Live From The Loft
"Live From The Loft" is a podcast hosted by Just Jason that brings together a diverse group of guests to share their perspectives and opinions on various topics. From music and social culture to sports and entertainment, the show provides a platform for open and honest discussions. By inviting friends, family, and business owners to share their experiences, the podcast offers a unique and personal look at the world, promoting understanding and empathy for differing viewpoints. With its mix of guests and eclectic range of topics, "Live From The Loft" is a must-listen for anyone interested in hearing fresh and thought-provoking discussions.
Live From The Loft
Episode 13. Diego
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In Episode 13 of Live from the Loft, I sit down with Diego for a real and honest conversation covering life, family, current events, and culture. As my daughter’s boyfriend, this episode brings a unique personal dynamic, with open discussion about relationships, values, and yes—even the realities and “regulations” of dating my daughter.
We also dive into Diego’s Puerto Rican roots, personal experiences, and perspectives on today’s world, blending meaningful conversation with humor and authenticity. From serious topics to lighthearted moments, this episode is about connection, respect, and getting to know the person behind the relationship.
A candid, entertaining, and thoughtful conversation you won’t want to miss.
Free audio part production by Alphonic.com I don't know what you're saying, but we're uh we're we're live. From the loft, this is episode 13. Is this reporting? Diego. I don't even know. No, I don't think so. No, it is. So much storage is left in there. Episode 13, motherfuckers. Let's go. Diego. What's up? What's up? What's up, my friend? How's everything? I'm good. How are you? Good, good, good. Welcome to uh welcome to the podcast, man.
SPEAKER_02Dude, I've been waiting. It's been like a whole year and four months.
SPEAKER_01Has that is that long it's been? Something like that. About don't get me in trouble now. It takes a while to get invited. Yeah. You know, not everybody gets on here. Yeah. Doing it for about a little over what what's that? She says she knows. Yeah, so there's there's someone in the studio audience in case it gets a little loud out here. Um security. Security. But no, but no, uh, welcome, man. Have you ever done one of these before?
SPEAKER_02No. I've always talked about it with my friends about doing it, but every time we talk about like doing it and like putting it together, it doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_01No. I'll set you guys up. Get one of these online, couple hundred bucks, and you're good to go. Four mics, and you guys are good. Gotcha. And you record everything on like the computer or does that record it? Right through here. That's cool. Right through here. What's the one memory card? It's insane and the quality is ridiculous. But it's good, man. I gotta get one. I gotta get one. Do you?
SPEAKER_02So for those of you who don't know, I wish my dad was like this. Yeah, let me show this.
SPEAKER_01Let me give you guys a little background. So man, this is a hard podcast. For me, it's challenging. So Diego is dating my daughter. Um, so so let me lead off with that, right? So everybody's like, oh fuck. So this podcast goes one or two ways for you. I just wanted to go way, hopefully. This is uh in no way any type of threat whatsoever. No, I like Diego as much as uh as a dad could like his daughter's boyfriend, you know. But of course, there's there's always that side of you, you know. Uh eventually you're gonna have a daughter. Um, not with my daughter, but in a different life. And uh and and you'll understand that there's just that that feeling. Yeah, yeah. You get to that point. I I didn't think that I would ever get to this point where she'd be moving out and living with a boy. You know, uh, for all you dads out there, that that's what's happening in my life right now. So I have a 22-year-old daughter who's about to move in with this guy who's now on my podcast. So I don't know if this is an interview, if this is a podcast, if this is a um eulogy, interrogation, or something like that. I was gonna go with that. Yeah. No, but man, so so so far you're doing the right things. I I appreciate you. Thank you, thank you. It's all good. So so tell everybody where you're from. So give us a background because uh there's a big uh big bad bunny influence. You know, I'm sure we'll get into that, but yeah, give us a little background where you're from.
SPEAKER_02Um, so I'm Diego, tourist for everybody that's watching right now. I'm from Puerto Rico. Cowboys, Puerto Rico, to be exact. Um Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico. Yeah, like I always said, uh love Bad Bunny as my guy.
SPEAKER_01Bad Bunny. So I don't know too much about Bad Bunny. I guess we'll go down that rabbit hole. Don't know too much about him. I know that you liked him. Yeah. Um, I know that he's like the biggest thing in Puerto Rico. Yeah. And then unfortunately, he got thrown into the freaking political freaking nightmare.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like how everybody just gets thrown into it.
SPEAKER_01You know, if you're a public figure, I have my yeah, I have my beliefs on politics, whatever. I don't talk about it on this show, but like when I go to watch football, the NFL or anything like that, especially halftime, I don't want politics in my sports. I watch sports to escape reality, right? So when he came in, I'm like, all right, I don't know anything about this guy. If he got picked for the Super Bowl, obviously he's freaking he's good. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02Uh number one artist is your Jay-Z.
SPEAKER_01Obviously, we know Jay-Z's company, was it Rockefeller does the Super Bowl now, the production, so it's been a lot of hip-hop artists and everything like that for the last years. Um, I've been fighting for Foo Fighters. So Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters. It's their turn. Let's go bring back Rock to the Super Bowl. But when he got picked, I was like, okay, this is gonna be cool. Yeah, obviously the whole thing. It was crazy.
SPEAKER_02I'll say like the timeline from when it happened to like everything was so crazy because I mean, not a lot of people heard of that bunny before. And the people that did, like, they already knew majority Spanish speakers. Right. That's this music, 100% of his music is Spanish. Oh yeah. Um I I would say with his last album, he really put himself out there.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, and when I announced him for the Super Bowl, I feel like that was it. It was mixed. It was mixed feelings for people. Yeah, I was cool. I was cool about it.
SPEAKER_01And then it came on the news and all this shit like that. And you know, you you hear this side, you hear this side, and I call it static, you hear all aesthetic out there. Yeah. I'm always one, and like I said on previous podcasts, what I do for a living is I analyze risk, right? So, all right, what's the risk of having bad money at the Super Bowl, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So rather than jump to any conclusion, that's what people do. They look at social media, they look they look at websites like this, they listen to fake media news, whatever it is. And I'm not saying CNN's fake or Fox is fake, I'm saying all news. Yeah, there's issues, they don't report the news anymore. If news like if all the news was good, they wouldn't sell it. Right. So they started coming out. Oh, well, Bad Bunny doesn't like America, he doesn't come to America. This and I'm like, okay, rather than saying F Bad Bunny, I'm like, why? Yeah, tell me more about this guy. I w I want to know. Before I make a judgment on somebody, gotcha, like you, I can't judge you right away. I'm still still judging you, but I I kind of want to know what's about this guy. So when I heard, okay, so he doesn't want to come to America because 98% of his fans are Latinos, and there's a certain percentage of that that may or may not be documented. So he's looking out for his fans by not coming to America. So everybody's saying he hates Trump, this and that. I'm like, that's not what they're saying.
SPEAKER_02I mean, like, I get it. Because if I was an artist, I wouldn't do it either. That's your fans. My first language is Spanish, so of course my music would be in Spanish. I wouldn't want my fans being in danger, you know? Um, danger meaning, you know, what's going on in the country around now.
SPEAKER_01And what's crazy about that, think about it, because if he really didn't give a shit, if he was really an asshole and that's how he thought, he would come here to get to get the money. How much from what I understand, he is like in in Puerto Rico, he's like Elvis Presley. Yeah. He's the guy. Yes.
SPEAKER_02There's nobody bigger. So it's funny, let me tell you something. Yes. Um, me growing up, so in Puerto Rico, like I would say outside from whatever they run the economy with, um, music is like probably top three things in the way how we run an economy and we make ourselves known. Okay. Um, but me growing up, I wasn't like a music guy. Like I didn't have a favorite artist. I didn't have like every all my friends were always like with their headphones on, listen to music, listening to what were you listening to growing up? I was I've always been like a video game kid. I've never been like uh like I'll sit down and listen to music. I was never that guy. Um I think it was more like how my mom and dad raised me. They didn't want me listening to profanity music and all that, me growing up. My brother, opposite, he was always like Okay, NWA. Yeah, listening to like everything, you know? Okay, so there's a lot of like pro Puerto Rican artists are like well known, like Daddy Yankee. Okay. I've never like connected with him. Something about Bat Bunny, man. Like Manudo? Yeah, Manudo. Were they Puerto Rican? No, they're not Puerto Rican, but I mean my mom, like, I've heard of Minuto my whole life. Like things like that. Ricky Martin. Ricky Martin. Yeah. Um Shebang Shebangs. Daddy Yankee. Um we have like there's more. There's Alario Carrion. He has songs with two, no, not Tubang, Tubak. Um 50 cents. I got stories about Tubang. With 50 cents, he has songs with 50 cents. Like people are well known. Right. Um, I've never been like a topic guy about Bad Bunny. Something about Bunny, man. Where where where did it like where'd you hear him? Like this certainly. He started 20, I would say 2015, 2016. He released like his first um. So his story's crazy, man. The way he started, he started recording from his phone, like how everybody recording, yeah, recording from his phone, SoundCloud, all that he went like So he was like a like a like a YouTube artist?
SPEAKER_01Because there's a lot of guys out there like that.
SPEAKER_02So before YouTube, it was like SoundCloud. It was like SoundCloud. Like, so everything he released was SoundCloud. Um, one of his songs, one of his first songs just blew up. Really? Yeah, from there, he um signed a contract with his like producer in Puer Rico that he's like ran like I would say 80% of Puerto Rican artists. Um well known. You come in, you don't have a PR team, you don't have like people to back you up and to like you know, tell you do this, do that, don't do this. You're on your own. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But um the also good thing about that is they don't get 20% of your income.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I mean the deal he signed, it wasn't good. It was like uh it was like he was stuck in this deal. New guy. He wasn't able to release his own album, nothing like that. It was like, you know, he was still known his own name and all that shit. Yep, yeah. So um he got out of this deal, and that's when his career started just taking off. Yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_01So, but mostly in Puerto Rico. Yeah, in Puerto Rico. Uh, but obviously now he's worldwide. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy. Do you remember where you were like the first time you heard like his song? Bad bunny, yes. Yeah, Dave.
SPEAKER_02I already was in tenth grade, ninth grade. Okay. Um, he's scrolling, and one of my friends puts me on. Um one of my best friends, Brab Dale. Shout out to Brab Dale. You see this. What's up? So you remember the guy I told you, Eladio Carrion? Yes, yes. So I'd known about Bad Bunny, but I hadn't like really like listened to his songs like that. Okay. Um so he asked when he started, he was releasing more songs that weren't like solos. It were more like collaborations with artists that were already like established. But he was like a like hip hop. It was like rap. Well, we but we don't call it a rap, but we called it trap. Well, that's questionable. Yeah. Rap hip. What's trap? Trap? It's like is there trap? Did you hear about trap? What is it?
SPEAKER_01Alright, so if I'm gonna guess, I'll take a guess. Trap to me would be trance rap. It would be it would be it would be tra what Kanye in the city.
SPEAKER_02No, it's like trap to me, rap crap. To me, rap, when I think of rap, I think of like Tupac, 50 Cent. It's like a beat, and they're just rapping MM. Like to me, that's rap. The real deal. Trap, I would say trap, it's like more like new, the newer generation. You've never heard of trap? Wait, little little Wayne. So let me explain. Korak Black. Let me let me explain to you. He lives a mile from here. So let me explain to you where um the word reggaeton comes from, and then you'll you'll see why we call it trap. So reggaeton reggae comes from Jamaica, you know? Yaman. Um Yaman. So when reggaeton was being established, it started not So it started in Perigo, but it was between Perigo and Panama. So you'll always hear that no reggaeton comes from Perigo. No, reggaeton was coming from.
SPEAKER_01You guys are let me stop it. You guys are responsible for that shit?
SPEAKER_02Yes. I'll say it right here. Yes, Puerto Ricans are responsible for reggaeton.
SPEAKER_01Continue your story in just a second, but for for me growing up, this is reggaeton. Same fucking beat. Over and over. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02So please continue, so sorry. Um Daddy Yankee and like the old Daddy Yankee's big. Yes, he would seem more like rap reggaeton. Okay. Like he would just be more like rapping. That was late, late nine 2000s. Yeah, that was like early 2000s. Um there was more. There was um Daddy Yankees. Is he alive? Yeah, he's alive. Okay. He's like a big Christian now. You know what's they all are. This is the weird part of re like big reggaeton artism for ego. Either they continue until they fall off, or they become Christians and they still stay in the media because people are like, this guy used to sing about this.
SPEAKER_01Do they open up like big churches and fees to get in?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, welcome to my call. It's so funny because one of them he's like he's like one of the biggest like Christians now, but his whole face is covered in tattoos. Oh and I wanna, he was like in music, he was like known for like doing drugs and doing this and doing that. And now he's like the big he's a pastor. Yes, it owns church, but his face is like so. You got jelly rolled up there going, Praise Jesus! Let me show you that. Let me show you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let me see that. Let me see that thing. And we'll post we'll post this up there so everybody can see. But yeah, yeah, there's a lot of guys like that find God like later in life, a lot of rock stars and and guys uh covered in tattoos, gang members, and something like that. They come out of the joint, like like my uncle, uh my uncle Ben covered in tats.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like skull tattoo on the neck. So this guy, they used to call him the Joker in Puerto Rico el Guason. Well, the Joker. Uh let me see. This is a guy. Oh wow. He's like a big, like he's a pastor now.
SPEAKER_01You know who he looks like? You ever see uh Suicide Squad? Yeah, yeah, he looks like Jared Leto.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01By the way, there's a um, I know it's probably you probably won't even know this, but uh Nirvana. You know Nirvana, right? Yeah, I've heard of it. So Jared Leto, when Kirk Rubane died a couple years after, he was a big Nirvana fan, and he's in a band. Um forgot the name of the band. Emma could probably help me out. 21 Seconds to Mars. Jared Leto, what band is he in? Look that up. Can you Google that for me? I think it's like 21 Seconds to Mars. It's like a rock band. Good looking guy. He's an actor, you know who he is. So anyway, he looks like Kirk Rubane.
SPEAKER_02I wouldn't say he's the best actor, sorry, Derrido, but he's he's an actor. All right, we'll we'll get to that in a second.
SPEAKER_01He's an actor. Um so he he did a video because he wanted to play Kirk Rubane in a movie. Gotcha. So we did a video of him doing two Kirk Obane songs, like dressed like him. 30 seconds to Mars? What did I say? 21 seconds? I was nine seconds short. Nine seconds short on that one. Um, but he did this video, him dressed as Kirk Bain, did two songs, and he looks just like him. It's really because the only problem with it is he's a right-handed guitar and Kirk of Bain was a left-handed guitar. I caught that the average American didn't.
SPEAKER_02What was the album that um Pose Malone was being like he was in charge of like reproducing or something?
SPEAKER_01He saw it a while ago. It wasn't an album. I actually just saw it today. It popped up on my Instagram feed, which by the way, my Instagram feed lately has been ridiculous. Really? I don't go on Instagram too much, um, but I guess when I do, like it tracks that, and now that my feed is just like it's weird. Like whatever you talk about, it's what you got on your phone. Yeah, but there I got a lot of magicians lately. Really? And I I haven't looked up magic or done anything about magic.
SPEAKER_02It's freaking freaking. Because I was talking to Emma earlier about the Wi-Fi in the apartment, right? And I said ATT.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Jason, I swear. I swipe twice on an Instagram and I get an ATT ad. I believe it. They're listening.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, what? Think about it this way. How does your phone, if your phone's not listening, how does it know when you say hey Siri? Yes, yes. Or if Alexa's not listening, how does it know when you say Alexa? Oh, I guess. It's happened to us many a times. I've documented on the podcast. We've been talking about getting, especially like when COVID happened, we would talk about uh redoing the kitchen, getting a dining room table. Next thing you know, city furniture pops up with dining room tables. Yeah. You're talking about redoing the bathroom, you get tile ads coming up. They listen. Um, I didn't search for it. Everybody's like, no, it's not possible. You search for it on Google and this no, no, no. I did not search for it. No, because I didn't search up for the ETC. There were times where my phone was in the car and I was talking about it. But yet, because my phone is connected to Amazon. Or the internet here and the things are you're connected. Have you heard have you heard these crazy stories where they could see in your house now through your router?
SPEAKER_02Well, let me tell you something. Is that where you were in the lab, yes. I have a co-worker, I'm not gonna mention his name. Know who I'm talking about. Cool guy. The most Dave. Um, I'm gonna know it's him. Um he's big into the government spying on you and all of that. Like really, yes. Would he like to come on? Yes, I would invite him, yes. I super love that shit, dude. Um dude. Ever since I started working there, he has tape over his camera. That's one. That's one. Two. So you know how I wear lead when I go to surgeries? Um, so whenever I see him and we're like talking, I'll put my phone here, like you know, like I put it here, like on the pocket. He'll get mad at me, he'll be like, Yo motherfucker, put your put your phone away. Well you're recording me. You know, I'm not recording you, bro. Like, I just got my phone. Are you serious? Yes, like he's like big into that into the government. Um, he says they're always listening. Like, like let's say we're sitting here right now and we're having a conversation, there's a phone, like the work phone right there, and we're having a conversation that HR might not approve. He'll be like, let's walk away from this conversation because the phone's right there. Like he's like that.
SPEAKER_01So he's like um, for those my age, conspiracy theory. Mel Gibson was like a 1997 movie with him and uh Julia Roberts, where it was all like he was like that. He's like, they're listening, this and that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw a clip of it um this week, actually, where he had mentioned something about vaccines as a there's something. This is 1997. Yeah. This is a Mel Gibson movie about conspiracy theories, and he's talking about vaccines. There's something coming, and the government's gonna force everybody to get a vaccine. Oh, it happened six years ago. And here we are, COVID-19. Yeah, yeah. Did you get it? COVID 19? No, well, the the vaccine for it. Yeah, it's a it's a long story. It's a complicated story. It actually gets me in a little bit of an irritated mood. So, yes, I did. I'm not let me let me just disclose this. I'm not an anti-vax, sorry, I believe, but everything's great. Uh that that's not me. Um, I'm not Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, the way they went about it was weird. Yeah, however, I have a problem with number one, uh, a pandemic comes up and they have a vaccine within six months.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right cancer's been around for how many frickin' years? Can't solve it. Obviously, we all know it's it's it's money. Uh number two, where you were forced to get the vaccine. Yeah. Now everybody's gonna say bullshit, it was a choice, but I'll tell a story and I won't name names. I was employed with a large Fortune 500 company. Um, it came out and it started with that the freaking vaccine cards. Remember those?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. That you had it was like a passport, you had to show them everywhere.
SPEAKER_01Could you imagine right now? Like you like, I remember we went to New York to my brother's engagement party, and we had to show this card. This paper to get into a club. Yeah, and it was so funny because I had a friend of mine who gave me like a stack of 50 of them, so I had blank cards. Oh, really? Yeah, it was a bunch of bullshit. I know people, Diego, stick with me. All right, gotcha. Uh, but anyway, where I was getting with that, we got to the point society where we needed to fill out cards to show that, right? So I'm working for this company, um, and it came down, you know, listen, we need everybody to get vaccinated. I said, I don't want to get vaccinated. Okay, not a problem. You don't need to get vaccinated like a month pass. And this is a big organization, 25,000 people. So an email came down saying, okay, if you choose not to get vaccinated, that's fine. However, here are the ramifications. Health insurance will not be covered, so you need to pay your own health insurance, which is like about $1,300 a month. I think that's like illegal. No, no, no. That it is now. Think about it. It should be, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? So they're telling me if I do not get the vaccine, gotta pay $1,300. I'm like, okay, whatever. $1,300 in my beliefs. Also, you need to be tested every day. So you need to buy testing kits per week. We'll sell them to you. You have to pay for the testing.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you have to pay for the testing kit?
SPEAKER_01No, that was $1,500 a month. So now we're up to $3,000 a month. Those things are not cheap. They're like $20. So I'm like, okay, I don't I don't want to do that either. What's my third choice? They say you could be terminated. I'll go with the third choice. Respectfully. Unfortunately, I didn't. Oh. You know, I had family to support. Um not just gonna walk away. And at that time, too. Um luckily the company I was working for took care of us. I I will say that. I'll give the oh cramp. Give them their their disclaimer that during COVID they took care of us with salary-wise, commission-wise, they very, very good. No complaints there. But maybe I get vaccinated. So went and got the first shot, and I was probably one of the last ones in the first round to get the first shot. So I walk into the local, I won't say their name, but it's three uh three syllables, C V S. Walk in there, I get my shot, and like I get shamed. Oh, took you this long to come in. Really? I think yeah, and I think Nellie was there with me. I'm not sure if she and like I like literally like went to get up out of the seat. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, Are you kidding me? Yeah. Um Yeah, and I got the second one too because I had to, but then after that, I haven't got one since. You know what's crazy?
SPEAKER_02Which to me was like the weird part. Um, I only got the first one. And and everybody tried to get me to get the second one. Did you get that crazy move? Oh, I got the Pfizer one. Okay. I got the Pfizer one. And the only re only reason I remember that is 'cause my dad used to work for that company for Pfizer. Did he really? Yeah. Rico. Brought to you by Pfizer. Pfizer. Yeah. Support us.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02CNN. That's their fucking sponsor. Um, so yeah, no, but I never because that was a weird thing. I mean, I work in healthcare, so like I see these things every single day.
SPEAKER_01Um so you only got one. Did you so were you considered at that you were in the business at that time in healthcare? No, I was it was 2020. I was graduating, yeah. Yeah, you were like in diapers, yeah. Yeah, I forget. Forget I'm an old fuck. 2020, COVID. You were like in like elementary school. Yeah. Yeah, you watching sesame show. Shit.
SPEAKER_02You know what's crazy? Which I always get people with, and they're like, no way. Um this is a touchy subject for some people. They ask my no, I mean, people from New York, I would say that. So when people ask me, like, how old am I? Right. And I told them my age, it doesn't hit them. So what I say to hit them is I was like, yeah, I didn't even see the Twin Towers get hit. Oh, and they're like, but they're all like You weren't born yet? Like, no, I wasn't born. I was 2001, I was born in 2002. Look right behind you. There they are. Oh God. Yep. Oh God. Oh God. I re I remember where I was that day. Really? Yeah, I was like, Is that a thing that like people that were like working or what or doing whatever they were doing, they remember what they were doing exactly in the moment that it happened?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's things in life that you hear people talk about, like they'll remember, you know, where you were that day. Uh one of the big ones I don't remember, but you'll you'll hear it every time. JFK. Where were you when JFK was assassinated? Allegedly. Right? Uh where were you when they landed on the moon? You know, one thing that that vividly stands out in my mind is the challenger. Remember what uh the space shuttle blew up? Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_02With the teacher inside of the yeah, I remember.
SPEAKER_01No, I was in sixth grade, Newbridge Road School. Uh well, I don't remember. I know. I got out to Long Island. Yeah. And they they they rolled the TV. This is back when there was like TVs where they had them on stand, they would roll them in, have to plug him in with the antenna. Oh, they were all grainy. Yeah, and we're why and we're watching it. We're sitting there, everybody's watching it, clapping, all of a sudden it blows up. No, yeah, and everybody looks around. What grade were you in? What? This is like sixth grade. No, yeah, this is bad, bro. No. So I I think that's where my life turned. Oh God. Yeah, now looking back, uh, that might be where you know shit went wrong. Do you remember like what the teachers did when it when it happened? Yeah, the TV got turned off right away. They tried to make us play, like we were in the big gym and they tried to make us play like board games and shit like that. I'm like, people just died.
SPEAKER_02I was alright for Robby, but I just imagine the teacher like going like, ooh-ooh.
SPEAKER_01Because the big thing though, like back in school, they were hype, it was a teacher. It was like the first teacher to go to space. So they were talking about it for months. They were hyping it up. And then, boom. Yeah. So that uh twin towers, yeah. I remember where I was. I was living in Claremont, Florida. I just moved down here. I got married. It was my one-month anniversary from my wedding, so I'll never forget that. Gotcha. Uh, was on on my way to a job interview and turned on TV and stuff. That then my brother was in Manhattan, tried to call him, couldn't get him on the phone.
SPEAKER_02So didn't go to the interview. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Um, Hector, do you remember where you were when that happened?
SPEAKER_01We got we got a guy here from the studio, and it's Hector, episode 12. Check it out. Forkfluence.com is his website.
SPEAKER_00Our house in Long Island in Farm Dell. And I was getting ready for work and I saw we had the dudes playing, and that's when they went right to it. And it was definitely never forget that day. I could feel the carpet under my feet exactly the way I felt that day.
SPEAKER_02Was that something? I'm sorry, because I'm I've always been so interested because I wasn't born when like that happened. I wasn't I wasn't even a thought yet. Um was that something that when it happened, it was like more like fear that like you might be next wherever you are, or was it more like what the hell is happening right now?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yes, like like because w when when I first saw it on TV, the plane, the first plane had already hit, and I turned on TV. Gotcha. So I'm sitting there watching the first plane, and you know right away it wasn't an accident. Like I I knew I turned on, I'm like, oh, a little plane hit. And then when the second plane, I just remember getting like fucking nauseous, like, ugh, like we're under attack. Yeah. Now we're in uh where the hell were we? We're in Orlando, Flor Claremont, Florida, right outside of Orlando. I'm like, all right, we're safe. No, no, no plane is coming to Claremont Florida, but I'm like, everybody in New York is fucked right now. Like, this is not good. And you couldn't contact anybody, every single phone line was down because cell service was shit back then. So every time you called somebody, eh, fast busy signal. So couldn't really touch base with anybody. Yeah, and um my brother was in Manhattan, like I told you earlier, couldn't get in touch with him, couldn't get in touch with anybody back in New York, and it was just you're watching that shit on TV, and it was just uh nuts. I just remember the only the only I'm an optimist, I try and see positive things.
SPEAKER_02Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Brought everybody together. Yeah. Everybody was just at each other's house every day, cooking each other food. I've never seen so many American flags. I remember I painted an American flag on the back of my truck. It was just like there was like six months where the world was together. Yeah, and then obviously back to freaking normal. Everybody hates each other and all this other shit like that.
SPEAKER_02I feel like it's crazy because we're talking about like all these like historical events that happen, and like right now, me and Emma could only say like we've only lived one. And what does COVID? We only live the one historical. COVID was big.
SPEAKER_01That that's never gonna happen again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean No, never, never gonna happen again. What what's going to come out on what happened with COVID is gonna blow people's minds. Not a conspiracy theorist, I'm not going down a rabbit hole. I'm just a realist, sit back and look back and open up your eyes and think about what we went through. A liquor store can be open, but you can't go to the office to move money. But a liquor store can be open.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Restaurant can't be open.
SPEAKER_02I remember, I remember the exact tattoo parlor could be open. Come on. Yeah. Bullshit. I remember when like we went to lockdown, lockdown. Right. Because I was working at a Saugrass Mall at the time, uh Food Locker. Were you wearing the black and white stress? Yeah, that looked like a referee. Black and whites. So I'm coming into work and immediately I got a notification on my phone that school's canceled. I was a senior then, so I was in 12th grade. And I'm like, okay, cool, that's cool. Like no, no school for a week. Because at first it was a week. There were like a week until we were solving and we figure it out.
SPEAKER_0110 days to stop the spread. March 18th.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, something like that. Ten days to stop the spread. So I remember take ten days off, people. So I remember it was something like that to like, you know, get things in control and whatever. So then full locker also sends me home. And it was sweet, dude. They were paying me to be at home.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, like if I was a full-time employee.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the big corporations did well. Um, did good. Everybody that was, you know, under that, it's what happened is people in Hector's industry, right? Uh, the restaurant industry, work isn't like that. Anybody who got tips or anything like that, those people were fucked.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's why when you go to a restaurant today, and correct me if I'm wrong, when you go to restaurant today, there's like four waiters instead of ten. Because people said, you know what, I'm a little scared, right, about what's going to happen if this happens again, which it will not happen again. So everybody out there in the service industry, in the entertainment industry, go be a waiter. Go be a bartender. You're gonna make a lot of money, you're gonna make a lot of cash, right? And thank you, President Trump. Whether you're Republican or Democrat, your tips are now tax free unless you live in New York, Illinois, or California.
SPEAKER_02What is it? Is it a New York uh Democrat state?
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir. Really? Yeah. So federal law, Trump's uh the uh Save America Act um stopped tax on tips and social security, which is huge for our seniors. And overtime. Yeah, and overtime. So you know social security, right? You pay into it your whole life, and then all of a sudden when you get it, now you gotta pay taxes or money that you already paid taxes on, and then it grows, and now you pay taxes on that. Anyway, so yeah, they took that away. So Donald Trump, Save America Act, Congress, everybody, both sides actually approved it. So it was a great bipartisan bill where no tax on Social Security, no tax on tips, but New York said nay, nay, nay, tax on tips. California said nay, nay, nay, tax on tips, and so do Illinois. They overrode the federal federal government because states, in reality, states have control on what happens in the state. That's why you have I I think there's 24 states where marijuana is recreational legal. Anybody could buy it, right? And there's I think another 14 states where it's medically legal, and then the rest it's illegal. California has controlled free states. Yeah, it's all of the states that where marijuana is legal are democratic states. Gotcha. Blows my mind. I don't I don't understand why Republicans are so against it. Yeah. In in in the state of Florida, right? Um because they're getting the tax money that they're getting on this is.
SPEAKER_02I've always I've always had a firm believe that whatever is beneficial for us humans and it's like it doesn't harm our health as much, right? Don't make it illegal. Because I mean, I do feel like cigarettes should be illegal.
SPEAKER_01100%.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know they are in the UK now. Yes. Have you heard that? Well, I I saw what it was, but it's so weird, so trippy. So never gonna happen. Whoever is born from 2008 and forward can smoke. No, they cannot buy cigarettes anymore. So I'm feel I I think they date that that way that people, I mean, I don't know, I don't want to sound, you know, but so in other words, like who has an addiction, yeah. Whoever has an addiction is like, okay, uh you can keep your addiction, but you you were born yesterday, so you can't have an addiction.
SPEAKER_01They grandfathered everybody in. Yeah. If you're over the age of 18, by the time they pass this law, you could smoke. Yeah, you can't. Yes. Um I don't know if I have a problem with that or not. No, I don't have a problem with that. I mean, see, I'm not a smoker, so I don't give a shit. I I I hate smoking. I think I think it should be banned, but if you want to smoke, it's your body, do it. Yeah, but I feel like you gotta be over 18. But like I said, there's gotta be some type of rules, some regulations.
SPEAKER_02Like I said, it's like it is what it is. Weed is beneficial. Like if people use him when they have pain, when they have like body aches, people with cancer, my grandpa was one of them, he would just be hitting his little pen before he passed away. Rest in peace, grandpa. Um R.I.P. What's grandpa's name? Um Rafi. Rafael. What's up, Rafael? Rafi. Um but yeah, that's my thing. Like, whatever is beneficial if like the government doesn't want to lose money. These healthcare comp um corporations don't want to lose money. It's a multi-billion, well, I was a trillion dollar company.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know the whole story behind weed and why it's illegal. No. So hemp was being produced in you know, beginning of time, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. Yeah. And I think it was somewhere in, you know, that fact they're gonna fact check me, whatever. I'm probably wrong, but on the dates, but the story will be right. Hemp was starting to get so popular and so stronger than cotton, right? Because hemp, the fibers are so strong. You make a hemp shirt, that will last forever. Like a lot of the um, what do they call them? The ghys that the karate guys wear, uh, they're all made from the the real ones, are made from hemp. You can't pull them, you can't rip them, it's very strong material. So hemp was Alpeding cotton, and cotton was owned by like one of the biggest bankers or something like that in the world. So, what they did, they said, There's no way we're gonna let hemp allow, you know, allow hemp to take us over. So they started putting um putting out in the media that weed, hemp, which hemp, when you make hemp, there there's no weed in there. All the psychedelic shit is gone. It's just cloth, it's a cotton. But they started saying that uh hemp, marijuana, and all that makes people crazy, and Mexicans and African Americans and all that are gonna use that and rape white women and all the stuff like that. Oh, okay. And this is in the 50s and 60s, and then they started making movies like that, and they started putting out in the public, and then in sometime I think it was 68 or 69, something like that, they that's when they federally legalized, uh made marijuana illegal.
SPEAKER_02Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Not so much because what it did, but more importantly because the benefits on the paper side and the hemp side. Um but obviously now you look at all the medical benefits of it, it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02Yeah it's out there. I feel like it's multiple reasons, not only that, it's also they're trying to find a way to tax it. Because look at alcohol. Like a little alcohol back in the day it was illegal. Oh my god. Until they found a way to tax it and to make money out of it. So now it's not illegal. Yep. Um So think about it that way.
SPEAKER_01Why why is alcohol legal and marijuana not? If you th but think think about it.
SPEAKER_02Weed is the the one drug. I I'm not a user, by the way. Like I don't I've never been a user.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, because I would I would I'm starting to worry about you.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I've never been a user, but in Puerto Rico, it's like that's like I would it I would say 90% of people that live in Puerto Rico that they're is it legal there? Or is it just like the the police don't protest it or well one that's one and two it's um it's only medical like if you have a medical card but you could get it anywhere. It's like you tell your doctor, oh my elbow hurts. Okay, here have a murder. My asshole hurts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um yeah, like I've never been in Yes, I've tried it, but no, I didn't like it. It was like, oh god, like how many times did you inhale? It was one. It was one and I almost died. What's the date? It was a one. I need the date. It was years ago. It was years ago before I moved here. Um no, it's never been five.
SPEAKER_01Was it over five? Over six. All right, you're good then. Um just leave a half sample before you leave here.
SPEAKER_02Well yeah, no, like I've never I've never liked it. But I feel like people do benefit out of it. People do benefit out of it.
SPEAKER_01Serves a lot of purpose. It's all good. It's all good. But uh tell tell me about uh the medical field. Like how how would you say that you got into that, right? Because you tell me you grew up in Puerto Rico, so uh uh usually a young Puerto Rican male that listens to Bad Bunny is not gonna grow up to be uh you know a medical tech.
SPEAKER_02So you know what's funny? How does that road go? I think about this all the time. I was thinking about it just today. Um living in Puerto Rico and Nairobi took school seriously. I wasn't always I I wasn't no Emma, no 4.8 how much 4.3 GPA? It was no Emma. Emma Emma rocks direct to scale with the GPA. Yep. Um yeah, no, I would just go to school, hang out with my friends. I was like school, it's a hangout. Social, yeah, it was always that. Um Emma went Emma went for business, not pleasure. Yeah. So I moved here um after Hurricane Maria. Uh we can talk about that later. Okay, yeah. Um I haven't been here for any hurricanes. Yeah, yeah, we can talk about Hurricane Maria later. Um so I move after Hurricane Maria over here. And yeah, I'm going through school. I had 11th and 12th. I did 11th grade and 12th grade here.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02I finish, I go to college. First year of college, I didn't take a series. Not not first year, first semester, I didn't take a serious. Nobody does. Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do. Yeah, I was like, uh, like I don't want to do this, except Emma. Emma took a series. Um, but yeah, I didn't take a series. I was like, college is not for me. Right. Um then I met this guy, he was a nurse, and he was also in the army. Dude, he had like four properties that he would just rent and make passive income. Jesus. Like he just told me, like Smart Man. Yes, he he was like, get do this, get a credit card, like invest in this, do everything. Like he was just like an older guy that just, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he was like um mentor. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So certain people in life that you meet that you listen to. Yeah, so I mean, I saw that and I was like, you know what, let me lock in in college. So I started doing nursing because that's what he was doing. And I was like, let me do nursing, because I mean if it's working for him, it'll work for me. Uh what do you what do you go to like school for that? Yeah, I went to to school. I did like a technical classes? Yeah, I did like a whole year of it. I hated it, despised it, dude. It's gotta be horrible. So let me let me tell you so I did I did x-ray, I ended up doing radiology. Let me tell you the difference between uh x-ray tech and a nurse. I think I know the difference. But let me explain it how I see it.
SPEAKER_03Alright.
SPEAKER_02A nurse is with the patient all day. All day. Eight hours, twelve hours, you're with this person, with this person, you gotta take this person for 12 hours. They might shit themselves six times a day, and six times a day you gotta change them. You gotta change their dressings, you gotta do this, that, this, this.
SPEAKER_01You're their their personal assistant. Literally.
SPEAKER_02You do the dirty work for the doctor. You draw the blood and you do everything for the doctor. Nurses run the shit. Yes. Um, I just take a picture and goodbye. I'll never see you again. See you later. Yeah, see you later. Same amount of money too. Yeah, yeah. So that that's that's a score. So after COVID, it funny enough, we're making a little bit more money than nurses. Do you you you see, you must see a lot of shit. Like a lot of crazy, like extra, like broken stuff. Yeah, I could I could be having the most miserable day. Uh I'm not a psychopath, um, but I could be having the most dating my daughter. Yeah, yeah. No, no, but like I'll be I'll be just chilling and not having like the worst day or whatever, and somebody will come in, yo, this guy just came in with a like messed up foot. I'm running, I'll be the first one in that room. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there's uh, and obviously it won't tell the way you work or we respect everybody's privacy, HMO, what is H HIPAA violations, all that. Yes. But like you must see like broken legs, arms. So it's all X-rays? It's all X-rays. Um But like if somebody comes in with a gunshot and they need an X-ray, you'll see if they believe the bullets inside of them still, yes, they'll do an X-ray.
SPEAKER_02Oh they'll do an X-ray, I'll do a CT just to see where exactly the bullet is. Your stomach's alright with that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What's what's the worst?
SPEAKER_02What's the worst you've ever seen? So right now, the only thing that makes me sick to my stomach whenever I like I see it, it's rotting feet. It's weird. What do you mean, rotting feet? So so have you heard of gangrene? Yeah. Yeah. Why that that actually exists? Yes. And that makes me sick. I see it and I'm like, I'll be right back. You gotta touch that? Dude, I have to do x rays on the foot. Ill, Emma. Emma, you better rethink this. The the Oh shit. It's an infection. Oh my god. Where's my wife? She's probably gagging right now. It's uh it's a bacteria, it's an infection. So we x-ray it to see if that infection has reached the bone.
SPEAKER_01You could see an infection in an x-ray?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so if it reaches the bone, because that's that's when you can't stop it. That's too late, you gotta amputate after that. Bro, like I'm disgusted, right? Dude, imagine, bro, like that's like my one thing that I smell? Yes. Yes. And to make it worse, it's every single shade of the rainbow in on your foot. Like you'll see black, green, yellow, red, everything. It's just disgusting. It's disgusting. It's the worst thing that could happen to somebody. You ever uh you ever see dead people? Yes. No, yes, come on, yes, it's so eerie. Let's break and go.
SPEAKER_01Yes, this is where the podcast takes a turn. So what's the case? Ladies and gentlemen, yes, it is Friday.
SPEAKER_02I'm coming into work. You don't have to don't don't be specific. No, no, I'm coming into work, and as uh as I'm coming in, they're willing somebody out, but they they have like a blanket over the the person, but you can't see like the outline of the person still. It was so eerie. I was like, ooh, like like on TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was so creepy, it was so creepy.
SPEAKER_01Is there is there really a morgue? Have you been No, not in my hospital. So what happens when you die?
SPEAKER_02Where do you go? Um, so somebody comes and picks you up, like somebody from a morgue or something, and they take you to a Oh, so it's not all right. I was gonna ask you some more questions. Some hospitals do have them. I have a lot of questions about a morgue. Like, is it? Well, I've been to a hospital that has one, so shoot away.
SPEAKER_01So TV, I watch a lot of Lore and Order, SBU victims. Yeah. So they go in, everything looks like a refrigerator, like a cheese doors. It's the metal doors with the big handle. You don't know why you roll out a thing of cheese. Is does it actually look like that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You don't know why they have them like that? It's cold. Or refrigeration, right? Yeah, because um your skin um like it breaks down quick. It breaks down quick. So they put you there until they can start working on you.
SPEAKER_01But it's really like that, like when the family comes. I've never had a look.
SPEAKER_02Well, no, I've got to.
SPEAKER_01I've never had to go do a viewing. Like, do they roll it out? Like you know what I'm saying? They come in, they roll it out. They pull down the sheet, they put it on the room.
SPEAKER_02And they're like, they're like, Is this your cousin? And they're like, Yeah, that's him.
SPEAKER_01Um, that's him. He's got the gold tooth, skull tat on his neck.
SPEAKER_02I I would feel like if they gotta like identify somebody, they'll do that. If not, I don't see why they would bring a family member be like, yo, you want to see your family member like that? No.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's rough, man. I've never seen that shit.
SPEAKER_02I don't I don't like funerals, um, like death. I don't like You know what's weird? And it's it's like now that I work on a medical field, every time I see shows like that, right? And they're not like accurate at all. So they totally are. Yeah, it's it's so funny. Like whenever they they call for like I always watch them, and whatever they call for x-ray, it's so wrong. Like they're like, oh x-ray, and somebody will come with a phone, go like this, and it's like x-ray vision through the phone, and I'm like, that's not how x-rays work.
SPEAKER_01I know it's wrong because let me I'm gonna break it down for you, you're tech. So the average TV show is sixty minutes, yeah, an hour. Yeah, 45 minutes, right? With with TV, and then you get 15 minutes commercials.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The average x ray tech when I'm in a fucking hospital takes two hours to get to me. There's no way it's being on that fucking show. You already saw Netflix, that's bullshit. You guys, I don't know what you do. You guys get the call and you go to lunch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're like, ah, we're like, ah, is Days in or something. I mean, don't blow up.
SPEAKER_01Don't blow up your spot. No, no, no. All kidding aside, depending on the hospital you go to, shout out to Coral Springs Medical or Coral Springs University, whatever is right here. We we usually go in the pediatric unit and because my son's there all the time. Um, they're in quick. They're pretty quick. Even when my wife went there for an X-ray, they're they're pretty quick, man.
SPEAKER_02So I'll tell you, I'll tell you this. Usually CTs, you weigh way more. Because CT You gotta get taken down to that. Yeah, you have to go to the room to actual room x-rays since we have portables now. Like you you can take it to the room, that's quicker. You should not be waiting more than two hours for an x-ray unless we try you once and you're like, I can't, so we're gonna move on to the next patient, and you'll be last weekend. Right, right. Um, but CTs are they're cool. Like those should be taking like an hour for you to get a call and things like that.
SPEAKER_01So what takes so long?
SPEAKER_02Is it just these these places are understaffed or it's a combination of equipment, staffing, um what's on Netflix? You know, good shows on, yeah, everything slows down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know I know what goes on. Lunch, lunch. Um everybody thinks all these remote workers out there, you we're on to you. I'm on to you. I know, I know, right? It's like I I follow that. It's like, oh, tomorrow on Netflix at 12 o'clock, we're releasing, you know, the new season of you.
SPEAKER_02You go to the hospital that day to see how long they take.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, not only that, but I'll call my back office, I'll call like my service team at work. I'm like, why isn't anybody picking up? Oh, you's on Netflix. Okay, season three. I got it, I got it. I'll wait, I'll wait. Um It's crazy. I don't I don't I'm not a big fan of the remote worker. I thought it was great during COVID, but I think you should be in the office. Gotcha. Oh, yes, the hurricane. Go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Go back to it.
SPEAKER_01Um, you've never experienced a hurricane? So been down in Florida 15 years. Uh we've been through a couple hurricanes. So the biggest one that we were with that we were through was Hurricane Irene. Yeah. Came through here. We were in New York for a wedding. Uh we missed it, came back home. My air conditioner blew up. So I had to get a new air conditioning unit. Yeah, it was pride. That and then we were here for there was one, it was a category five. I'll never forget this.
SPEAKER_02Is it Irma? Something like that?
SPEAKER_01Irma's the one that blew up my air. I'm sorry. Irma's the one that blew up my hair. But then there was another one that was coming, Dory. Doran? Remember Dory? That was like two years ago. Yeah. Yeah. It was coming. I remember the like the the governor at the time, I think it was Rick Scott. He looked in the camera, he's like, people will die. Just like that. And I'm like, well, I've never been through a hurricane, so I'm shitting a brick. Category five, it's coming right at us. And then at the last minute, beep, it turns. So no, technically, I haven't lived through one. Um, but am I scared? Not so much really, because I mean, you guys know week before down here it's coming. So shame on you if you don't sitting there protecting you're not prepared. So that's what I was. I will say one thing that I've noticed down here in Florida, people don't know shit when it comes to hurricanes. So last hurricane, the one I was talking about, Irma or whatever it was, no, not Irma, Dorian, went to Walmart, rolling out a cart. I spent like $300. I got wine, beer, chicken. Oh, you were ready. Yeah. Everything. Gotcha. And then some so some idiot walks out with like toilet paper, milk, and eggs, and he looks at me, he goes, I fucked up on this one. I go, Yeah, what are you gonna do for a week with eggs in the milk?
SPEAKER_02Eggs and milk.
SPEAKER_01The refrigerator is not gonna be working, dude. Exactly. Coronas and like bread. Yeah. Come on. You know what's funny? I'm laughing at that guy, but I would do I would probably do the same shit. Nah, I wasn't. I mean, I'm only saying that because like my first year here, like a tr a small tropical storm came through. Like, and it was my first, maybe like we were here maybe less than a year, and I'm like, tropical storm. I never heard of that mouth. I'm like, God, we're gonna die. I was so scared. So I'm walking, I go into publics, I buy batteries, and I'm the idiot buying the batteries to milk the eggs and all that stuff like that. And I walk out, and the guy's like, Oh, you're from New York, aren't you? You guys don't get like never, right? Nah, nah. We had like one hurricane, 1986 Hurricane Gloria that came through and it was like a it's like a tropical storm. Yeah, it was probably already like nothing crazy. Gotcha. But uh yeah, man, I remember that. I was just that that guy just looked at me, he's like, You must be from New York. So now I've learned I have a bunch of friends from the uh Floridians. If it's not a hurricane category four or higher, do not panic. Anything else under that, just don't worry about it. So let me tell you about Maria. So Maria Maria?
SPEAKER_02Hurricane Maria. Okay. So Hurricane Maria, you could get two stories. You could get my mom and dad's because they're adults, and there were the ones that like have like a hard time with it, and then you could get my story about their story. I want their story.
SPEAKER_01Their story is the truth. Yeah. Yours is gonna be just an exaggeration of what you think is the truth.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because I was a kid. I wasn't like I didn't have no financial responsibilities or anything. Um sorry, I remember when it happened, when it was coming. When when sorry sorry to interrupt, when when was this? It was twelve uh uh 2016. Was it 2017? It was 2017. Okay, nine years ago? Nine years ago. Okay, I was here. What was it called? Maria? Yeah, hurricane Maria. Don't remember that. So they're telling us it's coming. It's coming. Um Trump Trump was in office at that time. That was his first term. Respect. Yes. So um we're hearing it's coming. But as of like always, they always say every year, oh, there's a hurricane. Yeah, it's gonna be a big one. Ooh, there's a hurricane coming. Oh, buy things, prepare. People will die. People will die.
SPEAKER_01He looked right in the fucking camera. I remember Nelly looked at me too. She's like, We're gonna die. Yup. I'm like, stop. Freaking, yeah. Sorry. My bad.
SPEAKER_02Please continue. So yeah, so the teachers are like telling us, like, yo, like this is bad. It's coming. This time it's coming. And we're all like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, lady. Um I go home. We're preparing for the hurricane. Because at this point I hadn't veered off or nothing. Like it was like the night before. So it was like we knew we were gonna get hit. So uh like plywood screws and like gangster shit, or duct tape and plastic bags. Most houses in Puerto Rico, they don't have like glasses. Oh, this is Puerto Rico. I'm sorry. Yeah, this is Puerto Rico. Oh, so you're like ultra novice.
SPEAKER_01So this is where the whole power shit started? Yes. Okay, yeah. Now I remember. Okay, my bad. Before it was already weird. My bad apologies to the people of Puerto Rico. No, it was good. Maria fucked you guys up. Yeah, it's bad. I remember my bad.
SPEAKER_02So it was like the night of like we were ready because I already like it hadn't feared off or anything. We were like, we knew it was coming. Um so in Puerto Rico, the the houses are not here. The houses in the United States are so expensive, but they're made out of cartwood and and wood, and you know, it's like it's so flimsy. Is it like like mud clay houses? No, for like a third world country. No, in Perico, it's cement. Like the whole house made out of cement. Like the whole house, it has uh type um bars, cement, it's like rebar. Yeah, rebar. Built into cement.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's a strong way to actually build a house. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You put cement and rebar in there, that's strong. Even even the rooms, it's not like the rooms here that how they have um drywall or where there's cement, everything's cement. Really? In the room? Um, like yeah, the the walls inside the house are all cement. So it's made just to get up.
SPEAKER_01Well, you are an island floating in the middle of the ocean, right? I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a lot of people don't know that. Houses near like the beach and all that because of the salt water and all that, that you can't build houses out of wood because it'll it'll rot away quick. Yeah, yeah. So they're the windows, they're not like here how we have glass windows and we cover them up when hurricanes are coming. Over there, it's um like already hurricane reinforced windows. Okay. Like 24-7, like three years, well that's a standard year now.
SPEAKER_01I mean, now it's like everybody's gotta have these hurricane windows, soundproof windows, and all that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but they're always like that. It's like like they're always like that, and you have to like open them, like crank them, like all those windows that you gotta like crank. Get the oil. So we had those windows, so it's coming, we already know, or I'm going to sleep. It's like three in the morning. Yeah, I don't hear shit. I'm like, nothing came. That's when no, that's when you get scared. Dude, out of nowhere. It it sounded, it was so creepy. It was like on my window, you kid it, it sounded like there was a lady outside screaming and there was a wind. Yeah, like that. Like Yeah. And it sounded like a lady outside screaming.
SPEAKER_01So what happened is when it was quiet, you were in the middle. So the hurricane came. You actually were in the I was on the eye. I was on the eye. That they say that's the scariest part.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's the worst part because a lot of people a lot of people think the hurricane's over and they come out and the other wave hits.
SPEAKER_01And next thing you know, they're flying around.
SPEAKER_03People will die.
SPEAKER_01That freaking guy. He was so creepy, Governor Scott. Sorry, Governor Scott, but that was fucking creepy. You scared the hell out of me. I I was prepared. I had batteries, I had eggs, I had milk, I had powdered fucking whatever, all the stuff they wanted you. But yeah, that was scary. I I I understand the media gets crazy, you know, it's news for them. Everybody wins, public wins, all this stuff wins. But no, man, I mean, ready for a hurricane. It is what it is. Yeah. It beats snow. What about? Yeah, I said it beats snow. Hurricanes? Yeah. I'll take a hurricane over or any day. Well, I don't know, because I've never lived anywhere where hurricane comes and goes. Yeah, it may destruct some shit, but snow, when you get a snowstorm, it's there for weeks.
SPEAKER_02No, but dude, let me tell you. Let me tell you how bad a hurricane is. Because to this point, until you don't live it, you're like, ah, hurricane, it's a freaking hurricane, it's fun. No, no, I never said nope, never said it's fun. So it's it's better than another. It does bring people together. So um the hurricane's over. It's like seven in the morning, and now we can come outside and we can see what happened. Um, mind you, my whole floor is flooded. Um so we come out and in Puerto Rico, you can ask them like she went, you're surrounded 24-7 by mountains. Like huge mountains with like green houses, it's like a lot of like vegetation. That's that's Puerto Rico. Let me see if I can pull a picture so everybody can like.
SPEAKER_01But uh these mountains, um, any potential for like mudslides and shit like that?
SPEAKER_02Not really. A lot of rain, a lot of hurricanes, I mean, yeah, for the people that live up there in the mountains, yes. But I I I don't live up there in the mountains.
SPEAKER_01I didn't know that Puerto Rico had like a terrain like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let me show you. So you can like reach out. No. So um it's gotta have some fucking ridiculous views. So look, look, let me show you. Let me see if I can pull up a picture. Look. So this is Cow Was where I'm from. So anywhere you're standing, you'll see mountains in the back. And that's how it looks 24-7. It's like California. Yeah, something like that. Here so the camera can see it too. He's out. Yeah, he's out. Um so when the hurricane was over and I come outside, all the mountains are just like dry. There's not there's not a speck of green. It's all brown. Yes. It's weird. Because the wind you just sheared it off. It was like it grabbed the razor and just like shh shh, everything was gone.
SPEAKER_01Real weird. Yeah. No, man, I never never lived through a hurricane. Don't want to live through a hurricane. Um, but I know eventually it's coming. But we're we're prepared.
SPEAKER_02We got shutters and yeah, I mean the electricity over here is better in Puerto Rico, say that. Yeah, you guys fucked. You guys like it rains, power goes out. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Your your grid is like Somebody sneezes next to it and it'll go out. That's how bad. Now I remember I had a client, um, I guess right after Maria happened in Puerto Rico. He owned, I mean, talk about seven shit. He owned a generator business in Puerto Rico. Yeah. So Maria happened and he was just like Yeah, people were coming because there was no power at all. So they were coming here buying them and flying back shipping them back.
SPEAKER_02So funny enough, that's how I ended up here. Because my dad came to Florida to buy a generator, because I mean we were sick of it, it was like three months of without power, so we're like, we gotta go get a generator because they were all sold out on the island.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02So my dad comes, flies here to Florida to meet with my uncle to get a generator. He just dated. He was like, screw it. I'll stay. That was it. He found a job and then he got us to fly and we moved. So that was like that was literally because of generator. Now you mention it. We need a generator, and now we're here.
SPEAKER_01And here we are, and you're dating my daughter, and you're moving in with her. Blame the generators. That's it. Yo, man. Uh, we're gonna wrap this up. Yep. Uh pleasure having you here. Thanks. Thank you for doing this. Uh, it's been a long time. Appreciate you. I trust you. Don't fuck up. I will not. Everybody, thanks for listening. Hector's knocked out. Yo, Hector's on the couch. Fucked up. Thanks for listening, everybody. As always, uh, take it deep. Awesome, man. Good time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Let's go now.
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