So here we go.

Hey, Badr.

Hey, Josh.

It's Brad from Comic Book Couples Counseling.

I'm, uh, sitting here on my couch.

I'm actually lying down on my couch.

My legs are kicked up.

[laughs]

What do you have to say about that?

It stems from a couple different avenues for myself.

Right? For one, I want it to be a good experience for the two of us.

I equally want it to be a good experience for our play partners.

And not to say that our experiences that are rushed were negative experiences, but when you step back and take a look at what they were as opposed to what they can be, if you slow down and you allow the relationships to develop naturally, generally the play follows that aspect.

Do, do you ever feel that way, where, "Oh, we missed an opportunity"? Or do you feel totally fine? You're like, "Hey, if it's meant to be, we'll continue the relationship, and we'll do it another time."

No, it's always, um, you always feel that missed opportunity when it happens.

I think for me, I'm such a pleaser just in general life.

What?

It, so much so that it stopped working, that I don't feel that anymore.

So that was cool.

I don't like-

To be a weapon.

I still...

She used to terrorize me with apples 'cause I didn't like apples.

So she would eat apples over me in the car, and I just hated the sound of it.

Amazing.

After- after a big day, so it's, uh, very nice.

We got both sides of the, uh, fam from overseas and the necking on it for sure.

It's...

Watch out.

Hey, Brad, would you like to talk to the, um, the men's open champion of New Zealand?

I can do.

I'm...

Have we got a mic? Brad needs to tell us everything that's going on right here.

Thank you, Steve.

Thank you so much, Steve.

[laughing] Um, we got a reverse seed, uh, bone-in rib eye, our Wagyu brisket, house made jalapeno and cheese sausage, pork belly, um, pork belly burn ends.

I know you like the bread slice, so I have a few-

[laughs]

Yeah.

Bread napkins.

Ooh

... who I, who I know for a fact is headed out to Nashville under an assumed name.

Good luck.

Are you looking into flights for the whole family?

We thought about it, but you know, they're going to Nashville this weekend, so maybe I'll go to game six when it comes back to the pond and we can close things out, get ready for those Avalanche.

... and hopefully we will see some change.

change.It may be only two, two years.

Two is not a long turnaround for you to make a difference, right? Okay, Brad, uh, you're looking at me like you could kill me in 100 ways, which I'm sure you could as an ex-serviceman.

Um, what's your question to who? Um, my, my question is to David.

Um, so when I, when I was going through the process of my pre-selection, there was almost 40 pages of documentation that I had to fill in.

It, it went through my family, my history, my bank accounts, my, you know, any, any clubs or memberships I had, et cetera, et cetera.

Um, but over the period of this election, there's been a bit of information that's come out, which is talking about some of the things you've done, um, in terms of memberships and a- applications for pre-selection, et cetera.

Woo! [clapping]

[laughs]

...

but, but, but, but Ocho can say, Ocho can say right now that, yeah, you, he's, he's numb to it.

But our world has changed from when we were in the league at one time.

It, it's not like it was when you, we were all in the league.

Even Joe, who's been more recently than us, the, the, the fact that the world has changed so much, the NBA, the standards, all of the stuff around it, it's easier now to get women and all those things that happen.

But at the same time, you were owed a lot more.

Yeah

[laughs]

...

but, but, but, but Ocho can say, Ocho can say right now that, yeah, you, he's, he's numb to it, but our world has changed from when we were in the league at one time.

It, it's not like it was when you, we were all in the league.

Even Joe, who's been more recently than us, the, the, the fact that the world has changed so much, the NBA, the standards, all of the stuff around it, it's easier now to get women and all those things that happen.

But at the same time, you were owed a lot more.

Yeah.

These women are working this thing, and now even more so when I think about the money and how big it is and all this stuff.

The five-month update on this episode, Following the Call.

Well, it's, it was a relationship that should never have been.

You know, we, we were very excited about each other when we first met, and, um, I think that, you know, that excitement blinded logic.

None of my friends liked this guy.

That's, that is-

I would, I would like to use your platform to, to make a plea, to make a deal with Scott, and he doesn't, he doesn't know that I am willing to do this, um, and he won't ...

We opened a-

That's zieglerlawgroupllc.com. And here we go, the five-month update on this episode, Following the Call.

Well, it's, it was a relationship that should never have been.

You know, we, we were very excited about each other when we first met, and, um, I think that, you know, that excitement blinded logic.

None of my friends like this guy.

That's, that-

I would, I would like to use your platform to, to make a plea, to make a deal with Scott, and he doesn't, he doesn't know that I am willing to do this.

Um, and he won't let me open the-

There we go.

Yeah.

No, it's all good, but, uh, obvious- I mean, I gotta follow up, Kip.

You guys have been great.

I mean, I don't know if I'm gonna make it out to North Carolina any time soon, but the whole community, everybody's just, you know...

I can't, I can't say enough about, you know, everything, going back to the beginning and everybody.

Uh, and then I'll give it to my wife.

Sure.

I brought you back to life because I can't afford this either." [laughs]

[laughs]Like, she brings her back from the dead and then just sits there and doesn't say anything when Buffy's like, "I'm broke." And Willow's just living there, and she's just like, "Mm." [laughs]

Yeah

...

when Riley found her.

Like, they had, like...

L- like, all of a sudden they're, like, outside at night having a wedding, and then he finds Buffy.

And then they're married.

[laughs]

What two movie franchises does Jack confuse all the time? This is worth two points max.

Yeah, I could be.

What episode do all the hosts tease Greg about all the time? Bonus points, what episode number was that? It's a max of two points, one for each.

I'll see if I can talk you into giving us the scoop on the new stuff.

Sounds good.

So I've got, uh, two of our pieces on here today.

I've got our Guide Air Fleece, which is a breathable, uh, kind of a mid-weight grid fleece fabric, has these, uh, really nice air channels on this, which are super breathable, good at moving moisture.

It's kind of one of those pieces that you kind of take wherever you go, um, no matter what time of year.

I was gonna put my hood on to show you.

So it has, like, nice hood, face concealment.

Gotcha.

That's right.

All right.

And you do that and, and it wouldn't work.

And I couldn't get my wife to come and do it, so his wife sat down with me.

And it took 30 seconds.

I had two fingers, she had two fingers, and it started moving, and we were looking at each other, and I was like, "You're moving this thing." She said, "No, you're moving it." And we kind of turned our heads.

You could see our fingers weren't actually touching that thing.

Oh, boy.

Um, I do-

Well, you know, the Screen Actors Guild recently had a protest, uh, regarding, uh, people weren't getting compensated for their use, their images, I should say use, uh, and they're doing AI versions of- of actors preps, uh, as just back, you know, background, you know.

Uh, but nevertheless, it's still happening, and they want their fair share of- of compensation, you know, if their image is being used one way or the other.

And s- my gosh, if, you know, if you had Al Roker, you know, or, or pick your favorite celebrity from the Hallmark Channel, would you fall for it?

There's, you know, a scam you've probably heard about where you supposedly get a phone call from some... you know, your, your daughter, let's say, and, "I need money to get out of jail." Well, now they...

if you've posted a picture of your daughter on Facebook, now can...

they could do a deep fake of that and that'll just emphasize, "Oh, she's FaceTiming me and, and she needs money to get out of jail." So it's that much more, uh, emotional, you know, investment that you will no doubt...

well, I don't know about hopefully (laughs), but probably will, uh, you know, fork over whatever money, you know, maybe an Apple gift card, you know.

Our kids are now ages 11, 8, and 21 months.

Uh, we moved down here in twenty twenty-two to Texas for a job that I got at Tesla.

Last year in April, I was caught in the, the big layoff that everyone heard about.

About six months into being laid off and not finding work, uh, it became apparent that I was not going to be able to sustain for much longer, so we made the decision to start a handyman business.

New businesses are hard to get off the ground.

It's hard to, to find work while doing work.

Thankfully, you know, God blessed us with a, a job offer towards the end of last year that I was able to start this January.

We just had our second round of chemo out of the sixteen scheduled treatments, but we're praying through all of it, and I know God has us, and I know that I will do whatever it is that I can to make sure that I'm here for my kids and my family.

Yeah.

10-ish years ago, I'm sitting with my parents at the Cleveland Clinic.

My doctors are like, "You're about to go through a really crazy health scare and you can't eat your favorite foods.

You can't drink your favorite things." And ended up going through it.

I, I realized I wanted to work in food.

I quit my job.

I moved home and my parents were like, "Hey, we're..." It was July 4th, usually I was gonna be with friends.

I have a food blog.

And, and so then what happened?

Uh, well, we r- knew that we wanted to start a family, and, uh, this was, like, a, a large step in, uh, just getting secure before having a child.

Would you say your marriage is stronger today because of it and because of you guys going through this journey together than it was even, you know, two years ago?

Uh, definitely because of, like, the communication that's involved in it, and we were very transparent with finances before it.

Um, but this definitely just reinforced all of it.

Yep.

And, you know, it's been, it's been one of the best parts of the journey.

We set up a 501(c)(3), uh, called Invest America, and we literally, you know, just, uh, started, uh, you know, making the calls.

Um, and it was lining up like-minded thinkers in the private sector and lining up li- like-minded, uh, folks, uh, in Washington.

And you and I have talked about this.

I, you know, I had the good fortune when I was returning from studying overseas in 1990, '91, uh, to show up in Washington and go, go work for the late and great, uh, uh, senator from Indiana, Richard Lugar.

Lugar was a Rhodes Scholar.

Yeah.

What, wh- what was the kernel of the idea that started this?

Well, you know, you'll appreciate this, Senator, as a, as a dad yourself, um, but, you know, I have two boys, Lincoln and Jack, um, and they're 16 and 14.

And one of the things we talk about a lot when we sit around the dinner table, um, is when we see problems, um, don't complain about them, right? Have a bias to action.

Have a bias to action.

Do something about it.

Don't just sit around and complain.

And so, um, coming out of COVID, I was showing them, uh, the, the, the investment accounts I set up when they were born.

Yep.