Fit For Radio
Welcome to Fit For Radio, the show where the stories are real, the struggles are raw, and the comebacks hit harder than the setbacks.
In every episode, you'll hear from someone who faced something impossible: A loss... a betrayal... a breakdown... a moment so heavy it could've ended everything.
But it didn't.
Because they got back up.
Fit For Radio is about the people life tried to silence but who found a frequency stronger than fear. It's about the rise. The grit. The healing. The "holy-shit-I-can't-believe-you-survived-that" moment.
This isn't just a podcast.
It's a reminder that your scars don't disqualify you, they prepare you.
So if you've ever felt knocked down, counted out, or stuck in the static...
You're in the right place.
Because every comeback deserves airtime.
Hit follow. New Episodes every Tuesday.
Fit For Radio
Fire, No Heat, and No Chill
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Fit For Radio is a podcast built around people who overcome the odds — and host Drew Tydeman has made a career out of pulling those stories out of others. But after everything that's happened to him lately, his old buddy Tac might argue it's time Drew took a seat on the other side of the mic.
The two longtime friends sit down for a long-overdue catch-up episode, getting the audience up to speed on where Fit For Radio has been and where it's headed. It's loose, it's candid, and it feels exactly like what it is — two old friends with a lot to talk about.
Then the stories start coming out.
Drew's dishwasher caught fire. His furnace was deemed a hazard and shut off in the middle of sub-freezing temperatures — during an NFL playoff game, no less. At this point, which is actually the greater tragedy? It's genuinely hard to say. And if that wasn't enough, a house fire broke out and began threatening an entire forest of towering 100-foot Douglas firs. Thankfully, a rapid response from the fire department saved the trees — and probably a lot more than that.
Drew normally sits across from people who have faced serious adversity and come out the other side. Lately, he might just be earning his own episode.
Catching Up With Fit For Radio
SPEAKER_00I'm trying to find the homeowners and their kids. And so I come around the left side of the house between the house on fire and their house, and the flames are now like rolling up the side on the outside, and a window blows out from the heat and the intensity. And so like I kind of get not on all fours, but I'm all hunkered down under the flames, and I get to the front yard. I'm like yelling and screaming. All of a sudden, it's like one, two, three, four, five, six fire trucks. The fire truck, the long one that curves in the middle with the 200-foot ladder. Yeah. Like they somebody went red alert. This entire forest is going to catch on fire and burn down all of these houses. I'm your host, Drew Tiedeman, and we are in the studio here at the Stafford Hills Club, where I do all of my workouts. I actually just walked by to get up here and the sun is shining. There's already people laying out at the pool. It was hard for me to come up here to do uh this podcast, honestly. Uh, where work meets play, it is everything you want and more of that saltwater pool. I will go there later. I'm gonna pick up the kids, head over there, and really enjoy it. And the nice thing is it's kind of like a staycation. Get your family membership, though. Now is the time to do it before they fill up and you end up on a waitlist. Staffordhills.com. Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation. Uh, the reason why it's tough to be in here right now is because uh the sun isn't shining on me. I'm not like got my banana boat out, but I do have an old piece of sunshine from my past. Uh a buddy of mine for over 20 years is in, well, he's in his studio meeting with me via Texas. It's my buddy Tic Tac. What's up, buddy?
SPEAKER_01Hey, buddy. Man, that sounded really nice going by the pool for real.
SPEAKER_00That sounded great. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it is. It's next level stuff out there. And every day when I pick the kids up, they're like, So we're gonna go, Dad, we're gonna go, we're gonna go to the pool, we're heading to the pool. And if it's not the pool or Costco, you forget about it. They won't even talk to me. Your kids are all about Costco, dude. Dude, they love Costco. Oh my god. My kids go so ham, and they're like they're sample specialists, they know all the ladies. I mean, that's what they love is the samples. Yeah. And to beg for stuffed animals and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Well, at least if they get hungry, you're like, let's run. If you want to save some money, be like, let's just run a Costco real quick.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. I'm telling you, like, we save so much cash because one of my kids likes the pizza, $1.50. You tell me where you can feed a kid for a dollar fifty. Yeah, that's good. Maybe it's two bucks. Uh, I know it's a dollar fifty for the hot dog with a drink. Wow. So for a grand total of three dollars and fifty cents, giant piece of pepperoni, hot dog, and a drink for him to split. It's one of those places where my kids think that I'm balling because I'm like, Did you say you want a Sunday? I got it.
SPEAKER_01You're like, they're two dollars. You're like, Did you say you want a second piece? You want a third piece?
SPEAKER_00I can take care of that for you. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And we'll even go one step further sometimes and be like, hey, you guys, we're gonna get you food here and then grab us food on the way home. So their lunch was like four dollars, and then ours is 27.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's funny. You're like, you guys just take care of this low-grade food and we're gonna go get our own.
SPEAKER_00It's not low grade. How dare you? It's high grade food at an affordable price, is what it is. And I'll tell you this on top of that, um, in this economy, you do what you can to have a tasty meal at some point. You know, you were telling me last time we were on here that a trip to McDonald's with the kids is you know 50 bucks anymore.
SPEAKER_0140 something, like 47 or something. It was like right at 50, tickling 50.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's why I've got the app out. And I'm like, hold on, I got a code for you. I'm I'm garnering, I'm I'm getting as many points as I possibly can. Uh, but we didn't we didn't come here to talk about McDonald's. Um, we're on the show today to kind of do a little bit of a game of catch-up, where we've been at uh the last couple of months in here. I can't believe so much time has passed since I've had you on tack. Uh a couple of things I want to point out for those people who are not watching the YouTube feed, which shame on you. The fact that while you're listening to this podcast, you don't just go right over to the app and subscribe. It's been the slowest roast, and I spent hours and hours editing these things just like, you know, back and forth, like, oh, he talks, and then she talks, and then, you know, you get it.
SPEAKER_01I love it. I love it though. Passionate about it, man. It sounds great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, it's uh it's one of those deals where um the podcast has uh it's grown. We've had amazing guests on, um, you know, just from all walks of life, all different kinds of people. I mean, from people who are hit by a produce truck and lost a leg, a guy who died in his driveway, came back uh from the dead, the guy who's done 45 Ironmans and he's 70. You know that that guy, as we speak, is running another Iron Man? No. I saw I saw a picture of his shoes at the Portland Airport and he was on his way to Jacksonville, Florida to go light this thing up. Good for him. 70 years old? Yeah. I mean, he might be 75 now. I think Bob is 75. Dude, I think he just he is because he just changed his age grade.
SPEAKER_01Dude. Because they go in fives. I get up in the morning and walk down my hallway and I'm walking like an old man until I got like I got like warm up the joints a little bit. You know what I'm saying? And this guy's 75 doing what is it again, doing the uh 45 Ironmans.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, that's crazy, that's the swim, the bike, and the run. Yeah, it's like 10 miles swimming, 10 miles by it's like they break it all up. And it's way more than that, even it's like a hundred miles on the bike, and then at the end of it is a full marathon. No, no, there's nothing. It's insane. Well, I know it's a no for you. The last time we talked to you, we were talking about the size of the pizzas you're ordering, eating food with your eyes closed over your sink. I mean, and it's something I've been meaning to ask you. First of all, I'd like to say thank you, not just for coming on the podcast, but for wearing a shirt today. Yeah, no problem. That was like a 50-50. I was like, I'd say it was 30% no shirt. I had you at about a 30 something percent that you'd be in the white tank top. Uh um, but no, you've covered the shoulders actually today.
SPEAKER_01Cutoff sleeves right here, but I'm not really impressed with my arms right now, so I covered them up. But I was okay. So you why are you not why aren't you loving those arms? Are they doughy? Just been out of shape, man. They're not there's just like no shape to them at all. They're just like straight down. There's no all arm. Oh yeah, there's no like courage, there's no like teardrop going down here, there's no like bicep curl. It's just just flat like a piece of two by four.
SPEAKER_00Do you ever think about, and I'm and you do what you want. You you look however, whatever makes you comfortable. But do you ever think about just getting like a a dumbbell? And then when you're just sitting there doing nothing, you could just pump out a couple of sets. I thought you were gonna say something like, Do you ever think about just getting your life together? Well, that was a very nice way to say the same thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I I do. I got some weights in the bedroom and stuff like that, and I just kind of walk over them and just keep it moving. Your exercise is to step over said weight. Absolutely. I need to get I do need to get better at that. I I feel like I'm slacking. I mean, I got a pull, it's summertime, people are coming over here. You know, I I've actually, since the last time we talked, I believe I've lost uh 13 pounds, to be honest with you. Nice. Yeah, I lost
Weight Loss Journey & Healthy Eating
SPEAKER_01that's huge. Yeah, dude. I stopped uh remember we were talking about going to Ronnie's and eating McDonald's. So I stopped that. I told my girl, you gotta stop with the biscuits in the morning. I go, I feel guilty because I don't eat them. Uh if I don't eat them, we're wasting money and I'm wasting food. I go, that's why I the only reason why I eat it is because I feel guilty about that. I go, no more, I stopped drinking sodas completely, bro. That's what I'm talking about. I just no more sodas. Uh she used to go to the donuts uh like shop like twice a uh twice a week, and she'd bring me back like an apple fritter or something. It's like this big size of my face, and I was like, don't bring me none of that stuff home anymore. You know what I'm saying? And ever since then, it was just like bam, I dropped an instant, 12 pounds.
SPEAKER_00That's huge. I mean, what is she trying to honsel and gretel in you, dude? You're opening it up with biscuits, bringing home courtesy donuts, and trying to kill a man.
SPEAKER_01Dude, she feeds me well, man. This morning I had uh she cooked me eggs and bacon, man. And it was, I mean, she's she takes care of me, man.
SPEAKER_00That's great. And that, but that's the lane you should be in, is having the eggs and the bacon, and then that starts your day off in a good way. And and I actually enjoy that stuff. Eggs and bacon for me are are some of my favorite things to eat, and it's not often that you're in a a breakfast like that where it's just there's no carbs. And you can just crush as much of that as you want. So I'm very proud of you uh to drop that weight. You know, I was um I was talking on the podcast uh a couple of days ago that since it is pool season here at Stafford Hills, yeah, you know, I'm instant I go out there, I've been working out here every single day, and I'm just blown away that there are these people that are in just so much better shape than I am, and I'm just right now I am I'm creamy, dude. Like I am under my shirt, like not fat, but so pale. Like I'm sour cream right now. I got you, I got you. You know, and so like you have there has to be like that time where you you just wear the paleness and let the tan hit, but I haven't been willing to like get there. And I'm and it's just a painful reminder that I'm in my mid-40s. You can be in the gym all the time, and like if I was 25
Aging & Fitness
SPEAKER_00with the same regiment, I'd be in like Baywatch mode, but it's just it's an uphill battle when you're getting old.
SPEAKER_01See, we're different because I got the party pudge, you know what I'm saying? I got the I got the loose ends, but I got a pretty good tan because I'll go outside in the backyard, work on the pool, take the shirt off. So I got a pretty good color. It's just I'm a little slibbity-dibbity flibbity flappity.
SPEAKER_00One of the greatest things I've ever heard um when it re refers to that is if you can't tone it, tan it. Yeah. And and it's a great, it's a great comment because you'll see some dude who is just the round mound of sound, and they have a nice tan at a pool and a pair of party shorts, and you don't even look at them twice. You're like, oh yeah, that guy's he's doing it right.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Like a good, a good, nice brown glaze on you, just it seems to lift off about 15 to 20 pounds or something. I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it's it's tough also because it's a double-edged sword, you know, especially people with fair skin like myself. Yeah, you shouldn't be in the sun all the time. So, like before we go on vacations, you know, it's like we're in a body shop getting spray tanned. Yeah. And my wife has had melanoma and had a pretty serious surgery. It was on the side of her head to where like they had to cut like close to her brain. Oh, wow. And so she's not supposed to be laying out. And you see how I said supposed to be, because occasionally it still happens, but you'll you'll wonder why she's in her bathroom for a half an hour and it's just like she's just hit herself up, spray. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but she comes out bronzed. If I if I were to go in there and do that, I'd come out and there's like hand print marks on me, and you know, there's my toes are orange and black. Like it's not a good look. So I don't know how they do it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, dude, I did a spray tan once and I had like the the cracks of your elbow, you know, the crevice of your elbow and oh dude, it was all like crusty and like breaking apart, and then like the folds of your just neck and just all that. It's just uh yeah,
The Dirty Spray Tan
SPEAKER_01it was horrible. I looked horrible.
SPEAKER_00So I I went on a like a guy's weekend thing one time where every it was at the end of the pandemic, and so it was up at Mount Hood in these cool cabins, and we were taking guitars up there, guitars and whiskey, and it was just supposed to be like this guy's time where you go play the guitar and everyone's got their own little lamp at these cool cabins, and I had sprayed my face or whatever to try and like kill the pail a few days earlier. It wasn't for them. I I had just done it because Amy had the spray and major mistake because I did not wash it off of my hands like immediately. Your hands have to be scrubbed, and it looked like I had like leprosy or something, like the color discoloration on my palms. So we're sitting at these restaurants and these bars where it's just guys in a circle talking, and I'm like hiding my hands in my pockets, hiding them in my lap, and eventually somebody like gets a view on them, and I have to straight up blame Amy. I'm like, yeah, she made me spray.
SPEAKER_01It's like between the fingertips, it'll all cracky and grime.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's it and I don't know if you know this, if you spray the stuff and it, you know, mists its way down to your toes and lands on your toenails, it will stain your toenails to where you have to like scrub them with rubbing alcohol, or else they're like brown or yellow. Oh, dude. No, I didn't know. And so you have normal toenails, but you have now just sprayed them in the color of disgusting.
SPEAKER_01When I tried it, when I tried a spray tan, I think it was one time I tried it, which it came out grimy, like I told you earlier. I think it was a like a no joke, it was like a carrot juice like infused spray tan type of thing or something like that.
SPEAKER_00That sounds like a good way to get that true orange color. Is that what Donald Trump uses? Carrot spray. I would be afraid of that to be that orange. I need to eat more carrots and not have it sprayed off. Yeah, so uh Tic Tac, are you uh are you managing to eat more vegetables? Nah, man, but I'm spraying them on me.
SPEAKER_01Just have her like as she's spraying tan in my face, just open my mouth and guzzle a little bit of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's how you lose 13 pounds right there. Absolutely. You just spray on your vegetables. Um but so maybe I'll get back in the spray tan game, but all I need is once we get a month into summer, it's like everything changes. You know, you all of a sudden your skin tone is appropriate. So just waiting for that. Slowly but surely.
SPEAKER_01Just go outside, do some yard work, take the shirt off, you know what I'm saying? Do it. You mow the yard with your shirt off. That's what I usually do. And it just uh well, the Texas heat, I don't know how I mean I've lived in Oregon and I know how the just the Texas heat feels like it's like only a mile away from your head. You know what I mean? Just feels like it's right on you. And Oregon, I know it doesn't feel like it's just so close to you, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's gotten hotter here over the years. Uh like when I was a kid, people didn't even have air conditioning here. Yeah, like nobody did. And now it's like if somebody says says they don't have AC, you look at them like they said they don't have a television.
SPEAKER_01Dude, when I first moved into my apartments there, uh in uh where where was, oh gosh, I just went in Eugene. Um, I moved all my stuff in, whatever, and I was looking around for the thermostat because I was like, man, it's hot in here. And I couldn't find it, so I called the office. I was like, hey guys, where's the um I can't find a thermostat? And he was like, What do you mean? I was like, Well, I need to turn on the AC. Like, how do I turn on the AC? And he was just like, We don't have central heating in there. And I was like, What? I literally was like, what? Like, I was dumbfounded. You know what I'm saying? You would rent a place that has no ducks. I I just uh hey, it was right across the street from where you were staying, bro.
SPEAKER_00I know, but I had I didn't have AC, but I had heat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, okay, okay. Let me take a look at you had to have had heat. Yeah, I had the okay, yeah, I had the bullet. You had a baseboard heater. Yeah, yeah, okay. I did have that being central heating and air is when it's like, you know, dance going through your house and stuff like that. Um, but yeah, I was blown away that. And then of course the other thing that caught me off was I tried to fill up my own gas one time and almost got I got verbally assaulted by the gas attendant guy. Like he came out running. What are you doing? And I was like, whoa, like what it just and he just yeah, laid into me. And then he and then he after he lays into me, he walks around and looks at my license plate. And then it like completely he just went calm and he's like, Oh, okay, you're not from here. And like I was like, dude, it was he verbally assaulted me, and then he just totally switched.
SPEAKER_00Um, now it's fielder's choice here, so you can do it yourself or they'll do it for you. Oh, really? Like if you go to Costco, half the lanes are self-serve and half of them are attended. What do they do that now for? Well, the it's a transition because they changed the rule to say that you could pump your own gas, but that's a lot of jobs, too, of those people who were gas station attendants who would be out of a job. And so I think it'll just be a time where and a lot of people here didn't also didn't know how to do it. Yeah, I know. When I was like my wife doesn't pump her own gas, she has the person do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I really do when I was there. I would have people in the car, or when I was dating, uh dating my girlfriend at the time down there, she had never pumped gas. She's like, I don't know how to do it. How do you do it? And I'm like, You don't know how to pump gas? You know, because I couldn't, we couldn't do it. And I'm like, dude, I was showing her pointing at it while the guy was doing. I was like, you lift the lever, you slide your card in. She was just like, Yeah, I've never done it. I was like, what the hell? This was just it just it fascinated me that people just didn't know how to pump gas in their car.
SPEAKER_00But it's also we're conditioned to it because one time I drove to Washington, actually to Seattle, and then on the way home, we were stopping off to get some some lunch on our way back, and we also needed to get some gas. Well, one of the guys in the car had to, you know, use the the big kid bathroom. So he goes and runs inside and he takes a while. And I'm thinking two things as I'm sitting there waiting. I'm like, first of all, he must have a serious tummy ache because this is taking forever. And the second thing was I'm like, how lazy are the people who work here? Like I just sitting in my car forever. And then finally, like, once he got back in the car, I realized you are the biggest fool. You're in Washington. There's nobody here to pump your gas. You've just been sitting here judging an imaginary person for the last 50, I mean, in 15 minutes, the guy was in the bathroom. So that's how long it was. I figured that you're in the self-serve line and people just you know, my and you know, you the more agitated you're getting, you're starting to like look over your shoulder, like, are we serious? Are you like when you can't find your waiter? That's what it felt like. Just looking around, like like with your hand on your finger in the air, and I'm like, just trying to those places where there also wasn't like a true mini mart. So there wasn't somebody like stick their head out the door and be like, You lost? I got you. So it is what it is. The last thing I'll say about that though is um gas prices are so bad, and we live on the west coast here, and you're in Texas right now. How much is a gallon of gas where you live right now?
SPEAKER_01I haven't I haven't, I think it's like four dollars, like four oh two or something like that. It's it just I know people are tweaking because it just hit over four dollars, and people are geeking out here in Texas because it hit over four bucks.
SPEAKER_00And so let me say this with a sincere heart how much we hate you guys for that. Um, because w gas has dipped under four dollars like occasionally for the last five years where we live. Uh, but we did have it into the mid-threes. I think we might have even like crept to three flat at one point. Wow. Um, but right now, if I saw a guy post the premium gas is almost six dollars. Jeez, man. Unleaded gas was at like five eighteen a gallon. Five eighteen. Now, as I said before, I do go to Costco, they alleviate a few cents off every gallon in a magical place. Um, but you can't alleviate enough for it not to hurt. When I drive a Toyota Land Cruiser, that thing's clipping in at close to $100 for a tank of gas, and I'm not going in on empty. So that's I mean, it's pretty sketchy.
SPEAKER_01Dude, I had a guy come by earlier today to fix uh my pull pump. I had an issue. Great guy, good friend. Uh you know, he had like an F 250 work truck or something like that. Uh, we started talking about gas because, you know, I mean that's just a conversation. Over $4, people are just tripping in Texas about the gas prices. Everyone's tripping, it's just our numbers a little different. It's the exact same thing. Oh, dude, he told me he fills up it c he told me, he told uh he told me it cost $150 to fill up his truck. He does it twice a week. And me and Audrey, my fiance, looked at each other and we were like, that's twelve hundred dollars a month he spends in gas. Think about that, bro. Because he's you know, he's like kind of like a maintenance guy, like he can do a jack of all trade, dude. You need yeah, roof done, plumbing done, anything. He's the guy you call. He's that kind of guy who can do everything. And so he's all over the Metroplex, man. And it's just crazy. When he said that to me, I was like, twelve hundred dollars. That's people's I mean, you know, that's people's, you know, apart, you know, rent payment or something like that. You know what
House Fire Incident
SPEAKER_01I'm saying? And I was like, That's what this guy pays in gas, dude. Can you believe that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm it's gotten so bad I'm not even driving aggressively around Prius drivers anymore. I'm like, I I feel you, dude. Come on in. Come into my lane.
SPEAKER_01You're like, I don't want to hit the gas at that extra like half inch to where it kicks into that next gear.
SPEAKER_00You're like, nah, we're not going to do that. Yeah, we're drive, we're going to coast our way. It looks like we're on a slow downhill. I'm going to put it into neutral. That's kind of where we're at right now. But hey, we're not alone. Everybody's dealing with it. But what I really want to tell you about is did you hear about how my house almost burnt down? Nah, man. You mentioned something about it, but nah, go.
SPEAKER_01I just I want to hear about this, though. What happened, man?
SPEAKER_00The Fit for Radio podcast brought to you by Motorsport Hillsboro. Now, if you haven't been there, I'll be the first to tell you that this is my favorite shop when it comes to anything to do with side-by-sides, dirt bikes, street bikes, you name it. But really, the thing I want to talk about today are the gas-gas electric mountain bikes. Now, the reason I say it like this is because these bikes can be taken on all kinds of different trails, but could also be a commuter for you to work and back. And while it's called gas-gas, what it does is it saves on gas. And right now, because of the inventory down there and the way they do business at Motorsport Hillsboro, up to 60% off of models of the gas-gas electric mountain bikes right now. Hit them up today at MotorsportHillsbro.com. So yeah, it was pretty crazy. Um, I'd had like a super long day, and it's it's kind of funny when you when you do a podcast, like people don't know exactly what you do all day. And you're always busy, but you're just hardly ever getting paid. Like that's basically what you're doing. Um, so I had multiple meetings, and I think I had taped a television commercial. So somebody had paid me that day, but I was exhausted. Like all I wanted to do was just come home and just, you know, take my shoes off and just relax, right? Yeah. So as I'm getting to my street, there's a fire station at the end of the road that my street is connected to. And so as I'm coming in, I see the fire truck throw its lights on and start to pull out of the out of the firehouse. So it turn I can see it's turning towards where I am. And so I think to myself, okay, I'm gonna pull down the street before my street, which is the street that lines the back of my house, and just go around the block so I miss all the traffic and drama because I'm home, I'm tired. And so I turn down that street and I see the neighbor and his caretaker outside. Now the neighbor's probably 75 years old. He's in a wheelchair, he's got oxygen, but he's in like his underpants and like a t-shirt. And so we have had a lot of activity with the fire department coming and checking on him, and uh, he has ALS, their house is like a hoarder house, and we'll get to that. But basically, I come riding by, I see him, I think, oh, the fire department's gonna pull down this street and check on him. Look in my rear view mirror, correct Omundo, they pull down the street, right? So I'm like, drive around the block. And in the time that it takes to drive around this very small block that you could walk in a couple of minutes, I get around the other side and I look up and I'm I look through my or over the top of my house and there's smoke. And I'm thinking, oh, occasionally, and this is pretty cool, Amy will occasionally throw on my Traeger and like start some ribs before I get home or something like that. And I'm like, oh, Amy's fired up the Traeger. Nice. This is nice. So I I open the door, and as soon as I open the door to my car, my thought, I just two words in my head house fire. Like I just immediately house fire. And so I step to the left of the house and I see smoke billowing from so when you go out the back, you know, you have a house directly behind you, and then one kitty corner, yeah, diagonal to the left of you. All right. Okay. Now to give people a perspective, my yard in the backyard has seven or eight massive 75 to 110 foot Douglas firs. Wow. Massive trees, the kind of stuff you see in the movies. The house behind me has 17 trees. The one next to them where the fire is at has another 12 trees. It's a certain nightmare to see any smoke or any fire. And so I don't even go into my house. I just step into my backyard and I realize we've got a major issue, and I can see open flames coming out of the window of my neighbor's house. And so I turn and I bang on the back window of my house and tell the kids that and my wife that there's a fire. And then I just run through the back of the yard. Now, the weird thing was that back fence, we were repairing it so it was down. So I went directly into their yard. Normally I wouldn't be able to do that, but I went directly into their yard and started banging on the back window of the house directly behind me because I know that they have two small children.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, try to give them a heads up and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I started banging on the window, and there's two cleaning ladies inside. And Tack, you should have seen them. When I started banging on the house, they turned and looked at me so annoyed. And they were just like, What? Just like didn't even talk, but that was the look. What? And I'm like, bang, bang, bang, fire, fire, there's a fire, like a caveman. And they the more harder I knock and the more intense I am, the less they're coming to the door. So I'm like, forget about it. I I don't have time for you two right now. I'm trying to find the homeowners and their kids. And so I come around the left side of the house between the house on fire and their house, and the flames are now like rolling up the side on the outside, and a window blows out like from the heat and the intensity. And so, like, I kind of get not on all fours, but I'm all hunkered down under the flames, and I get to the front yard and I see the lady who lives there running out with like all of her possessions. She's got, you know, she's got the pictures and the you know, the memory books and everything, and the stuff from her mom who has passed. So she's got all her stuff. I'm like yelling and screaming. All of a sudden, it's like one, two, three, four, five, six fire trucks. The fire truck, the long one that curves in the middle with the 200-foot ladder. Yeah. Like they somebody went red alert. This entire forest is gonna catch on fire and burn down all of these houses. Oh, yeah, especially with all those trees just within three houses. And we haven't had much rain. I mean, I know it's Oregon, but it has not rained much this year. It's we are in classic drought territory. Wow. And so they they come running up, and there's already a firefighter in his full outfit. They get there so quick, and he's trying to put that hose on the fire hydrant. And I'm like, there's a fire coming out the back, and he's struggling with it and straight up ignoring me, which is fine. I know he's busy. He's focused a little bit, man. You know, he's got a I'm not judging. I'm not judging. Five seconds later, his um the fire, like there's a fire coordinator. You know, like they've got like a choreography person there who's like, you know, you guys go over here, you do this, so they can focus on their job. And I tell her, I'm like, you have a very professional looking vest on. There is a fire coming out of the side of this house, and it's about to touch the next one. We're about to go two houses here. And she's like, her answer to me is I'm pretty sure they know. And I go, Well, do you think maybe we could run it back one more time? Do you think you could you could just go tell them one more time?
SPEAKER_01So the house that the house that the fire was possibly about to start burning down. She was like, Yeah, I'm pretty sure they know, so it's obvious.
SPEAKER_00I know, and I'm I'm I'm panicking here. So I go back around the back of the house, and the normally I guess they don't do this, but when the windows start to blow out, they take the windows out. So they went by with a crowbar, whatever they use, and just blew out every window. So you just heard and the smoke is engulfing the neighborhood, and the flames are going in. I gotta say, these people are so badass, though. I mean, they were inside blasting that thing with water within minutes of the call. Good. Now, granted, we are at the end of the street, but firefighters are black. I can't think of anything cooler. I mean, doctors are pretty sweet, nurses are sweet, firefighters are I mean, it's a pretty awesome deal. And you know what's funny is so they get this thing put out, and we're worried about where's this guy's wife? And apparently she's just recently been put into memory care with Alzheimer's. So it was
The Aftermath of the Fire
SPEAKER_00just him. We found out later that they had what we think was an air fryer that had that they were using, like they had stopped using the stove, so they were using an air fryer, but they had the air fryer sitting on that stove, and somehow the stove got turned on and melted it down and started the fire. Oh wow, that's crazy. You would think it would just melt and that would be it, but something went down there and the place was so horrific that it was just like everything was kindling.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. That was just like fire, what are they yeah, fire tinder, what do they call it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, it's it's um kindling is all I know, or it's just a it's something that's gonna light up a fire.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just a bunch of they probably had just like a hallway that they made in their hallway, and then all beside it and all the walls were probably newspapers and trash and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00But they had a box of really important newspapers from 1994 in the living room that you don't touch. That kind of stuff. So they put it out. What's nuts is they had to come back later in the evening because the restoration team, and I didn't know this, they show up almost immediately and start boarding up the house, securing the facility. Because if you think about it, if you do this and it's raining or it's windy, or people can come steal things, yeah, they make sure you're good. Well, there was so much hoarder contraband or whatever you want to call it in there that it was there the hot spots were almost impossible to completely put out. So that evening, and I feel bad about this, and I will do a better job of listening. Um, but Amy goes, Hey Drew, come over here real quick. I'm like, sure. Now it's twilight, it's like the sun is going down, so like the lighting is weird. I will say that in my defense. But Amy's like, look up over the house that was just on fire. And I go, Yeah, and she's like, it looks like it's still on fire. There's smoke coming out of that house. I'm like, well, it's probably residuals. You know, it's probably something that just happens, it's probably residual. And I just walked away and ignored it. Uh, the house was still on fire. Um, and when the restoration team found that fire, the fire department came back. They had to come back back and dropped another twenty thousand gallons on the fire. Wow. And you
The Ultimate Fire Department
SPEAKER_00would think that house is a total loss, right? Yeah, it sounds like it. Well, it's not. They're actually tearing it down to the studs and rebuilding from the inside out, but they're not tearing the house down.
SPEAKER_01Well, hold on, if they're tearing it down. Oh, so they're tearing it down to the studs. Yeah. Oh, dude, I just take it all down.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Uh well, I'm I'm kind of glad they didn't because I was sure they were going to put they put they're building these massive houses where I live, and that would have meant all those trees gone, and whoever lives there looking down the back of my shirt all day because I'm down here at ground level. You're up here on a third story. They'd be like, God, that guy needs a tan. Yeah, he just has um is it mayonnaise or yogurt that he looks like. I can't tell exactly. Um, but I have to say those guys were so badass. Uh, and I should have listened to Amy. Um, but you know what's funny is I was I've had such bad luck lately that one of the firefighters walked up to me and was like, Where do I know you from? I'm like, I don't know. He's like, something more than a 10-second uh interaction, and I go, Oh, oh, oh, oh. My my dishwasher caught fire a few months ago in the middle of the night. And I ended up with a full-blown fire team in my house with like thermal guns and CO2, you know, like carbon dioxide detectors and all this stuff. Um, and he was like, Yeah, oh yeah, I remember you because I was like making light of the fact that, you know, when it rains, it absolutely pours so hard it gives you swimmer's ear. I didn't know that your dishwasher caught on fire or whatever. Yeah, my dishwasher caught on fire, and so that that was a $1,000 deal. Good thing the fire department's free. Um it's not free, it's in your taxes, bro. It's not free. If you want to top it off, too. If you don't know that, then you probably don't know this. Two days later, I'm I'm like mourning the loss of a thousand dollars just to break even. You know, you don't get anything new, you just get a new dishwasher. I get a knock on the door in the middle of an NFL playoff game. And you know how I am. I like to watch the NFL playoffs more than anything. Oh, yeah. And it's like bang, bang, bang, like cop knock on my door. What is that all about? So I go to the door and this guy's in a Northwest Natural outfit, and he's like, and he's massive. Let's just point out this guy is massive. Like he could have just he could have snapped me like a twig. What is this? What is this outfit? Can you Northwest Natural Gas? Oh. The gas people. Good question, because it's different everywhere, right? Yeah, so like the gas, the gas company person or whatever. Yeah, so the gas company, and it's a weekend during the playoffs, and he comes and he's like, and oh, and let me give you a little caveat. It's about 18 degrees outside. And you're like, remember, it's the playoffs. It's the playoffs, and it's 18 degrees. So he's like, hey, uh, sorry to bother you on your weekend, but there's a foul-smelling odor that your neighbor reported. Do you uh do you mind if we sniff around? And I'm like, yeah, go ahead and sniff it out. So he goes in around my house, and then he's like, Oh yeah, hey, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That was his detector of of officers. He's got a he had a little device too. I'm being I'm being a little sarcastic. No, I'm about to say, like, that's what he does in order to like make sure your kids don't die in their sleep from like the uh smell that they can't smell. I was like, that's that's a horrible, that's horrible.
SPEAKER_00This man had a massive nose. Like, what kind of training is that? You know what I'm saying? No, he had this little sucker that he stuck on the side of my house, and there's a vent that comes out, and he was he was reading giving it a reading, and he's like, Oh, just what I thought off the charts. It's like, do you mind popping open your garage so I can look at your furnace? And I'm still like kind of you know, like in limbo. I don't know what we're doing. So, sure, I pop open the garage, he walks over there and he's puts his hand on top of this box and he's like, Oh, yeah, hot to the touch. He's like, This thing, this thing's a this thing's not gonna work. Grabs this red tag, turns off the gas to my furnace, and tags it like a do not touch tag. And I I look at him and I go, Did you just turn off my furnace? And he's like, Yeah. I go, Do you know it's 18 degrees out and I have three kids inside? And he's like, I yeah, I'm sorry about that. And I go, and it's the playoffs? You gotta make the playoffs. Come on. It's the middle of the playoffs. So I mean, lucky for me, it was warm when he did that, so it's not like you immediately freeze out, but it's like you're starting to lose temp immediately. Oh, yeah. And in our house, we only have one wood stove in the back of the house, like one room can be heated in a pinch, and then the rest of it. Now we did have power, so we could use space heaters. Yeah, okay. Normally, when you're like cold, you also don't have power. Yeah, exactly. So we had power, but no furnace. But this guy, and I feel bad, bro. I was Amy at one point while I'm talking to the gas guy, like, because I'm frustrated. I'm not calling him names, I'm not like going at him, but I'm frustrated and I'm not like the friendly guy that you know moment to moment. I'm just gonna be honest. And Amy's like not liking my demeanor, and so every time he turns around, she's like mouthing chill and like giving me the temperature down with the hand and all this stuff, and it's just making me more agitated. I'm just beside myself. Yeah, I don't need to be told to chill, which I did need to be told to chill. Um, and then actually, once the heat came off my neck a little bit, I was like, I told the guy, go, I just want you to know that like like you caught me in a moment here. It's freezing, it's the playoffs. Um, but I also just want you to know that I'm normally a pretty nice guy, and I'm sorry for being a little icy. And he's like, I just came and turned your furnace off, and you've got three kids here. I understand it's not the easiest job to do. And in my head, I'm thinking, that's why this guy's so yoked. They send the guy that you can't turn it back on because he'll break your arm. Oh, yeah, dude. He comes in looking like the Hulk. You can't really just slap around. Oh, he's unslapable. That guy would have caught your hand and rolled your knuckles into soup.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's kind of weird too. It sounds like he just came in and like you know, one of those tire boots that they put on your booted my house. He totally booted your furnace, man. He 100% did. So, like, but I would have been if he did it right in front of me, I would have been like, that you didn't, there's no warning, or there's no, he just comes in and shlam, shlamp, shlamp, you know, dusted.
SPEAKER_00I think that he knows if he starts talking about it first, he might try and like shimmy in front of it or or something like that. He's just off tagged. Wow. And then you could physically take the tag off. I don't I believe that's against the law, yeah, but you have to and then you have to get a furnace person out there to look at it. Yep. Yeah. And um, what do you think happens when that happens if you're gonna go off of my recent luck? Uh, you're gonna have to replace your furnace. Full furnace. Nice. Yeah, and you know, I got what's that like? Well, I got some quotes and they were pretty steep. Um, I did get a great deal from uh Stafford Heating and Cooling. Nice. Uh the same great people who run this club have Stafford Heating and Cooling uh regionally here. Uh-huh. And so got a fair price, got a they got in there quick. Um, yeah, and it was that was a breath of fresh air because
Home Repairs and the Realities of Home Ownership
SPEAKER_00you know, every minute you don't have a furnace with a bunch of kids at the house, you start to think, uh-oh. Yeah. And get a little hairy. But I gotta say, the community is incredible. Like I I posted a couple social media videos about it. And people came out of the woodwork, like trying to drop off wood, invite us to stay at their house. That's great, man. Yeah, and we've got a support system. And it's not like we were gonna freeze out, but it was not ideal. Let's just say the rest of that um playoff game was icier than the house.
SPEAKER_01Okay, now you don't got to tell me Stafford Hills' number, but I'm just curious about how much a furnace costs. Like what was the high-end number you got? You know what I'm saying? Like, what was like 10 or 11? Oh, gosh, I would have thrown up right in front of his face. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, it's and it's one of those deals where it is expensive, and buying a good furnace is not cheap. It's just you don't ever think that you're gonna have to do it. You know, it's like all the houses and everything, everything that I've ever owned, I've never been there when it goes out. You know, like you got out and then it broke like it, like the fire blows up behind you as you walk away. But this time I'm like in the windows, it's like that's kind of that's kind of where we're at.
SPEAKER_01I feel you, man. My house, I've been here 10 years, and before I moved in, the people had updated some stuff. So I was like, all right, cool. When I moved in, I'm like, cool, I got 10 years for that, 15 years for this. I should be able to squeeze eight years out of that. And like within the last three years, because I'm hitting my 10-year mark, it's like water heater goes out, flooded the floor. You know, I had to put fans in the wall so I wouldn't get mold. You know, all this stuff just started, you know, the oven went out, the vent hood went out, all this stuff is just slowly starting to tear down, which it was like brand new almost 10, 11 years ago. And now, right now, it's just starting to hit me. Like I'm like, dude, oh yeah. So I get yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, my family's in real estate, and my mom uh brings this up to me occasionally when I get to this point. Is 10 years is kind of that turnover. You know, the stuff starts to go bad, like you're saying, you need to repair things, and then like carpets the same way. 10 years, you're kind of like, okay, now it's we've got wear marks, we know where people walk, where they don't. You you go look at your carpet in a corner compared to in a doorway, it's disgusting. Oh so 10 years is kind of even when you're um a landlord and you have renters in there, you kind of gotta know that if they're there for 10 years, you're replacing a lot.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Um, but I don't have a landlord to call when my furnace goes out. I just have to stand there and uh and and wear people telling me to cool down.
SPEAKER_01Buy a home, they said. It'll be it'll be fun, they said. Yeah, exactly. It's the responsibility. Thing to do, they said. You know, yeah. I mean, I totally get it, man. A hundred percent. I got hit for 1200 on my water heater. I mean, 1200 out of nowhere, dude. It just flooded my floor. I'm like, what's all this? And then I just really didn't know at first what was going on. I was hoping that maybe my washing machine hose like disconnected or something because it's right next to it, the water. And I was like, oh, I was like, it's the water. And I already knew immediately. I was looking at 120 to 1500. I just knew I was like, I just knew immediately. And you just just with towels soaping up the water, just half in tears, like knowing how much money you're about to drop. You're just nauseous about it.
SPEAKER_00You know what I'm saying? Well, I mean, who needs one of those ice tubs when you just have no hot water heater? Just go cold shower, man. That's gonna tone up those arms in no time.
SPEAKER_01Oh, dude, if I lived here by myself, I totally would. I got my fiance would not be feeling that though. Dude, I'm so to save money. I will go to the neighbor's house, fill up a bucket of water, and I'd just scrub myself in the backyard if I had to. Fiance wouldn't be happy about that, man.
SPEAKER_00The Fit for Radio podcast brought to you in part by Motorsport Hillsboro, who has the most incredible inventory of bikes, side-by-sides, uh, ski-do's, you name it, but electric mountain bikes, the thing I want to talk about today is the gas-gas bikes are there right now. It's up to 60% off. I actually got a chance to ride around on a couple of these, and they are so much fun. It's much different than the old bike riding days when we were kids. But if you want to get around to wherever you want to go, but also hit the big trails, the gas, gas, electric mountain bikes right now at my favorite place, Motosport Hillsboro. Check out the full inventory and everything they've got at Motosporthillsboro.com. Also brought to you by the Stafford Hills Club, where now is the time to move as the sunshine has arrived, the pool is open, and the staycation is underway here, as it's so much more than a tennis club at Stafford Hills. And all you gotta do, check out StaffordHills.com and you will see for yourself how great it is. Tell them Drew sent you for half off your initiation. And remember, family memberships do get capped at some point during the summer to keep the experience the way that it should be. So get in here while you can, get your family on, because I don't want you on the wait list while we're out there partying and having a good time at the pool. Staffordhills.com.
Tac's Art Journey
SPEAKER_00Well, before you start, you know, having to uh steal expired meat from the store or do whatever you're gonna do to try and cut a corner uh financially in this life, what people should do is go and check out what you do. I'm truly impressed by this. And, you know, you put your art up, you're a painter, you do incredible stuff. Your website is Pacasbro.com. Yeah. Um spell that real quick.
SPEAKER_01And I always jokingly spell it with people so they remember, and I'm like, pick ass, bro. P-I-K-A-S-S-B-R-O.com. There it is. Yeah, people usually, and then after that, people will get it. They'll remember that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, go check out his paintings. Now they are getting pretty hot right now. You had a a showing. I saw that you were on what is that, Good Morning Texas? What's that called?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's good morning Texas. It's a local uh news station here, and they feature, like they'll feature local stuff. You know, obviously, if they want to feature it, they think it's something they want to feature. And uh yeah, they invited me to uh come be a part of the show. And I had like a man, I think it was like a six or seven minute segment. I went on at the top of the hour. It's like apparently the best spot to go on. I was very humbled, very, very grateful, just shocked and had a great time. The whole experience was like, wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you did a great job. I mean, you're a natural at it. You were uh for people who don't know, you were on the radio for a long time. And with that comes a lot of live performances, being on stage, always having to think on your feet. And I definitely saw that stuff uh not getting rusty quite yet. You still had it in you and some charisma, and even you gave her a painting and it looked like she was getting a little emotional.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she's just a she's a really, really nice lady, and she does these segments and she's fun, she's goofy, she's upbeat. So I made her this really cool painting, and she started welping up and tearing up, and I was like, oh man, I wasn't expecting that, you know. Like I was maybe expecting, oh, I like it, or oh, that's cool. But she was like genuinely started breaking up, like, like, thank you, and all this stuff. And I was like, wow, yeah, of course, you know, it's just it was very surprising her response, but I'm glad she enjoyed the painting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and she's gonna enjoy that too. I really like the one that you gave her. Um, people need to go check it out, though, and grab one of these paintings for yourself. Pull one up there real quick. I was looking at some of them before we got going. And this one in particular. Now, when it comes to tech, there's kind of like a thing with eyes. You have like a, I don't know if you're obsessed with eyeballs or you're an optometrist in another life. Um, but it's really cool art that you do. And I will put a link up there uh when the podcast is out so people can check it out and they can go find their piece for themselves. I will say, I'm still waiting for the one you said you were gonna send me. I know.
SPEAKER_01Which one did you say you wanted? Didn't you go on my website and you were like, or didn't I send you a pick of some and I was like, Do you like this one? Do you like this one? Yeah, I like most of them, to be honest. But there was like one or two
The Impact of Art on Emotions
SPEAKER_01I sent you, and you were like, that's the one. Or like, yeah, I forget which one it is. I might have to go back to our text thread, or you might have to go on the website and just kind of screenshot it for me. I forgot which one it was, man. I'm sorry about that.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I'm just I'm just playing. I mean, honestly, I have a stack of stuff in the corner that I've never put up just because like I want somebody else to help me put stuff up in here so I don't end up like cracking a wall or something.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I get it, dude. Yeah, finding a stud is like 15 holes for me, and then finally I'll find like, ah, good. Luckily, the paintings I hang usually cover up all the holes that I had to like nail in to cover the studs to find the stud.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and people have been really cool. Uh, a handful of people have sent me stuff. Even this shirt, it's like my new favorite shirt I'm wearing right now. Oh, this is and it's funny, the guy sent me this shirt, and I've known him for 30 years, and he's like, I'm sending you a bunch of stuff. Don't shout out my company though. And I'm like, why? He's like, because we don't need the business. I just want you to have some gear and it's a good conversation starter. It's actually one of the coolest places, so I'm gonna shout it out anyway. Uh it's the Cannon Beach Hardware and Public House. It's like a place to go have drinks and food, but it also has like a hardware store in it. And it's at Cannon Beach, and it's just incredible. And the shirt itself fits me perfect. Yeah, that looks good on you. Thank you. So I was like, well, you know, and I wear my fit for radio shirts a lot on here. I'm like, well, I can't do that all the time. Yeah. Like if I'm always in the uniform, it's like I'm working at a jiffy loop. So now before we get away from your painting, I wanted to touch uh touch on one more of them here, though, because to show a little bit of variety. Those are also your paintings that are behind you there, Picasso Bro.com. Um, but give me one more.
SPEAKER_01Okay, hold on. Let me turn off this light real quick so you can actually see it a little bit better. This is uh I see.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of well, because it's in a glass frame, so it's got a little bit of a a little bit of a glare on it.
SPEAKER_01Turn the light back on. That's probably that's probably the best shot of it.
SPEAKER_00There you go. I mean, really, this stuff is super cool. And um borderline trippy, this one. This one might send you into a tailspin. I call I call this one Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood. Tell me why. Why is that Clint Eastwood? Because that's what he looks like now. Because he's a hundred years old. Because I see like a skeleton in there, kinda.
SPEAKER_01Dude, if he just I don't know, I'm for some reason when I look at it, I see like Clint Eastwood, man. So I just call him Clint Eastwood.
SPEAKER_00It's wild though, because if you look at the top, it looks like the eyes are looking up, and then if you look down at the middle part, it almost looks like it's another face looking down and away. Yeah. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. Thank you for letting me uh show some of that. Also, oh, I forgot to tell you, um, if they want to go to my direct store on
Closing Thoughts and Future Aspirations
SPEAKER_01Etsy, it's Picasso.store. Okay. Yeah, so Picassobro.store, and that'll take you to my Etsy shop or picasbro.com, and that's the website.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Well, hit him up and get this guy some more notoriety because of all the artists I see out there, I feel like you really uh deserve a bump. And it's nice to see people are finally starting to take notice at what you're doing there. And I want to say thank you to you as always for wearing your shirt today. Um, covering those doughy arms and uh coming on the podcast because uh there's nothing better than catching up with you, bud.
SPEAKER_01Bro, next time we get on the podcast together, I'm gonna be yoked. I'm just I can't wait. I'm at least gonna have a little bit of shape in the arm, okay?
SPEAKER_00Well, I've got some people coming on soon who have all kinds of plans to get you yoked. So we'll get it, we'll get you dialed in. You're already yoked. It's all about it's all in the eye of the beholder.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't even want to stand up because I look great right there. No, I'm I'm fine right here. I'm I'm great, like just barely face and neck.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my ankles look like a two liter, but I look great up here. All right, buddy. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me on, bro. See ya.