of those that I use and these are just for kind of like little quick blurbs every once in a while. I don't know what the pen is. Looks like a z grip. But it's ballpoint pen that I use. And most of them mostly because I can just write super quickly. I then have my wallets which is

Unknown Speaker 27:45

how do you explain it? The best kind of it would be would be kind of like one of those old cowboy wallets that are like the long rectangular. Oh, hey, um, I have those two like and actually it Some other things in there and one of the main things that I have is a bottle opener which is like a flat credit card ball bottle opener and they don't sponsor us but it's an iron monk brewing company out of Stillwater, Oklahoma but I actually did have a multi purpose tool. That was like one of the fun ones but I have yet to have lost it but I just kind of like the feel and the aesthetic of having one of these big wallets because I've tried those.

Brandon 28:30

What are they called like a little magnet for little like clip wallets. But those just don't don't start work for me. I'm moving on. I actually do have a benchmade knife I believe it is the exact same it is the exact same knife as Colin stated this is I have the limited edition number 20 out of 200 this thing is definitely got some miles on it. I definitely had this that forever. And then kind of the two little things that I always carry either my backpack or army is I have in the orbit. What do you want your mint gum? Yeah. That one has a little bit more usage out of it because either go into really, really smelly homes and just need something to help me kind of like keep the smell out of my nostrils. And and also sometimes I I feel like and I know I do have kind of like a speech impediment, like when I definitely I was teaching or giving speeches. I had a hard time articulating words, but I don't whenever I'm chewing gum. I think you might have the thing that I have that same problem, but it's because the rate at which I start speaking increases dramatically.

Unknown Speaker 30:00

Yeah, I find myself doing that too. I start

Brandon 30:01

talking really fast. And I'm like that. Those aren't words I'm saying anymore. Hold on. Yeah, so the gum, the gum helps me kind of articulate. And also with like this smell. And then also, I think this is just kind of, I don't know if this is just what we've been grown up with. But for some reason I always buy Burt's Bees wax. Lip Balm. I didn't grant it when I was younger. I didn't know that there are other chapstick out in the world until I saw someone use like one of the those paint containers. I was like, Oh, that's not burst beeswax, and they're like, no, it's you can there's other lip balm out there and like, Oh, it was not. And so I literally buy like those little five packs

Unknown Speaker 30:49

of the wax.

Brandon 30:53

sporadically, so I least always have some sort of ones with those but that those are just in my keys. It kind of depends on what vehicle I drive either to state van which there

Unknown Speaker 31:08

I don't really know how to describe describe them but or I have my keys but I usually just leave my keys in the office but my keys have a carabiner it also has a bottle opener but it also has kind of like a little pike like a little self defense pipe thingy

Brandon 31:27

correction it used to but

Unknown Speaker 31:30

he left it inside somebody on the shin so

Brandon 31:35

bad but those are just kind of like the basic kit and then I guess change or into to upgrade or what did you What did you get for this challenge? Ah, ok. So for this challenge, I got a what brand are you? It is an Elan publishing field book. And also the picture is It's bigger than the right in the rain book that I have. Like I like how little the right in the rain notebook is but I just like the field notebook just just the way it might how big it is and how more can write and I don't feel like I'm doing like chicken scratches. Why? And so I kind of upgraded the size of the book. Okay. And then I don't know what the pin is called. But it is a it has a does it called stylist to where I can use on my phone. And I guess my phone is another thing that you use but I kind of forgot because I'm talking to you on it. Today, Motorola, Motorola z for and so for the pen it also has a little stylist thingy on it so I can actually use it to move my thrown around and also has a rear stylist to it as well. But I've actually written in the rain with this pen and it hasn't smudged or anything so it actually works pretty well but I also I could just use it like just whenever on my phone like I can sit here and move the little bubble around on our Skype thing. Ooh, my band. And then like I always keep the benchmade knife in my backpack, but I've upgraded or bought sorry, a all I had originally a butterfly knife that gave me really good inspiration. It's kind of like a little pocket don't it kind of like one of those little pocket multi tool ones, huh? Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. And so it has a little light on the end of it. But that was kind of my old one and so I scoured for aeons. Two days of work. Another Multi Purpose butterfly esque knife like that, however, I could not find one that had a light source on it. So I just I just use my phone, but this one's a little bit more heavy duty, it's about the same size. It still fits in my pocket and or one of my other patches that I have

Unknown Speaker 34:19

and you know, I kind of depends on where I'm at. either be in a medium to a very tiny size town or way out in the country. This thing is actually or just this brand, which is are you there's

Brandon 34:39

usually one hand to open this is really difficult to say, Sheffield

Unknown Speaker 34:45

multi tool.

Brandon 34:48

The other one that I had the blue one this one's kind of a reddish, burnt orange colory these things have helped me you know

Unknown Speaker 34:58

better Use a screw or to kind of cut through things as a few nice on air. So I've used I've used a sibling to this before, so I've never actually had a chance to use this, but this is much more of a beefier version than the one I previously had.

Brandon 35:16

And then just kind of for kicks and giggles. I do have a little book of the US Constitution

that I use, just in case. Just Just in case. Okay, yeah. So I gotcha. And then in my backpack that I have I, you know, keep extra paper for notes. And I always least try to have like a book or two. Because sometimes it's like, oh, well, I have to try to make contact with these people. There's no point me driving an hour, back to the office and then having to drive an hour back. So I'm just going to sit in a parking lot. wire and other work on stuff for read. So I have killers of the flower moon and then I the interchangeable set of other books that I use sporadically in my backpack just so I can be like, Oh, I if I need to call people or if I literally just need to sit and chill. I have a book and then phone chargers as well. Cool. We go. Cool. Okay, very nice. Alright. So you've got my picture from earlier. That was my before picture. Yes. Right. You'll notice it's very, there's not a lot to look at. You gotta Yeah, I hate having stuff on me. Right? And that's why I'm drawn to this kind of stuff. I find it fascinating. What is chosen and what people use and I have because I can't like I don't like having all that stuff with me all the time. So my before picture is my keys from work with little key chain on it. So it's that's just there's a house key and those are the my school keys. That's it my wallet as I also have a front pocket Brian's a folding one but it is a fossil, something another brown leather folding wallet thing it's not too bad. I The reason I had one like Collins and the reason I abandoned it was because the stacking of the cards that way, taking him in and out so much like wore down my stuff and it was like I couldn't read it all the time. I'm now like when you go to Walmart or whatever. So with the chip one it probably is fine now, but I have one where you open it up and the they're pretty thin leather flaps, the driver's licenses on the outside. You open it up and then there's a couple card slots in there. The compliment is not easy. And the little clip is inside, but I don't carry cash with me, like ever. So I don't have anything in there. I put my, actually what I did is I clipped my school ID in there because that's how I pay for lunch in the cafeteria. They just scan it. So I just opened it up, and like scan out of the thing and then go, it's I paid for my lunch. So okay, that's it. And then my phone case, I have some sort of Samsung Galaxy something and a OtterBox phone case. And that's it. That's all I have. I don't take anything with me anywhere else. Yeah, I am generally confined to a space at work though. Because I have a classroom. Yeah, you have things, but I don't have things in there either.

Unknown Speaker 38:52

Like I don't have a cube,

Brandon 38:54

you know, I mean, I have stuff but I don't have like this kind of stuff in there. Like I don't have these things around. Right. I One other thing and I do have a bag I have some sort of leather like satchel messenger bag situation that I use sometimes when I have to go back and forth in there I at work, I have some paper and some stuff I don't use it too much. In my old job as a paraprofessional, I was highly mobile and moved around all the time. So I had all kinds of stuff in there like notebooks and paper and whatever. So as a person who does not carry things I I went a little in left field. Oh no, no running backs right now. I'm very excited about this. Here. See, it's sending. So I will preface this where I since I didn't really know what I wanted, or what type of stuff I needed. Did you Get that you might not want to I'll preface it with this. Where did you do all of your shopping? Oh my gosh. I I did all by Amazon. Okay, and that that was pretty much most of actually that was like almost all um there was a few exceptions of Walmart again coming home late from work and like I don't have I forgot to get something bridge I went to the I went to the antique mall flea market

which is awesome. So I thought I thought this is actually Number one, it was fun as heck, man, I love going that place. They have the weirdest stuff in there. We can talk about that side conversation later. We'll put that on the list talk about that. I didn't want, like, I have like, I figured value for money you could find there. Because it's not it's all used stuff. Right? And it's interesting, right? I know, since I don't have it, I'm not worried about like functional or what it looks like, whatever, as long as it kind of works, and it might look kind of cool. It's cool. And like, I was thinking as a person who does not have anything ever. Mm hmm. I think that there's a lot of value in getting something used for your first stuff. Yeah, right. To see if you even like it. And then you can upgrade stuff later or replace with other things as needed. But going out and buying something that you're like, I don't know, if I look it or not, I don't know, my brain was just like, why would you do that? I don't know. That doesn't sound like something. I mean, it's fine. Because again, some of this stuff I have around here. I have like pocket knives randomly, but I don't carry them. Yeah, either they're bigger than the wrong size or they're not useful. So, yeah, we'll start from that picture will start far right. On the far right, you will notice a giant red it's a comb. Yeah, it also has a six inch ruler on its own. I do not know how old this is because the phone number on this column is not a modern phone number. Oh my gosh. So I cannot. I cannot I cannot believe state how old this comb is. But that's one of the thing that drew to me. I don't know where the head hunter beauty salon is. And this phone number if you can zoom in and see that it is not a modern phone number. Yeah, so says sh one dash 2988 which is what? That's like I have to call the operator and yeah punch get the routing. So it's it's kinda it's pretty durable plastic hit says unbreakable on so far that's true. I had this for a while, but it's a little bit long side note back to the zoo. Yeah. Other thing I should mention I don't care I only carry things in my front pocket. I cannot stand having

Unknown Speaker 43:32

my backpack Hey, ever that was my next question.

Brandon 43:36

Oh my god. That's why that's why everything on my picture is very small size is very important to me. Yeah. Normally it is keys wallet. left pocket phone, right. Okay, did I got so size is important. So this I put this I did put this comb in the right pocket with my phone cuz you don't even really notice it. They're not because it's so thin but it is a bit long. Partially The reason I bought it it was very cheap and it's got a ruler on the side of it which I thought was hilarious. I was like, doing double duty right there. Yeah. Yeah, but as a bearded individual, it's not it's not bad comes in handy every once in a while when you get a after lunch, go fix it up or whatever, you know, I don't have very much hair anymore but they pay me for the beard. Right? Nice. So that was useful. Moving over I found that is a bullet pencil. I am so happy about that. It is a what it appears to be is an old it says armor verta green slash armor pebble as a fertilizer. Three it's pre Miracle Gro plant food. So this pencil is probably from the early 60s maybe? Yeah, it's kind of but it's it's what they used to sell them at like feed stores. Right there. farmers in Winnipeg, so it's this really weird light metal slash whatever but the eraser doesn't work at all, but it's a super nice way to carry just a pencil around. What do you what do you have it filled with? Right now I just put some one of my old black wings in there. Okay, cool that black blackwing the song now I will say, cuz that's the only pencil I had that was almost short enough to fit in there anyway. Okay. I will say it would benefit from a harder lead pencil because it's so soft that it's just like you could write a little bit and it goes away and you're like,

Unknown Speaker 45:35

well, I love writing. I love writing with those but the you'd like

Brandon 45:41

lead is so soft. It is. So it doesn't need a harder lead pencil. Like if my field notes pencil was smaller. I'd stuck that sucker in there in a minute because I love that thing. It's got that real hard lead on it and it lasts forever. Yeah, but this little blackwing it was just, it was my smallest one I had so I just sharpen it down a little bit and it fit right in there when I pulled the back off. Yeah, there's a little blue pencil is super nice. I like it's like really light to again, which is important because some like modern bullet pencils they're like really heavy because there's like a brass and like, I don't want that. I don't want 87 pounds of bras in the pocket. So yeah, it's really cool. The decals still on there. The stickers are they're really good. It's really kind of just neat. I bought it cuz it was neat. And I was like, oh, there was actually a pencil in it when I bought it. Just some random little like a little golf pencil thing. I have it here on my desk. I took it out and put that blackwing in there just because I had it laying around. But yeah, there's a little random bullet pencil they found. The next thing is this like patient, two bladed pocket knife. That is definitely a bone handle, by the way Marius on handle and if I take a picture later we opened infinity you the blade has been one of the blades have been just like sharpened to death. So it's not no it's not bad. It's like it's just shorter than what you think it should be when you open it. Oh, that's I see. Okay. But I don't really care. Because all I ever use pocket knives for it's like opening stuff that's like a like cutting tape by opening envelopes because I'm the world's worst envelope opener, boxes, little things. These are small, minute cutting tasks. And, you know, I don't need like a big giant knife thing. Also the fact that I do work in a school environment. Like it's our very rural school, so like, literally everybody in school has a pocket knife like this. fact that it's like a small like non threatening blade is a bonus. Right? Because when you work in that even in an office, right, if you pull out like a knife like a giant people are going to be like, what are you doing? That's true. A little tiny folding pocket knife. It's like so it's really cool. It's really small. It's really thin. And it appears to be agent so I'm not it just kind of neat. Cool. Yeah, it was neat was cool looking. And it seemed to work. So I just cleaned it up a little bit. There's himself on there, scraped it out with a toothpick because there's some gunk inside. Some ancient farmers pocket no doubt. Next, for this left, next left, I just have some chapstick. Cuz I was like, Man, it's called. My lips are chapped. I should buy some chapstick. Don't ever have any. Yes, I always lose it Right, because I don't carry things around so I lose it somewhere inevitably. So I thought I'll buy some more. So I put that on my thing because I don't ever carry it. I used to carry it all the time. Like a long time ago. I carried it constantly because I played trumpet a lot, but you need that for your face. Kind of essential. Yeah, but when I you know, and I scared after that for a while, but I just sort of fell out of the habit. So I have some around somewhere, but I bought some more because it's cold and dry and winter. Yeah, my lips are really cracked. So it's

Unknown Speaker 49:34

chapstick is one of the things of like you need to populate your entire work area environment, every place that you go needs to have two or three just randomly because always you always need it and it's never can never find it. It's everywhere you remember putting it so I thought having that for a while is pretty good. And so I just

Brandon 49:51

bought the normal chapstick brand. Just because it was there. And this is the only thing that did not come from the flea market. By the way Okay, good job by this and Walmart. So that was new. And then the last thing, that little red thing, it's some sort of random led key chain flashlight. Yeah. So the back it does have push button on the back. And it's just I don't know, it's read it. It's gotten early on it goes in a key chain and randomly this side of it says shinu to public schools.

Unknown Speaker 50:29

I don't know why.

Brandon 50:33

I don't know why it says that. I don't know what that's doing here. But you know, whatever. Today, that was mildly funny, but it's got a little button button on the back. It's pretty bright. It's not very, it's not the best light. But the spread on that thing is not super fantastic. But, you know, if you drop something under your desk, or like something behind the bookshelf, it's right there in front went out, find it in like, emergency scenario where the lights go out in the school or something. It's better than nothing. I can be fantastic. So sure. Yeah. Yeah, that's my that's what I bought. I bought, hey, hey, you know, let's go let's make this fun unless you go

Unknown Speaker 51:19

to the flea market and see what's up, right? Oh

Brandon 51:22

yeah, what's around and start there I want to start there and see what kind of stuff was on available used and I found it all in one afternoon except for the chapstick. I bought that at Walmart later but one afternoon wandering around the flea market and all kinds of stuff and yeah, yeah, no, I like that. I mean, we we have very different takes on this. You know, as I heard it,

Unknown Speaker 51:49

Aaron and I kind of had to established

Unknown Speaker 51:52

stuff that we carry, you have literally nothing, literally nothing and I'd like you know, earlier you said said of like the importance of starting with either a stuff you already have around you or going for the cheapest possible option when you're just starting, which is why this is such a good challenge. It was really hard. Because if you don't like, you know, the whole premise of like, get something that cuts you go, Well, I don't know what I need for that. Yeah, that's fine, cuz the thing is only going to be $2 or whatever.

Brandon 52:29

I mean, that's why we use though because if you buy really cheap what can happen is you get something really cheap. And then you don't like it but it's because it doesn't work.

Unknown Speaker 52:43

Yeah, because it's not because you don't like something that cuts exactly

Brandon 52:48

you it because it's not it's so cheap that it's non functional. Yeah, yeah. You run the risk of being like, Man, this is, this is not good because, you know, I don't like it but Do you really not like it? Or do you not like that one thing? And then that puts you off of having something like that? Yeah. And so I thought that would be just kind of a fun twist to throw at you because

Unknown Speaker 53:13

well, yeah, and I mean, honestly, like, my decision tree was like, like, Hey, we have all all the stuff that I already like, but, you know, because it's so cheap, I can afford to kind of go I don't know if I'd like that or not. Let's Yeah, that's right. You like like the Gerber tool, you know, like, okay, it was you know, however much was like

Brandon 53:33

I because I had to think of a you know, a such a

Unknown Speaker 53:39

refined, confined and restrained budget. It was like, why not just try it in as a starting point. Yeah, try and think through what could I want or need because yeah, the first thing I was like, Oh, I want a multi tool. I was like, well, that's way at all. And, and you know, what, honestly, given what I carry and what I do, It would be a complete waste of money to have a multi tool on me everyday carry kind of thing because I just don't

Unknown Speaker 54:07

want into that kind of stuff.

Brandon 54:08

Yeah, I Anna, that is good too. Because if you like you had something that you did and like you said, it's just nice to it is an interesting way to try to switch it up without getting too crazy because as we, as you may or may not know, listeners, the land of the value, or the I get that the value, the price, a lot of this stuff. It's like an exponential curve. Right? pocket knives go from a couple of dollars to 400 bucks real quick. Which energy I can't say my not what I don't.

Unknown Speaker 54:42

And that's one of the reasons why I really tried to I've really kept this whole thing at a distance because yeah, like the flashlight that I got there. There are ones that look exactly like that, from some brands that are like $90 No, no This little thing that's still bigger than your thumb. And I'm like, oh, what in the world? And to just try and dive right in and go on your flashlight, what's the best flashlight? And what's the best this? What's the best? That was the best that you could for things that fit in your pocket? Only? You could spend four or $500 easy. Yeah, it's kind of,

Unknown Speaker 55:21

you know, it's just insane.

Unknown Speaker 55:25

And so, you know, I mean, I like kind of tinkering with it. But at the same time, it's like, oh, my gosh, I can't, you know, I can't go down that road, especially if you just don't know if you're going to even use something or not.

Brandon 55:37

Yeah, exactly.

Unknown Speaker 55:39

But Megan was quite shocked whenever she opened the box and was like, come on, what are you doing? And I was like, fine.

Unknown Speaker 55:47

It's for the, for the first

Brandon 55:49

for the podcast. She's like, it's fine.

Unknown Speaker 55:52

Yeah, so what are you doing?

Unknown Speaker 55:56

Like if I tried to explain it really would make a whole lot but I think one of the things that about this that I'm interested in knowing is especially for you, Brandon and and I want to talk to, you know, follow up with you, Aaron is did did adding these new items. How did they change your daily habits?

Brandon 56:16

I'll start with Aaron because I got a hold on bareback. I gotta let Chucky and he's scratching my door. Okay? Um, I mean the only real big difference. I mean, like I said, I pretty much just put everything in the backpack. Like the little things that I truly carry, like in my pocket. Just like just two pockets is my wallet, my phone, keys and the gum, like everything else just stays in my bag cuz I'm either talking to people and I can't really have that much stuff. Like in my pockets like in in the pockets itself, because then it's kind of, you know, a little cumbersome but not too overbearing, but It was just maybe kind of like, oh, more aware of what I have and what I can use, kind of just like a more of a daily basis of like, Oh, actually have this with me, I can do that here right now. Like, oh, they know I have this tool, I can help with this or Oh, wait, let me do this with this. And so I was more what's the phrase not just more handy, but I was more like functioning of, you know, if something were to pop up, I was able to be like, Oh, well, I actually have that on my person. And so that I know, that's kind of the whole point. But I just felt that, you know, if that I have everything with me, but not being overburden, and that that was kind of the main premise of the stuff that I picked out was what do I have that's either a lighter than what I used to use and so me I A little weird to explain. I didn't really think too much of it. The words were not coming out of the guy. Well, this kind of makes more sense of what I had better than. Okay, now that that doesn't make good sense, because I think that word overburdened is important. Right? Just because like, yeah, it's real, it's real easy to look like Batman of Zen, right? With this kind of thing. And then you just kind of it's, it becomes like, uncomfortable. And like, right, this is kind of in the way and I think the second that sort of starts getting in the way at least my me I'm like out like, no, done. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 58:50

Well, and, and yeah, I mean, like, you know, if Aaron, Aaron, you said you carrying that wallet in your pocket.

Brandon 58:55

Your front pocket? Yeah. Like I don't, I don't Like anything like in my back pockets to me that's just it makes sense but functioning wise and just comfortability wise because like I'm either sitting or I'm walking, right there's not much in between,

Unknown Speaker 59:13

well I just see like, you know, the wallet that you have, like that's kind of a limiting factor on more things you can add to a pocket because you know, you have that Wallet for a reason. And it's, it's a bigger wallet, so that that takes up space. So you know, you really can't add too much more to your pockets. That's kind of this limiting factor on what what you can or can't add.

Brandon 59:34

There's a lot of stuff that I can add it into the wallet was like I can I usually don't carry cash on me like hardly at all. But I have my badge, my ID I also keep the gum sometimes in the wallet. And so I can literally just be like oh well I'm done for the day. just literally take out the wallet like boom done. sit there and like fish around everything like I know I don't have to, you know, like, Oh wait, hold on, let me get my let me get my card for you. I just literally know where it's at. I can just pull my wallet out and go right there. Yeah, yeah. So what about you, Brandon? how did

Unknown Speaker 1:00:13

how did all of a sudden being flushed with stuff affect you?

Brandon 1:00:17

It was kind of weird. Right? Like Where did Where did you put it all? I spent all I follow the rest of my life I get Oh my gosh. Cuz

Unknown Speaker 1:00:27

I'm in that. Yeah. And it

Brandon 1:00:34

was ease wallet. chapstick flashlight, pencil and little knife thing. So that was a little unbalanced. Uh huh. I love that. Again, I put my phone in the comb thing in my right pocket because I you know, if it's in there, it's about the same size. doesn't scratch up the phone, which is important, right? You want to do that. So it's kind of odd. A lot of times during the day even, like I put my keys on my desk, so like, they're not always my pocket. So that's a little better. Like when I'm just roaming around the room or when I go to the hallway and so putting my keys on my desk a lot. I take him with me to like lunch and stuff, so I can lock up and everything but like, and so even even Normally, I usually don't have them my pocket so it was kind of other stuff. All of a sudden around was a very odd experience. And it was it Some days I was like, you know, cumbersome or just kind of weird. And I think because a lot of it's very small, it like fits together in like a pretty unobtrusive bundle. Right? Because the knife is little. The flashlight is a little the chapstick You don't even know what's in there most the time. So that wasn't too bad. Because a lot of its kind of vertically in your pocket and you don't even really ramp but everyone's You're like, What the heck? Why is Olivia so weird? I think having Yeah, it was just a very odd experience just having that much stuff around you. I guess I did use it like Aaron's talking about like, you have it to like, your brain in certain situations. But oh, I have a I have a solution for this issue. Yes. Right. And so there are some tasks that are accomplished relatively little quicker, I guess just because you have access to that thing. Right, like, Oh, yeah, I have this. Oh, yeah. Let me write this down. Oh, let me do that. Right. Because again, a lot of times when I leave the classroom, if I don't forget to take the pencil out of my ear, where it says, like, boy, like, Oh, do you can you write this down? I'm like, no, no. No, you know, this while I could like, Oh, yeah, let me get boom is one pencil out and do that. Because I knew I had it. Because sometimes I forget that round. So I had that that was useful. I mean, like I said the comb was kind of useful, but that feels like something that can migrate to the desk drawer and go. Yeah, you can have around but you don't like needed. It was more of a like, oh, that might be an interesting experiment because I don't usually do that. And I usually do, you know, have that stuff at home, but I don't take it with me. So it was kind of handy, but again, I feel like upgrading that and putting something else similar in the drawer of the desk would be good. I feel that way about a lot of this stuff. Like I feel like it would be nice to have but I want to in my desk I think I don't want to have it with me, like on me as I'm roaming about. So you feel like you really didn't have that feeling like Oh yes, this is nice. Having them on me, you'll probably go back to ya. I'm not really and I, you know, I've maybe the pocket knife is nice every once in a while because you know, you needed stuff. But I mean, that that might be something but a lot of it I feel like just in my daily life because I spend the majority of my time at work. Right? So I feel like having that stuff, but like, in a desk drawer, maybe might be a good idea, right, trying to figure out what I can put in there. That wouldn't have to worry so much about size. It doesn't become so limiting. But I have stuff available to me if I need it, but I don't want it necessarily with me. Sure on my person is because it's too I don't know. I just don't find myself in situations often enough that I need to use it for it to be a viable thing. Right and I've struggled with this before because I've done this dance before with the Oh yeah. Everyone's while go through these things were like you need a knife a lot so I'm like, oh maybe I should carry one and then it's that thing if you're carrying around all the time you ever use it ever Well, I'm

Unknown Speaker 1:05:12

back but it's RL

Brandon 1:05:13

so that's

Unknown Speaker 1:05:19

okay. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah I

Unknown Speaker 1:05:22

i I'm interested in also touch on like what you're going to keep and upgrades. I think we've all been circling around that my I didn't really change too much other than I did stop messing with my keys a little bit because they were stabbing me in all of my fingers.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:44

And

Unknown Speaker 1:05:46

it was nice. Like I said, like I mentioned earlier, having that flashlight that I could hand off to children and just use because again, I for whatever reason, I'm using my flashlight on my phone so much, and so it was nice to have a dedicated one that was a lot brighter and Low Risk and it got lost. But yeah, I'm so so Aaron. Are you going to to keep or upgrade?

Brandon 1:06:10

Anything off of you know what you what you're using now?

Oh, before we go down that road Oh, sorry, the question as as the challenge was price related. What was your total cost? Before we see that?

Unknown Speaker 1:06:31

No, I just say that Oh, okay. Okay, fine. I wouldn't say that for last but no we can get we should do it now.

Brandon 1:06:36

Okay. I think so. Yeah, I think it makes sense before you upgrade when you spend already. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:44

Who wants to go first on this one.

Brandon 1:06:47

So I think the most expensive thing that I bought my was my little multi tool, the Sheffield. It was a little A bit heavier duty, because I had the other multi tool specifically for fishing. And I was like, Oh man, this is gonna be totally fine. And then it just like completely busted. And that's why the light kind of exploded because I was trying to use the whole clippers for a fish and yeah, the thing wiggle then poof and so I wanted something a little bit I don't fear and something that had a little more weight to it just in case and so that that entirely costs like 13 bucks. And then the other thing that really cost me anything was my 1314 1516 1718 1314 1516. So the chapter itself bought me about $3 and then the other packet of the field notebooks that Probably totally up to about like 22 but that was just for shipping, man. Okay. I'll pass. No, no, oh, no. Okay, so this challenge is very hard for me, I could tell by the tone of your voice because

Unknown Speaker 1:08:22

I wasn't happy with some things that were in the price range.

Brandon 1:08:25

Unknown Speaker 1:08:27

the most expensive thing of mine was was the knife. It's a skilled knife. There's not a lot to it. It was it was it was $11 and 20 cents which, which really made because then I ordered that one and it made some stuff really, really hard after that. And then so the Gerber shard It was $5 and 29. And then the and then the flashlight was $6 and 49 cents. Then and then we come to that what I replaced I got a pen and a piece of paper. And technically, technically, the notepad I paid $3 for and the note and the the, no sorry, the pen, I paid $3 for the notebook I paid $1 for because of that from a friend. So all all and for those of you keeping tabs at home, I paid to $26 and 98 cents for everything that I replaced.

Unknown Speaker 1:09:33

However,

Unknown Speaker 1:09:35

you cannot buy that pen or paper for that price. So all told my actual like, street market value was $39 and 65 cents. No, no,

Brandon 1:09:47

it's okay. It's what you paid for it is though. Okay, so I paid

Unknown Speaker 1:09:52

$26 and 98 cents for this $25 challenge. There we go.

Brandon 1:10:02

The reason I'm saying that it's what you paid for it is because like I said, I went to the thrift mall, and I bought all that stuff for $14

pocket knife is the most expensive thing I bought it was five bucks. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And again, it's just what you find on that day right could have been something else that could have been nothing right. And I would have to go somewhere else. I just happen to be lucky this time in place situation, right, but no pocket knife was like, five and the bullet pencil was like, more rain. I was like no flashlight was like three and the chapstick at the comb. We're both $1 so our taxes right around $14

Unknown Speaker 1:11:00

So if we are doing the be the Top Gear thing right now, for a point for, I gotta play for that one, but no you get you get a point for for every dollar amount you're under.

Brandon 1:11:16

Oh, so you get a point subtracted for every dollar you go. Connor on is nine and $1 negative one point,

Unknown Speaker 1:11:25

negative two would just be real here. I'm the negative two points. Brandon is in the nine. And Aaron is three. Oh, yeah.

Brandon 1:11:35

So that's the downhill from here. That's all that's okay. So I guess you know, the next question is like, what, what did you buy that you're going to? You're going to actually keep on you. I'm probably gonna use the chapstick. And the pocket knife might be it. Okay. Okay, so Aaron, I'm definitely wallet phone and then probably the bigger field notebook. So Aaron's keeping chapstick and notebooks and also brand new. We're keeping What? Probably the knife and the chapstick. So chapstick is the real winner here. That's what we've learned and what I've noticed.

Unknown Speaker 1:12:37

Yeah, I don't know. So we'll give a point for each item you're going to keep so Aaron you get two more points. Randy, get two more points.

Unknown Speaker 1:12:47

Me, I am

Brandon 1:12:51

going to get rid of the knife. That was I just

Unknown Speaker 1:12:56

don't, I don't I'm not gonna use that enough. I'm not gonna keep A shard and honestly, this particular flashlight I'm not going to keep. So I'm only going to continue to use out of this, the pen and the notebook.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:13

So I'm at zero points.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:23

So let's see. Let's do our Tally. Real quick. Brandon. You're at 11 points. Yeah. Aaron, you're at five. And I am at zero. Ever Go.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:41

Go.

Unknown Speaker 1:13:44

We can go one more round and ask about like, upgrades. Yeah, I go back to that one I think Yeah.

Brandon 1:13:52

topic because I think it's interesting to talk about that too. Yes on because this is that this price point you can only get some much value for money. Really?

Unknown Speaker 1:14:02

Yeah, it. But as we've mentioned, like it's a great starting point.

Brandon 1:14:07

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you don't need to go crazy. If you're like, wondering about this kind of thing, right? You don't need to go, go ham and just get all the stuff like all the top tier stuff, right? This category of things in particular, there's a certain kind of if it has a name, we have to coin a new internet theory here. But there's like an online effect that you get right? Where you have to, you see something? Because the stuff that you see online people usually talk about is like, the really high tier stuff. And it kind of creates this impression that that is the only stuff that exists. Oh, yeah, so you feel kind of like oh, no, I gotta get that because that's what all these people that all these reviews that I read the word like this thing. But like, that's like the top thing that everyone talks about. Yeah, right. Not like Just the other normal thing, it's perfectly fine and really good at what it is. It's just like a normal price. Right. So, yeah, I think I think it's good to kind of think about these things in terms of lower price, but still good value return on what it is. So yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:19

Anyway, got greeting.

Brandon 1:15:23

Who wants to start? Me to start? Sure. So, um, one of the things about the current pen is that the top twist software really easily,

Unknown Speaker 1:15:38

and then it's hard to click after that. So I have to constantly notice I have to constantly read retightened spin it down because it's a click pin. Yeah, not a not a twist pen. So that's been kind of annoying. And so my first thought was, I should just go with the granddaddy of everyday carry pens and get a fisher space pen. Okay, we're all in capital and stuff. However,

Unknown Speaker 1:16:01

Guess who makes the pin that I am currently using

Unknown Speaker 1:16:05

it's a it's a fisher space pen basically in all that Nate branding because the same same cartridge is what they use and Fisher space pens and actually this is made in the same factories that Fisher space pens are so this is a cheap Fisher space pen interested

Unknown Speaker 1:16:25

and so

Unknown Speaker 1:16:27

you know it's kind of one of those things of like well why would you go to that other than like form at that point but then you're just you know, then yeah, jumped to a fisher space pen is quite a lot over this over this pen. So I am still out on that. I think I would actually go back to you know, if I would upgrade this I would actually just get a more basic generic like rollerball pen or like a zebra pen you know that real one because they're more versatile and I don't feel as guilty using those guns frequently because you know, to replace the car And this is like $5.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:03

And at that point,

Unknown Speaker 1:17:04

just buy a different like a whole nother pen that's cheaper that can be thrown away. It's like this is a very it's still expensive pen if you think about it as far as disposability, and you don't want to do that. Yeah, cartridges are quite costly. So that that is something that I would consider. In addition to that the I would upgrade I feel to the I know this is going to go against what you know what I would, you know keep but I'm going to keep using both of these items. But I my next upgrade is going to be an upgrade back to what I was previously using is the field notebooks. And I say that just because the paper on the right and the reins is pretty narrow and what you can use it on your use with as far as writing utensils. So you don't have to just use the right in the rain pants. You can use basically any rollerball pans or permanent markers, but gel pins or long floaty pins or fountain pens or those kind of things completely out. So a subset of things that you could or want to write with, it's just because it's kind of like a coated paper. And if the ink sits on top, it gets wiped away. So you've got, it's gotta be pushed down into there. Okay, so that is that is a limitation. Um, so And what else? What else? Oh, I mean, there were a couple. No

Unknown Speaker 1:18:28

there's a really nice

Unknown Speaker 1:18:32

like, you know, I think the thing about the knife and stuff like, I like the the fixed blade. I do like that, because it's very simple. There's no moving parts. It's very they're very thin, which I really like. I just, I think I would try and do it like a shorter fixed blade but anyway.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:54

Yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:56

So in the light again, I think as much as I love having the light I think I just need to stash more lights around the house.

Brandon 1:19:06

And, and just use those can that's a good thought to that's what I was thinking. Like, I think if I was going to upgrade, like if I was going to change I'll just go through all of them and say if I was gonna actually if I whatever but so like I do like this knife it's actually pretty nice because it's super thin and everything cuz I like I said I'd need small right so if I was going to do anything I would get something else that was small, but I don't really know what an upgrade would be. I have around here somewhere. One of those like case knives. It's just like the single blade like names like that Texas toothpick knife or whatever they call it. Like the real short one. I have one of those around here someplace. That's nice because that's it's super unobtrusive and it gets ever notice it. So if I was going to carry another knife it would be that one right because it's just you can basically you can put it in that little tiny pocket in your jeans the one that no one uses or anything great it goes in there basically just small it is any recent I like I said I need to cut open like mail and like boxes I think if I was gonna do anything with that it would be bad thing because I again I don't use knives enough to warrant anything bigger. So I have some bigger things right here somewhere I have a benchmade too but I don't you It's so big. I don't carry it. Calm if I was gonna do a coma Yeah, my kids call anymore. It's just ridiculous. Again, that's a desk item. Actually somewhere like at home I only use wood comes in like that. It's not like scratchy. No plastic has been To be scratchy, like catches you and stuff so I probably do something like that. I would get some sort of would call him like a small pocket would call them size and put it in my desk and leave it there for we do stuff like fix hair after recess or you know color beard a little bit after recess after gets a little crazy. That would be that chapstick keep that same probably. I think I got a flashlight, like I talked about the beginning. Does like bigger ones. Like the USB rechargeable ones. Mm hmm. That sounds like a fantastic desk item as well. Right? Cuz he's around, you can check it you can just charge it up. Whether you use it a bunch. And you had to it's like, available there. I could charge it on my work computer, lead on my desk. That way if I needed it, it's there. But I don't want I want to have it with me all the time. Because I found I found that I didn't really use the flashlight very much. It's not a thing that I kept using again, I don't have small children. So maybe that's See, but like, it wasn't like a goatee thing. I wasn't finding myself like, oh man, if only I had a flashlight. Like, I don't ever got that doesn't come up, like hardly at all. Like, really, it was only like one time. So I figure if I'm going to use it that little if I need it, I have the phone flashlight. But for like emergencies or uses at school, I think a bigger one would be more helpful. Right? Just to have around, right, in that case. And then I always go back and forth as far as like, pencils and writing stuff goes. Because I mean, just bullet basically because it looked awesome. And I was like oh man, that's cool. And it was $4 But yeah, like Do that's the one thing that I do carry around quite frequently. I haven't done it recently. But I do have a very large collection of pencils and pens and things. So I think I actually have a small fountain pen collection. And if I was going to like go upgrade, I would just pull one of those back out. Sure, cuz those are nice. I have the ones different size ones. pretty reasonable price ones that you can just refill and use forever, because they're using use bottled ink with them. And you can just do that. I think I was gonna upgrade my writing utensil, other than just the standard pencils that I use at school because I use pencils the most for everything.

So I would use either just a normal pencil don't really need the portability of the bullet. It's nice. It's nice to have When you go other places for work, and what I do normally, I just need a normal pencil. Because I do at work, I throw it behind my ear, and I just go for it. So I could do any pencil really like as I use a lot of black wings, and just other random stuff. But I think some kind of found pin just because it's nice, it's fun, they write really easy. You can write anything with them really, as long as you have a small enough nib, if you glad like a broad nib fountain, you're not writing anything. bleeding through all paper. He's making ink on your hands basically doing like, I think that or some kind of highlighter because I find myself highlighting frequently. Well, that's interesting. So I think I do a great a lot of papers with highlighter. It's very inoffensive, it's very easy. It's very high contrast to whatever they're writing with generally. So I I do a lot of that with like bright highlighter colors. So either that or some sort of highlighter thing actually have on my desk over here. Hold on no back. I do have seen ya one of those preppy like fountain pen, highlighter, platinum preppy things. That's good. I haven't and I haven't used it quite a while I should probably clean that out and see if that works. Try that because I have I have some noodlers highlighter ink by yellow noodlers highlighter. Hmm, no problem is the Platinum ink cartridge is very small. So that's one of the reason I stopped using it I think. But something like that is nice because you can reuse it and it's just handy and highlighters are just I just use them all the time. I don't know why. I just use a lot highlighters. So some sort of highlighter or fountain pen if i when i would bring back out for my writing thing

Unknown Speaker 1:26:12

Yeah, Aaron

Brandon 1:26:19

thinking about like upgrading anything or taking away the only thing that I would add a pocket wise would be a portable charger. I know they make like little kind of like stick ones are like little small bricks that you can fit because next week I'm going out on call which anything after 430 comes in. I have to go out and investigate. And so yeah, they're like four o'clock in the morning or like right at four 30 or whatever. And now, I don't know if I have everything all in my, in my bag, or I don't know if my stone will be charged and so they'll just be kind of nice to have that. That inch insurance of, hey, if I'm gonna be out for a few hours

Unknown Speaker 1:27:18

you know, I don't know if I have the means necessary to charge my phone, but I can at least have it on this portable charger.

Brandon 1:27:26

Now while I'm doing my stuff, so that way I give it if something does happen, I have a phone with me that is charged. And so I don't know if I if I would upgrade or take away anything. I mean, the only thing that I would add would be probably just like a portable phone charger is mean everything that I use, or that I picked has some sort of purpose and that I have it for a reason. Yeah. And so they'll probably be the only thing that I would add If I had to take away, it would probably be maybe the multi tool. Like I have a knife that just like a basic that I could pretty much use for anything. But it just looks so cool because it's so pretty. And you have your more mobile, so you have like a backpack, and you have like a bad thing. I think it makes sense for that kind of ecosystem because it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter that it's a little bit bigger. Because in the grand scheme of things, it's not taking up that much space if you put it in a backpack or something like that. Yeah, and I think it I think it's it would prove its usefulness just having around because it's not going to get in the way of that stuff. You know, I mean, yeah, and so that's and just looking at things like that is well, you know, I use this for a purpose, but I also need to be light, nimble, agile. Yeah, as best as I can. And so Yeah, things like that would be is is needed. Okay. Yeah. So I'm, yeah. I mean, I, I think we need to do a follow up on this for a, you know, a month or two months or whatever to see what we're what we're what we're all carrying by then. Okay, that sounds good. We'll do a check in see if actually did buy anything to put to my desk. Yes, it'll be

Unknown Speaker 1:29:32

you he'll be the really interesting one to monitor.

Brandon 1:29:37

Yeah, I think that's, that's I would agree with that because I'm so fickle about this kind of thing. Right? Because like Aaron said, like, you know, it's, it's for a purpose and he uses it. I don't have those same purposes. So I often find myself I find with this kind of thing because I like I said, I've done this kind of thing, but on my own before, live sort of started it. And then after a while, I kind of like sort of give up, you know, move on. Because I just I find that it's not what I thought it was going to be. It's less useful than I was hoping I don't find myself reaching for that thing. And I sort of end up giving up on it. So, yeah, it would be interesting to see check back in a few months and see how it's going. Right. Kind of monitor the progress monitoring of this kind of thing. Okay, I like it. Okay, well, good job, guys. Mission to camp. Yeah. Yes. It was fun, though. I think the most fun part was shopping. Well, yeah. Because like I said, we can come back to that later, but antique malls are awesome.

Unknown Speaker 1:30:44

It's on the list.

Brandon 1:30:47

Just a mystery waiting to happen.

Unknown Speaker 1:30:52

Yeah, no, totally. It's one of the things yeah, you just like love is good. You think

Unknown Speaker 1:30:59

just stores are those kind of things are our mystery

Brandon 1:31:04

antique malls are a whole nother ball game. Yeah, we don't have to do a small challenge if like what's the most random thing you can find it in it's not it's

Unknown Speaker 1:31:17

not not by but fine

Unknown Speaker 1:31:18

oh I think we'll have to

Brandon 1:31:21

yeah exactly Bonus points if it's cheap and you buy it but I don't know don't get it don't yeah but we go back to that later because man it's it's a trip going in those places. So yeah this is interesting just to notice like the difference in like because like Aaron's so mobile and I am so stationary just thinking about looking and seeing what like kind of stuff that he uses and has to have around him versus like what I do in my confined to my classroom

Unknown Speaker 1:31:59

life Yeah, in my interest, my stuff really isn't like a kahlan must use kind of thing. It's more it's it is more of the colon wants to have these on hand. Yeah, kind of thing. So it's more it's versus, you know, I wanted on hand versus the, I'm going to populate it around me so that I can always have something within reach, which is you know what you're talking about with your your comb. kind of thing, but,

Brandon 1:32:30

yeah, it's true. So, yeah. informative.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:35

Yes. Yes. Very good. Very good. Okay. Well, we'll we'll see how this all pans out. And I'll follow up soon.

Brandon 1:32:49

Sounds good to me.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:51

All right. Love you guys. Love you. Bye.

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