321 I'm sure they're huge in Albania and Turkey

Paul 00:00

Good evening, Drew.

Drew 00:01

Hi, Paul. How are you feeling?

Paul 00:03

I'm I'm alright. I'm growing okay. I'm doing alright. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How you been?

Drew 00:08

How you been? You were a little under the weather, huh?

Paul 00:11

I'm uh I'm getting used to some new medications and I have days that aren't as good as other days.

Drew 00:19

I see. I see. Say no more. Uh I'm okay. It's um it's been a busy couple weeks for me. Um we were originally, I think, supposed to record last week, but I had to go to Chicago for the entire week. And then I had to go back to Chicago yesterday.

Paul 00:36

Oh no.

Drew 00:38

Yes. Yes, I got to I got to fly twice in one day to and from Chicago to attend a three-hour meeting.

Paul 00:45

That seems worth it.

Drew 00:50

I'll let you be the judge of how useful that is. But it was it's it's it's it's fine. It's fine. It's very, very short flight.

Paul 00:58

Okay. Yeah, yeah, that is true. That is true.

Drew 01:00

It's a very, very short flight.

Paul 01:02

Oh.

Drew 01:03

I am I'm angry.

Paul 01:09

You're angry? You're angry. But

Drew 01:11

we'll save it. We'll save it for the end of the podcast.

Paul 01:13

Okay. Okay.

Drew 01:15

Um I'm very curious about your topics.

Paul 01:18

Okay. So Drew, we've been doing this podcast for a very long time.

Drew 01:22

We have.

Paul 01:23

And I think that makes you know, we we don't have a lot of listeners. We have we have a loyal base of listeners.

Drew 01:29

About seven.

Paul 01:30

Yeah, yeah. And uh I think that makes us one of the more successful podcasts out there. You know, not I'm not we're not like, you know, top tier, but I have to imagine there's a lot more failed podcasts. I mean that that never get to episode, you know, ten, let alone three hundred in some. Uh so obviously we have associate you know, if you go to our podcast page or our website, we have an email address, because you have to have an email address. To have a podcast on all the major feeds, and that's contact at doingtheirbest. com. Feel free to shoot us an email. And uh, we've been getting a steady, steady stream of people trying to sell services to us. for as long as the podcast has existed. But now that we're on also on most most of them were, hey, you need a YouTube channel. Well we did that. We're on you we're on the YouTubes now. But now that we're on YouTube, things have gotten strange. And uh

Drew 02:25

Okay

Paul 02:26

I have I've never really considered reading any of these podcasts on on the air, but I think I'm going to start. I'm not gonna oust anybody. You can have your side hustle. It's fine. Keep sending the emails. But I have I've I've picked three that I would like to share with you today.

Drew 02:43

Now these are these are companies pitching to us.

Paul 02:47

Yes. Yes. Or individuals or someone trying to sell us a a service. Okay.

Drew 02:51

Okay.

Paul 02:52

And I will leave most of that part out. I'm just gonna read the the weird part. Okay.

Drew 02:56

Okay.

Paul 02:56

Uh this one it read this is this I entitled this one Weird Places. Okay It reads, Hi, hello, how's it going? Hope all is well. I have some cool information that might interest you. Your podcast, I'm sure they're doing their best, has good performance and Apple podcast rankings in the last 30 days. We are position 100 in the category personal journals in Albania.

Drew 03:32

I mean, that's up there.

Paul 03:34

And position 127 in the personal In the category personal journals in Turkey. And then it proceeds to tell me how I got this information and how I could pay for it, which I am not. Okay. So

Drew 03:50

what but what were they what were they trying to sell us?

Paul 03:52

Uh it there's it's a data aggregator that aggregates data and we could it's yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna read the website. I don't need to give them thing, but they're basically trying to say, like, hey, I if I want to see this kind of information, I can sign up for this thing. Okay, there

Drew 04:05

it's just statistics.

Paul 04:06

Yeah, statistics. Yep, yep.

Drew 04:07

Okay.

Paul 04:10

This one is very similar, trying to sell us like a statistics tool. This one I I call search terms. It's one's pathway.

Drew 04:24

Okay, I'm ready.

Paul 04:25

Hi! While checking small screen layout on Apple Podcast, we found I'm sure they're doing their best in position number one. I'm blah blah blah. Okay, uh we record where shows appear in podcast search results. B below are your show 's best recorded positions from our keyword database over the past 30 days, up to three per platform. Okay? So obviously Small screen layout. We were ranked number one in the United States.

Drew 05:02

Small screen layout. What do you think that means?

Paul 05:05

I have no idea. We have never talked about okay. Anywho, it gets weird. It gets weirder. Hold on to your butts. We are number two when you search for color changing playhouse lamps.

Drew 05:19

This is AI. This is AI. This is an AI this is an AI generated email. This is this is this is the future Sam Altman wants. This is why I can't have RAM. Uh

Paul 05:28

and we are number five when searching for engineering certification exhibits.

Drew 05:33

Okay, hold on. I I I I does it I does is have to know. What was the search term?

Paul 05:39

Small screen layout

Drew 05:41

Small screen layout podcast.

Paul 05:44

Just go to Apple but this is the searching on Apple Podcasts.

Drew 05:48

Okay, so I'm gonna go to Apple Podcasts. Okay.

Paul 05:51

I didn't try any of these. I just I just was like sure, buddy. And I'm also trying to think. How? How? We've never talked about small screen layout, but that's okay.

Drew 06:00

Okay. I am trying to search.

Paul 06:03

Okay.

Drew 06:04

Okay. So small screen screen layout. Top results. What what were we?

Paul 06:12

We're number one apparently.

Drew 06:14

We're not. Oh no, wait, there we are. Shows. I'm sure they're doing their best.

Paul 06:17

Oh shit! Really?

Drew 06:20

Yeah. But we're n we're not so it it yeah, like when when I go there, there's like top results and then there's like episodes, but then there's also shows.

Paul 06:33

Okay.

Drew 06:36

I'm sure they're doing their best. Design for change with Jagadish. Talaseive Tech Streams. ACB ACB radio.

Paul 06:49

There we are. There we are. Shows.

Drew 06:53

And then there's an episode about HTML5 and CSS.

Paul 06:57

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess this person wasn't blowing smoke up our ass. Though I want to know what we talked about to be number one in small screen layout. But what was the second one? Color changing playhouse lamps.

Drew 07:15

Power changing playhouse lamps. We are number one, two, three, four, five, six. Okay. We're number seven.

Paul 07:21

Okay. Okay, we've dropped we've dropped five in that crucial category. Maybe this will be the one that gets us back up to the top. Okay, so I've got I've got one more to share with you.

Drew 07:31

Alright, I'm ready. I'm not

Paul 07:33

gonna I that guy didn't even give you this one a title. I came across I'm sure they're doing their best because you publish it as a podcast. No

Drew 07:46

shit.

Paul 07:46

No shit. You may simply think of the bat catalogue as past episodes but it also means you already have something rather valuable. A substantial body of stories, ideas, arguments, and conversations. that could potentially be shaped into a book.

Drew 08:17

Okay, go on.

Paul 08:19

Those episodes might already contain the material for a memo memoir, business book, practical guide, leadership book, or expert-led nonfiction book. Without you having to start again from a bank blank page. And then it goes on basically pay me and I'll I'll send you I'll I'll let you know what your book looks like based off your podcast archive. Okay

Drew 08:40

now hold on. No, hold on. Hold on a second. Mm-hmm. Let's just let's just let's just let's just let's just think about this. Let's just think about this for a minute.

Paul 08:50

Okay, okay.

Drew 08:51

Are we ready? Are we are we ready to enter the world of publishing? Is it time?

Paul 08:58

Maybe. I don't know.

Drew 09:00

What does what

Paul 09:01

would the book be about?

Drew 09:03

I don't care. What what what what's the price tag?

Paul 09:08

I it I d it does not say. I just have to should I ever should I respond should I respond to this one and go Huh, we're interested. Tell me more.

Drew 09:17

Okay. If the goal of this segment is just to highlight the sketchy shit we get said on YouTube, great. But we could turn this into like a Brewster 's Million situation. Where we we we get pitched ideas and we just decide as long as the price tag isn't like thousands of dollars, just to see what these weirdos are up to with all this. Alright.

Paul 09:44

Okay. Well I'll take that as it's to do. I will I will email this guy and go, a bookie, say? Tell me more.

Drew 09:53

Tell me more.

Paul 09:54

Okay.

Drew 09:55

And it it ha okay, so here's the rules. Here's the rules. Okay. Number one, we're gonna reply to that. We're gonna reply to this person. We're gonna say that we'd like to learn more. No, we will not attempt a Zoom call. This should all be done via email. Unless we're allowed to record the Zoom call on the air.

Paul 10:14

For content. Okay.

Drew 10:15

For content. If we can do that, then then I'm fine. Okay. Number two, it has to be a real book. It has to be a physical book that I can touch. I don't want an ebook.

Paul 10:24

Okay. Well, you can self-publish your own book for the Amazon now. No,

Drew 10:28

no, no. I will I No, you can make a physical book through Amazon. I have rules for life. I have rules for life. Number one rule for life, I will never own a Corvette. Number two rule for life, I will never stoop to self-publishing a book.

Paul 10:40

Okay. Okay

Drew 10:42

So those the I have other rules, but we don't need to go right now. Okay, I I'm interested.

Paul 10:48

Okay.

Drew 10:48

So how like how often do we get these kind of emails? Like every day?

Paul 10:51

Oh we get at least like two or three a week.

Drew 10:54

Okay.

Paul 10:55

And most most of them, most of them now are pay me and I'll increase your visibility on YouTube. That's that's the most. Yes, exactly. They see our account. With an email, they send us an email. And like I said, b before we had the YouTube account, it was mostly bot saying, I can put you on YouTube. Or you should be on YouTube, and now they're let me help you on YouTube. Whatever. It's fine. Uh

Drew 11:20

all right. Okay.

Paul 11:22

Uh oh. Uh okay. Surprise surprise mini topic. So I'm gonna hold the the content for most of this until next time we record.

Drew 11:32

Okay.

Paul 11:33

But I I got something today, Drew.

Drew 11:35

You got something today Okay, okay. Oh buddy. Oh buddy, I'm dying to talk to you about this. So I won't say it out loud. No, no, no. I won't say it out loud. We'll make people go we'll make people go to the YouTube channel to show what you just flashed on the screen.

Paul 11:55

Okay.

Drew 11:57

If if we have time.

Paul 11:58

Okay, okay.

Drew 11:59

I would love to hear initial impressions.

Paul 12:01

Okay, okay, okay, okay. All right. Should we I can do it rolling? I can do it now. Uh because I had I have initial initial impressions.

Drew 12:09

Alright, let's do it. All right.

Paul 12:11

I'm holding an iPhone duo.

Drew 12:13

Okay. So let's talk about it because I have seen.

Paul 12:17

Mm-hmm.

Drew 12:19

Uh we'll call this a mini review. Um I have seen people are breaking these things.

Paul 12:26

Crack gate. Yes, apparently that a small number of uh iPhone duos are having issues with the hinge, which is causing the screen to break.

Drew 12:34

Okay.

Paul 12:35

I literally got this at like 1. 30 today. So like in and then and then I was at work, so I really didn't use a whole lot of it. And then I spent most of it just setting it up and signing into all the things. So I really haven't used it a whole lot.

Drew 12:48

Okay. So initial impressions.

Paul 12:50

Okay. Uh I do not mind the size of the sm the outer screen, the small screen.

Drew 12:56

Okay.

Paul 12:57

It's fine. But boy, is she thick when she is folded.

Drew 13:01

Okay, let me see. Fold it. Fold it and hold it next to your other phone. Boy she thick. Uh it doesn't look It doesn't I don't know. I'm having a hard time being a judge. I I can see how it is thicker, but it doesn't look that much thicker.

Paul 13:19

It's thick and it's heavy. Oh

Drew 13:21

heavy. Heavy.

Paul 13:22

It's it's heavy. It's the these are these heavier than the max size phones.

Drew 13:26

Okay.

Paul 13:27

So I don't like the size of the small screen, fine. Thick. Thick. Starchad dealing d just figuring that out. Uh, inner screen, gorgeous. The nano the nanotexture display works great. Yes, if you go snooping for the crease, you can see it, and I do know that it will be more visible as I use it. I get that Uh touch ID is kind of a pain in the ass, though in my defense, I did spend a lot of time using it to unlock one password to copy passwords and put it into things today. So it was especially annoying. I imagine that will go away over time. I also just turned on the unlock with Apple watch, which seems to just work. You just unlock it and he goes, I unlocked for you your watch, and it taps you on the wrist and it's all good. Outer sc inner screen, beautiful. Uh apps that don't resize or haven't been updated, like open my mindsweeper app. Look like ass. Uh but you could uh the multitasking, I could run it side by side with another app. That does work really well. So far, I like it so far.

Drew 14:38

Okay.

Paul 14:39

I like it.

Drew 14:40

So when we when we last discussed this topic, the question was going to be, will Jennifer like this?

Paul 14:46

Uh she I showed it to her when she got home and she was like, nope, nope, nope, don't like it. Do not like it.

Drew 14:52

So this is yours. That was

Paul 14:54

that was the

Drew 14:55

that was the thing.

Paul 14:56

I have 14 days to decide whether I'm keeping it or not

Drew 14:59

Okay. So uh.

Paul 15:02

Yep, yep. Uh I I do hold my breath Still when I close it. Like is this is this the time? But I'm trying to get past that, so I just I don't think about it. Chances are my phone will be fine and I have Apple Care on it and I can go to a store and get a new one and in but yeah.

Drew 15:23

Now you got the white one.

Paul 15:26

I did.

Drew 15:26

Okay. Because when you were holding it before it looked grey from a s from a tigar.

Paul 15:33

Apple, Apple's little, it's a little folio case, so it covers the screen. You can open it like this, and then and then this is this watch boop

Drew 15:44

A stand.

Paul 15:45

A little kickstand. Boop. And the hinges are like on the inside, so they they they disappear.

Drew 15:50

Those are metal hinges.

Paul 15:51

Uh-huh. Yeah. It's metal hinges on the inside.

Drew 15:53

We love a good metal hinge.

Paul 15:55

Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. But like they're designed in a way that it kinda like folds back up so they're not like always like it's not too much of a bump Yeah, it's it's it's it's nice. I do have another case coming tomorrow from Amazon, and I may buy another one just to kind of see what I like, though. It's already thick, cases add additional bulk. So I like this one because it's just magnetic. I can take it off. And a lot of I've learned that a lot of uh cases for folding phones require adhesive Because they're so thin. So like if you get a case that goes on like this outer display here, most of them have adhesive on the inside of the case to keep the keep the the case from coming up. Apparently it's Bray po very common in all folding phones for cases to have adhesive.

Drew 16:44

But I'm sure it's like removable adhesive, right? Okay. So it's just temp okay.

Paul 16:49

Yeah. But I

Drew 16:49

think it's gonna like damage your phone longer.

Paul 16:52

I mean Apple's own the the other case that Apple sells uh has adhesive as well. So th I imagine they wouldn't sell something that, you know Yep. So again, just got it. Only had it for a few hours. Only haven't really consumed. I haven't watched any videos. I haven't done I did read Reddit for a little bit. Some of the apps I really wanted to to try on it are haven't been updated yet and look like ass, like the app I use for reading books and reading comics. I hope they get updated at some point because I think reading comics on this thing would be killer.

Drew 17:24

I think that would be killer.

Paul 17:27

So

Drew 17:28

interesting. It's it's a little bit bigger than I imagine. I have not had a chance to see one up close yet.

Paul 17:33

Yeah. Yeah. It's It's it's really is the inner screen really is a nice size. It's it's good. Running two apps side by side is nice. Uh But that yeah, and uh I was really worried about the size of the outer screen being too small. That's not the problem. It's just sh she she thick. She thick boy.

Drew 17:57

I mean I have smaller hands, so I would wonder how comfortable that would be.

Paul 18:01

No. I am Trying this as well.

Drew 18:04

A pop socket.

Paul 18:05

Pop socket to see if that helps. So

Drew 18:08

Okay.

Paul 18:10

Yeah.

Drew 18:10

Okay. You're a big pop socket boy.

Paul 18:12

Mm-hmm.

Drew 18:13

Okay. All right. I'm I'm very curious to hear more. Very curious to hear more as as your experience with it grows.

Paul 18:19

But uh

Drew 18:20

I re I I I wondered if you had gotten it because we had talked about it. You said you were gonna potentially order one. It didn't sound like you were 100% committed.

Paul 18:29

I did pre-order one, obviously, on whenever the date came out, or the pre-order date was. Uh I made the mistake of trying to get get like a pickup time at a store, and every time I picked a time, by the time I hit the next button, they were gone. So but but by the time I said fuck it just deliver it to me it was out to November second to November ninth. Today is November fifth, right in the middle of that time. Uh I got it today, this afternoon. Uh so Yeah.

Drew 19:02

Okay. All right. Well let's put a pin in that. Mm-hmm. And um let's spend the next twenty or so minutes mourning the loss of stuff that we love.

Paul 19:12

Yes. Yes. The first one EA is shuttering Bioware Game Studio

Drew 19:24

Yeah, now for those of you that don't know, Bioware makes phenomenal games. Um

Paul 19:29

did make phenomenal games and then they made Anthem.

Drew 19:33

Right. Right. But Bioware makes one of my game series that I think I would probably put in my top five if not if not my top three, and that is the Mass Effect trilogy.

Paul 19:44

Mass Effect maybe

Drew 19:45

I remember if you really want to go deep in the back catalog, there was a series Uh probably in the low hundreds, where I had convinced you to play the trilogy and you were experiencing it for the first time. Um Yeah, I mean look that is one of those games in that entire trilogy and the storytelling and the characters and how you know some of the missions and some of the care and some of the things you go through in that game are just amazing. I know you also played Dragon Origins. Dragon Age Orange.

Paul 20:14

Dragon Age Orange. Yeah, and I really enjoyed the Vale Guard, the last game that came out. It was very kind of action-y. Less more action-y, less role play, but it was still really good. Yeah.

Drew 20:26

Yeah.

Paul 20:27

Yeah.

Drew 20:28

So EA's gonna EA. They just want to make football games and shooty games.

Paul 20:34

Apparently.

Drew 20:35

Uh this sucks. This really sucks because I they I apparently they were working on a new Mass Effect game.

Paul 20:41

Yeah, yeah.

Drew 20:43

And they were getting close to w finishing it and now they're done. And I'm sure that somebody like it's m uh I'm sure EA owns the rights maybe to the Mass Effect name.

Paul 20:55

I'm sure they're holding on to. Yeah, I'm sure they do. Yeah. It just it sucks. I mean it's it's a bad time to be a video game developer in general, but to see us like a studio that I mean granted, yeah, Anthem did stink.

Drew 21:12

Anthem.

Paul 21:13

Whatever.

Drew 21:14

But

Paul 21:15

it was uh such a beloved studio with beloved IP, and it's really sad. I mean, maybe EA will give it to another studio to build something, but at this point I I have a hard time believing that's gonna happen anytime soon because it's I don't know, it's video games be tough.

Drew 21:34

Yeah, I mean they did they did Boulders Gate, they did Jade Empire, Knights of the Old Republic, which again, if you ever played those games, fucking phenomenal. MDK2, which is a weird ass game. Did you ever play that?

Paul 21:48

I never did, no.

Drew 21:49

With the dog with the guns and the guy with the needle nose. Okay.

Paul 21:52

Yeah.

Drew 21:53

Never mind. Uh yeah. Knights yeah, Knights of the Old Republic. Um Was another good one, but I mean ma for me, Mass Effect was

Paul 22:02

Mass Effect.

Drew 22:03

Boulder's Boulder's Gate 2 was a banger. Bouldersgate two was a banger. I know everybody's like super hype for Boulder's Gate 3 these days, but Real OGs in the late nineties, early two thousands remembers Boulder Gate II and what a great game that was. Um And of course, as we mourn the passing of Mass Effect, there's been a lot of digital ink spilled about here were the top ten, you know, moments in the Mass Effect series. Number six will make you fuck your dad. It was just like but uh but there but there were like I don't know. Just some of the characters from that game just still stick with me. Mordon Solace and Thane and

Paul 22:44

Yeah uh

Drew 22:45

Tally and all those

Paul 22:47

Meaningful Decisions. Very meaningful. Story elements crossed across games and yeah.

Drew 22:55

I okay, so here this is this is a super obscure bit of trivia.

Paul 23:00

Okay.

Drew 23:00

Have you ever heard of the name of of the game Frog Fractions?

Paul 23:06

I think so. Yeah. It's it's uh Let's see, hold on. Frog fractions.

Drew 23:16

Okay.

Paul 23:18

There

Drew 23:18

spoil spoil we we need a spoiler horn. We need a spoiler horn right now.

Paul 23:21

Okay, okay, I'll put I'll put a spoiler spoiler horn for frog fractions the video game

SPOILERS 23:30

Hey nerds, there's gonna be spoilers.

Drew 23:36

Okay, so so first and foremost, um if you stick if you stayed through the spoiler horn, you should go play Frog Fractions, first of all. It is an entertainment game that is not it is not what it seems.

Paul 23:50

Okay.

Drew 23:54

and turn it into different genres of games. Like like a ro like a like a romance simulator, a a shoot 'em up, like you you yeah. Do you play you play as hop And uh then you get on you get put on trial for kill for your crimes against the bugs that you eat as part of frog fractions. There's there's a ser there's there's a section where it asks you to import your Mass Effect 2 save. It does nothing.

Paul 24:21

Okay, we just once it's

Drew 24:22

yeah. But that that's the kind of cultural impact that Mass Effect has. Like there there is a game that lets you import your Mass Effects into data that does nothing. But go play Frog Fractions.

Paul 24:34

Yeah. Okay.

Drew 24:36

Um what was what was your like if you had to think of like the best moment in a bioware game that you can think of, like what are you thinking?

Paul 24:44

I mean S I I t two two uh was it Bio War II that had the space hamster? Uh or is that Bio War or I mean uh uh no which what it's the the it was it Neverwinter Nights that had the space hamster or was that Uh Baldur's Gate. The character the g the one like the warrior that had a little hamster.

Drew 25:07

Oh that was Baldur's Gate too, I think.

Paul 25:09

Okay, Border Gate I think it was Baldur Gates too. Yeah. Th the first time you had a crew member die in Mass Effect, Mass Effect one, right, like that first decision, you you have to pick like who you go with and then the other party member dies

Drew 25:30

And by the way, there is a correct answer. There's a correct answer. Always let Ashley die. Ashley's the space Nazi. Ashley's a space Nazi. Always let Ashley die. Yeah. Yeah.

Paul 25:42

Or maybe the the first the first sex scene you unlock. That that's yeah.

Drew 25:47

Yeah. Yep. Um yeah.

Paul 25:50

Yeah.

Drew 25:56

And how if you don't take the time to actually learn who your crew is, they just all get wiped out.

Paul 26:02

Yeah.

Drew 26:02

Right. Yeah. If you do if you do everything right and get the quote unquote good ending for Mass Effect 2 and everybody survives if you make all the right choices. Um I remember the first time I did it, I think I lost half my crew. Uh just because I I sent the wrong people.

Paul 26:16

I think I lost someone uh The fur yeah, that time too. And I I was just yeah, I was just rolling with it, no spoilers, just playing, just doing my thing.

Drew 26:31

Some of the choices make really good sense. Some of the choices make no sense. So you really are just kind of at the mercy of did you did you choose the right thing? Yeah. Just great games. I'm really sad that they canceled everything.

Paul 26:43

Yeah, it's it's a it's a bummer.

Drew 26:45

But I bet you you're probably more upset about the next thing.

Paul 26:51

Oh, Drew, Drew, Drew, my beloved web browser, Ark. is being sunset, which means I'm

Drew 27:03

ready to pour one out for arc.

Paul 27:07

As of, let's see, here's the dates. Uh they announced it on October 22nd. Uh starting November 23rd, Arc Search for iOS and Android keep working as a browser. But the AI features get turned off and sync gets turned off. December 15th is the last day to request a personal copy of personal data related to your ARC account or ask us to delete it. And on December 22nd Arc will no longer work. Period.

Drew 27:37

Wow.

Paul 27:40

Oh, it hurts, Drew. It hurts. Okay. But

Drew 27:43

but but

Paul 27:47

I've I've already moved I've moved on.

Drew 27:51

Oh? Tadia?

Paul 27:54

No, no, not to Dia. Because fuck the browser company. Fuck you. You hurt broke my heart. Wow.

Drew 28:00

This is the I did not expect this heel turn.

Paul 28:02

Atlassian owns them now, and it's only a matter of time before they fuck it up somehow.

Drew 28:08

Okay.

Paul 28:09

Or make it I don't know. Or do you have you have to have an Atlantea subscription to use Dia? It's definitely going to be a more of a work product because they own it. I'm just not interested in that or or mismanagement. Uh there have been ARC has inspired a lot of people, Drew. A lot of small indie developers. Uh there's obviously there's other there's other there's bigger players in the space like Zen. Uh there's uh what there's one called I think Vivaldi. Uh on the more indie space, there is yet another browser. And the one that I am currently test driving now is a browser called Crest.

Drew 28:53

Crest. Crest.

Paul 28:54

I've been linked to it there in the show notes. It's kind of hidden because it's so that that first link is so big, but yes, Crest Browser. com. Uh

Drew 29:04

it looks very R

Paul 29:05

It does. It's basically the the the developer you go on the website, it's like the browser for life life after arc. It's not exactly like ARC, but it has so far been close enough. Uh it is an indie development team, so it's a really small group of developers who are working on this. It's not even that version 1. 0 yet. Uh but I mean I see potential in Crest. It does have a lot of the same features. It's got the sidebar, it's got split view, it's very can be very keyboard driven There are some things I think they're tweaking in the next. I think if I got on the dev channel, some of the stuff that I don't like is already starting to be tweaked. Uh he's very he's got a very active, apparently Discord, and he's active on There's a Crest subreddit, so uh the main developer is very active there. So that is what I am trying now. And it's got the reason one of the reasons I like it, it has an iOS version as well. So I can sync all my bookmarks. No, I think the iOS version needs a lot of work, but uh it's yeah, I've I've uh I did not hesitate. I picked a browser, imported stuff, and just leaned into it. And I I don't even think I have ARC. I still actually I do still have ARC installed on uh my computer, but uh not for long. It's uh in fact, you know what? I'm gonna uninstall it right now.

Drew 30:39

Why is ARK being sunset? Answer. Keeping a browser safe and secure has become harder and harder in the age of AI, and we can no longer keep ARC as safe and secure as it needs to be. Strong strong choice of reasons. Our security team is focusing on Dia, which we built from the ground up to protect against modern-day security attacks. Many of ARC's best ideas already live in Dia, including spaces, as profiles you can swipe between and choose whether you want them to share data or not, folders, pin tabs, and tabs which are so They're leaning into, hey, AI's making it hard to make stuff secure.

Paul 31:19

That's fine. It's fine. It's gone. I uninstalled it. Yeah, and it it hasn't been getting the only updates it's been getting for a long time is basically Chromium updates. Like, cause it's based on Chromium. Uh Speaking of, that's that's one that is one weird quirk about the Crest browser.

Drew 31:40

Okay.

Paul 31:41

The Crest Crest browser is a multi-engine browser.

Drew 31:46

Okay.

Paul 31:46

You can load pages in either Chromium or WebKit.

Drew 31:51

Okay.

Paul 31:52

And the reason is unless you jump through a lot of hoops You cannot play DRM content in Chromium.

Drew 32:02

Oh, I see. Okay.

Paul 32:06

So by default it uses Chromium for everything, but when it detects DRM video or audio or any kind of DRM content of any kind. It makes a note of it and then sends launching that page in using WebKit so you can watch that stuff. It's a pretty clever workaround. Uh, but it is weird, especially like the first time you go to like Netflix with it, you sign in and you go to watch something and it goes, oh my god, no, launching with WebKit, and then you have to sign it again. And yeah, but it's it's it's a little rough around the edges, but I see I see the potential of Crest. I see the potential. So

Drew 32:50

why do they call it crest? I see a lot of crest like flags. I'm guessing

Paul 32:55

arc You know, it's a crest of a wave, an arc, you know. I'm guessing it's a play on the shape Oh neat.

Drew 33:04

When I click when I click these different crests on the website, it changes the background color.

Paul 33:09

Yeah, you can those are the themes that are built in by default for your different spaces in your tabs. You can customize all of them because of course you can Uh it was actually the import from Arc was really good. It pulled in all of my spaces, all the extensions for those spaces, the icons I used, the colors I've used, though by default some of the stuff was a little unreadable. So I had to tweak some things, but yeah, yeah. But like, yeah, it's got, you know, like if you look across the bottom there, like spaces I use, sidebur sidebar I use, split view I use. Peak, I use, quick windows, I use, uh the command palette, I that's the what I fell in love with Arc in the first place. You can do everything via keyboard, just hit Command T and just start typing commands Uh yes it so far it is so far it has been a perfectly chromulate web browser. So

Drew 34:05

Okay.

Paul 34:05

Mm-hmm.

Drew 34:06

Okay. Well, I'm really sad. I know what a big proponent of Arc you were. It seems like you're finally breaking up with your favorite with your favorite browser.

Paul 34:13

Uh if they would continue to ship Chromium updates, I would continue to use Arc. It's not something I was looking to do. I was happy with Arc. It was great. But I'm just, yeah, I just when they Then that information came out. I, you know, got the email. I was like, well, it's time to pick one of these alternatives and just lean into it. And I did try I tried Zen. I tried some of the other ones. I just I did the Zen is too much. It's too much people. Also, it's based on the Firefox, the Gecko engine, and it just doesn't it doesn't no. No, I'm sorry Firefox fanboys. But your browser's bad and you should feel bad.

Drew 34:54

Yeah. Hey, plenty of plenty of room on the opera bandwagon.

Paul 34:58

Yeah, no, thank you.

Drew 35:02

Well, Paul, I am going I I have I have balm to soothe you.

Paul 35:07

Okay.

Drew 35:08

Please come please come. I I I have sucker. That can help you make your problem seem small in comparison.

Paul 35:15

Okay.

Drew 35:15

Because we're gonna go to everybody's other favorite segment on the show, and that's Drew's Computer Corner.

Paul 35:20

Oh Okay. What happened, Drew?

Drew 35:26

I'm gonna do a little setup. I'm gonna explain why we're about to discuss all the things that we're gonna do.

Paul 35:31

I still see your sim ring in the corner, so

Drew 35:35

Yep. Everything everything's fine there. Okay. Everything's fine there. In fact, that that has been so fun, by the way.

Paul 35:42

Good.

Drew 35:42

I look like such a fucking dork when I'm in that thing. Um, but I'm already thinking about the other stuff that I want to add to that without it being totally obnoxious. But that's that's a subject for a different day.

Paul 35:52

Okay.

Drew 35:53

Alright. So we're approaching wintertime where I have a little less responsibility on the weekends because I'm not doing as much yard work, although I'm gonna have to do leaves and stuff over the next few weeks, but whatever. Days are getting shorter, nights are getting longer, it's darker outside. I am getting into now I'm ready to go back and play some video games that maybe I didn't get to play over the summer, finish some games that I started that I didn't get to play. So uh what I did is over the last couple weeks I've been downloading some backlog games on my computer.

Paul 36:25

Okay.

Drew 36:26

There's two games that I started earlier this year that I haven't. finish that I really want to get back to. One of those games is Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear Solid Delta, which I have talked about on this show.

Paul 36:36

You have

Drew 36:37

so a remake in the Unreal Engine 5. uh of the Metal Gear Solid 3 game, which is the best Metal Gear Solid game, and it's not even close. I was really looking forward to playing through that game and Robocop Rogue City, which I had started and got pretty far through. Very, very fun game. Very campy. I love the side missions and and all the things that you could do in it and everything. Was really looking forward to finishing that game. Now, what I've noticed, or what I started noticing, is when I play certain games on my computer, what was happening is my monitor would lose signal. Computer would not crash, game would not crash, monitor would go blank, would say no signal, I would still hear audio in my headset So I thought, that's weird.

Paul 37:30

It's weird.

Drew 37:30

I wonder what that's about. So I started doing some investigating, and what I have come to discover is that my computer, apparently, when I play any game that is Unreal Engine 4 or 5. Especially if the game has a cutscene, my computer just conks out. The only way I can get it to recover is to reboot the machine. This does not happen in every game. It does not happen in every workload. In fact, I play very demanding GPU-based games in VR. And I do not have this problem.

Paul 38:08

Okay.

Drew 38:08

So I thought, okay. Let's let's approach this logically. This is happening with certain game engines. It is also only happening with my monitor. None of that makes sense. And by the way, both VR headsets, the Steam Frame, which I go which goes wirelessly, and my PyMax, which uses DisplayPort. Not losing anything on that when I played DCS. Okay. So I started looking into it, started browsing it. You know, there was some troubleshooting steps and I went through all those things. I did a clean driver install. Didn't resolve the issue Uh the issue was intermittent. It wasn't consistent. Although there's one cutscene on Robocop Robe City. Doesn't matter.

Paul 38:50

Just because it does it every time.

Drew 38:52

As soon as that cutscene starts playing, like boom. And just freaks out. So I was like, this is no good. So I spent an entire weekend tearing my computer apart.

Paul 39:03

Okay.

Drew 39:10

I have, you know, originally and you can't see it on camera. I had those rack mount cases with stuff in it. Plenty of fans, plenty of cooling. I was watching temperatures. I was watching all this stuff. But I thought, hey, you know what? I'll bite the bullet. I ripped everything out of those cases, put them in my original cases with fans. Did not solve the problem. Clean Windows reboot did not or reinstall did not fix the problem. And I did some more testing, did some RAM testing, and what I what I basically narrowed it down to, I was like, look, there's obviously something wrong with my computer. I cannot properly diagnose what it is. I tried turning off the overclock that I had. I tried resetting my RAM speed. I tried resetting my GPU. I checked for all the BIOS updates. did everything that I've done for troubleshooting with computers since time immemorium.

Paul 40:03

Right.

Drew 40:04

Immemorial. So what this basically came down to was there's obviously a problem here. It's either my video card, my motherboard, or my RAM. Or my CPU.

Paul 40:15

So basically it could be anything.

Drew 40:17

I disconnected peripherals. I went down to one monitor. I got rid of my KVM switch. I disconnected every single USB except my keyboard and mouse. Like Could not could not isolate this problem, could not figure it out. Now I have extra GPUs in my other computer. The problem is they're AMD GPUs. It does have a 50-90 in it, but my power supply in my other computer is not powerful enough to run that GPU.

Paul 40:45

Okay.

Drew 40:45

So what did I do? I went to Micro Center and I thought maybe my PSU is going bad. I bought a new thousand watt PSU, slapped that in there, tried it, same problem.

Paul 40:54

Okay

Drew 40:56

And I thought to myself, I was like, okay, how are we going to fix this problem? If it's the GPU, first of all, they don't make 4090s anymore, which is what I'm currently running, and you can't buy a 5090 You can't buy and and

Paul 41:12

they

Drew 41:12

they're not in stock. And the ones that are in stock are sold by third parties. Your chances of getting scammed are astronomical. They are going for six to seven thousand dollars.

Paul 41:22

That's okay. Yep, I get it.

Drew 41:25

So probably not the best choice. But at the same time, if I'm gonna go buy a motherboard, I might as well just bite the bullet, buy a CPU, buy some RAM Because, you know, number one, I don't know if the CPU's bad. And second of all

Paul 41:39

new computer.

Drew 41:41

Don't don't Don't spoil this. Don't spoil this.

Paul 41:48

I think all the listeners at this point are like, he just built a whole new goddamn gaming PC, didn't he?

Drew 41:53

You're half right.

Paul 41:55

Okay.

Drew 41:56

I didn't I didn't build a whole new computer.

Paul 42:00

Did you buy? Oh look at you Okay, here we're going to the Micro Center webpage here. Oh, I am looking at Oh shit, Drew. Okay. Hey I'm sorry. Let me let me uh mm I'm now

Drew 42:25

take your time.

Paul 42:26

I'm a please. I'm I'm a professional podcaster. Hold on. I am looking at a PowerSpec AI 90 workstation. Its key features include an AMD Ryzen 9, 9950X 4. 3 GHz processor. A Asus ProArt X 8070E creator Wi-Fi motherboard, 64GB of DDR5 600 RAM. Well better, that was a pricey part of it Two terabyte SSDs, uh some connectivity stuff, Windows Pro 11, yeah, and it 's a gforce RTX 5090 FE Graphics cards the founded edition. Yep. The current price on Microcenter. com is $9,299. 99.

Drew 43:23

That is not what I paid.

Paul 43:25

Okay, good. Okay.

Drew 43:26

I paid I paid $300 less than that. Okay, good. The price has already gone up since I bought it.

Paul 43:30

Okay. Did it solve your problem?

Drew 43:33

So far.

Paul 43:37

That's a that's a pricey machine. Did you keep it in that same case or did you

Drew 43:42

I did keep it in the same case.

Paul 43:43

Okay. Okay.

Drew 43:44

Alright, so let me let me explain. Mm-hmm. So I had a one in four chance to fix the component that was wrong with my computer.

Paul 43:53

Right.

Drew 43:54

If it was truly the video card, it really came down to can I get by with just a 50-80?

Paul 44:03

Okay.

Drew 44:04

Or should I just buy should I just man up and get the 5090? The only way to get a 5090 right now is on a pre-build.

Paul 44:11

Got it.

Drew 44:13

Okay. So I like Power Spec. That is, for those of you that don't know, it is the only pre-built I will ever recommend to anybody. It is Micro Center's house brand of computers. They are built with off the off-the-shelf parts. So every motherboard, every stick of RAM, every cooler.

Paul 44:32

You could build this PC yourself. You could build this

Drew 44:34

the cases are all cases that they sell at Micro Center. It's all good components, okay now. When I decided that I was going to do this, I figured I was gonna be in I was gonna be in it to win it. from anywhere from three to seven thousand dollars to really fix my problem.

Paul 44:54

Okay.

Drew 44:54

Unless I was willing to not Buy top-end stuff. If I if I wasn't going for the true Halo products here, I I was gonna be in for several thousand dollars to fix my computer.

Paul 45:08

Right.

Drew 45:09

Not to mention the time already served doing the troubleshooting and ripping everything out and doing all the testing. Not to mention the fact that even if I could take the 5090 out of my AI machine, I still want that in my AI machine. I'm not willing to rob Peter to pay Paul. For this particular use case. I want to like the the the AMD cards and the NVIDIA cards that are in my AI machine are there for a reason. I do not want to compromise on that. So Long story short, Micro Center here in Columbus has two has two models that sh that come with a 5090 The second model is the other link that I that I just put in there as a as a sub bullet.

Paul 45:55

Okay.

Drew 45:56

Okay. Now this is the power spec G916. This is definitely more of a gaming focused field.

Paul 46:03

It's got it's got all the RGBiz. All the RGB is

Drew 46:06

there's one big difference, actually two big differences between this And the AI90.

Paul 46:12

It's got a different motor.

Drew 46:13

The AI90 that I got has the Ryzen 9 9950X.

Paul 46:18

Mm-hmm.

Drew 46:19

The other one has the Ryzen 9 9950 X3D.

Paul 46:25

Okay.

Drew 46:26

Yes, Virginia, there is a big enough difference between the non-X3D And the X3D for it to matter for gaming.

Paul 46:35

Okay.

Drew 46:36

Okay. So check mark in the box for the G916 because that's what I would be primarily using this for. But I hate I hate that case.

Paul 46:50

Yeah.

Drew 46:50

And I hate that motherboard. I have never had a good experience with MSI components.

Paul 46:56

Got it.

Drew 46:58

The other thing that really sucks is that because of my brave new world of my sim rig, I need USB ports. That MSI, that MSI motherboard has like four USB ports on it. Meanwhile the AI 90, which is more marketed as a workstation computer, has the Pro Art X870 Brother, it's got all the USB and it even has like 10 gig Ethernet on it. Okay.

Paul 47:24

Okay.

Drew 47:24

So it's more of a workstation focused build. I'm telling you this because I just didn't buy this computer. I also bought a 9950 X3D to put in it. Which definitely tips the scales on what I spent. So when I got it home, I basically had to take the cooler off, clean it, repaste it, put it back together. I have been able to finish Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater. Or Delta, I should say, Snake Eater. I'm work I'm gonna try Robocop Rogue Sissy for Rogue City. Rogue Sissy. Rogue City to make sure.

Paul 48:02

I'd play that, Rogue Sissy.

Drew 48:04

Absolutely. I would play. Yeah. I would absolutely play that too. Uh, but everything so far seems to be working. Now, I'm not ready to give up on that other computer yet. I do Uh because that's got sixty four gigs of RAM, it's got a decent Ryzen 7 on it, it has a 4090, it has a good motherboard. If I could definitively figure out what's wrong with that and I've rolled out the power supply obviously but if I could definitively figure out what's wrong with that I would either repurpose it or I would sell it probably for two grand for those components to recoup some of the cost. I I really think that's what I could conceivably get for that. If I could definitively identify what the problem is, but I'm not the kind of person That's just gonna put that up on Facebook marketplace and be like, go feel right. I I would I would not feel I could sleep at night if I was selling something to somebody that I thought had a defect. So if I could definitively figure out what's wrong with that I would absolutely consider selling it. But this computer is is pretty rad. Um I do like the case. It is it is a nice fractal design case. Um

Paul 49:07

I Uh I have no issue. And you know how I feel about RGB and gaming PCs.

Drew 49:11

Yeah, that was the other thing too. That's good. Yeah, it does. And the case itself That fractal case, I wish it was the one that had the more natural wood grain. As it stands, this has like the black wood grain on the front, but it's fine. But so far so good. I even dropped some of my other SSD drives in it. Those haven't been a problem yet But that is what I had to do. Now, let me tell you about

Paul 49:38

expensive true. Jesus Christ, that's expensive.

Drew 49:41

I know, Paul. I know.

Paul 49:44

F fun fun diversion. At work today, we still have an on-prem data center. We still buy servers. Servers that we had previously bought For twenty-five thousand dollars with a terabyte of RAM in them, the exact same server. Do you know how much they cost today?

Drew 50:02

They were twenty-five before? Mm-hmm. They're probably pushing a hundred. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well

Paul 50:14

terabytes of data center RAM, right? Like it's it's but

Drew 50:18

ECC, like high speed, yep. I'm right there with you. Now again, Paul, look, when I determined that there was something wrong here, a minimum with current prices, for g forget the GPU aspect of this for the for a moment now.

Paul 50:33

Yeah.

Drew 50:33

A motherboard, a processor, and RAM For what I would want it for, I'm thinking twenty five hundred to three grand.

Paul 50:41

I'm below it. Yeah. But Still, yeah, expensive. Yeah.

Drew 50:45

And and I had I had plenty of time to upgrade to a fifty ninety. It never made sense. My forty ninety was great. I'm able to game at 4K. It was able to run my VR. I never saw a reason to upgrade. This is definitely one of those times where I'm kicking myself, you know, had I bought that then, would I would I still be having a problem back when they were three or four thousand dollars? Now they've doubled in price. In fact The 5080s have also gone up in price over the past two weeks because basically NVIDIA has delisted it. So they might not even be making fifty eighties anymore. Fifty nineties are completely out of stock. No one has them. NVIDIA is not making them, even though NVIDIA has not come out and said we've discontinued these cards. So supply is drying up. You may not be able to own these things. Sam Altman uh doesn't think we should have RAM at home anymore. I don't know if you saw all those.

Paul 51:38

I did. I did. Yeah. He's basically like, give it to me. Like you can you I'll use it. You should just yeah.

Drew 51:45

I mean I really do feel like the market is pushing us to where we already don't own our games, so we might as well just stream our games from a data center instead of installing them locally. This has trickled down economics to the consoles of the world and all this other stuff too. It's a it's a really shitty time to be a gamer, especially a PC gamer. I I am not proud of the fact that I spent this much money. Um but after spending multiple weekends trying to diagnose this stuff and just saying, basically decl saying, fuck it, I am gonna replace this. What should I go replace it with? Buy once, cry once , here we are.

Paul 52:24

Right.

Drew 52:25

And and for the record, okay, for for be I I already hear you at home laughing at me, but even if you look at some of the power specs that they that they sell. Um and you sort by highest price, which I'm doing right now. The 5080 machines are pushing four to five grand. Right. So a power spec G seven six two, which has a fifty eighty, and sixteen gigs of RAM. Or I'm sorry, 64 gigs of RAM. Basically the exact same computer, but it doesn't have a 5090 in it is $3,500. Now, that's still a pretty good deal, and it's considerably less than I paid, but that is roughly the difference between a 58 and a 5090 in cost. It really is. Whew.

Paul 53:19

Expensive.

Drew 53:20

So But I I gotta say

Paul 53:24

Is it is it good?

Drew 53:25

It's pretty fucking fast. in in VR especially over the over with this with with this more powerful processor and the and the more powerful GPU I definitely notice a difference. So

Paul 53:37

I am thankful for that.

Drew 53:38

Now I want to talk about the process of buying this computer.

Paul 53:44

Okay.

Drew 53:44

Because if you have you heard about this?

Paul 53:46

Okay, so I did notice that like There's purchase eligibility requirements.

Drew 53:52

Correct.

Paul 53:53

Yes.

Drew 53:54

Okay. So I roll into Micro Center. And there is a particular gentleman in the computer section that recognizes me. Not a flex.

Paul 54:05

Advanced computing product purchaser declaration.

Drew 54:08

Correct. You're on it. Okay. So here

Paul 54:11

is that true?

Drew 54:12

So So when I said this is what I want, he said, Do you know the new process? And I said, I've heard about it, but I don't know how it works. So I'm gonna give you the high level detail because it took probably forty five minutes for this to process. So the first thing they do is they take your ID and they validate that you are who you say you are. Okay. That you have a valid state-issued ID.

Paul 54:33

Okay.

Drew 54:34

Okay. They also look you up in a database. Now I don't know what this database is. Right. Well, I think that might be part of it.

Paul 54:42

Okay.

Drew 54:43

But they look you up in a database to make sure that you're not using a name of somebody who is a reseller or someone who's gonna try to export this. Okay. Because that I think that is what they're trying to curb is they don't want people buying these and

Paul 54:57

just

Drew 54:58

FedExing it overseas. Because these are scarce parts.

Paul 55:03

Yeah.

Drew 55:04

So you have to sign that declaration. So I basically had to sign a little piece of paper stating, yes, I am who I say I am. I'm going to use it for home use. I'm not gonna export it. I'm not gonna strip it for parts. I had to sign all that stuff. They had to get the sellers they had to get the the salesperson 's signature, they had to get a manager to sign off. When I took it to the register, another manager had to sign off. I don't uh and like they had to take a picture of my ID. I don't know if that means that I can't go buy another one. Not that I w not that I'm going to, please. No, I'm not going to, but like If I roll in there tomorrow and be like, hey, let me get another one of them good good AI 90s, are they going to be like Yeah, you just borrow one of these.

Paul 55:47

Yeah.

Drew 55:48

I don't I don't know what that means, but it was a whole thing that I had to declare like this is for me. It's for my use. It's not going anywhere.

Paul 55:57

That's crazy. That's crazy. I mean I get I get it, but yeah, those are the times we are in.

Drew 56:03

Yes. Yes. So, but everybody was very happy to shake my hand and thank me for my purchase. Now I don't now now as as as a little bit of a of a of a footnote. The AI 110 workstation.

Paul 56:21

Okay.

Drew 56:22

Which is um not the one Let's see. Uh AI-100.

Paul 56:30

Okay.

Drew 56:31

So the AI-100 workstation, which was the previous workstation I bought. I bought that. for what I paid for this computer. The AI 100 right now is $14,000. So the price of that has gone up $4,000 since I bought it. So a little bit of a makeup call, right? I'm glad I got in when I did with that, because this was just at sort of the start of the climb of the prices. So getting in on that computer when I did, I mean I can't say I really saved that money because you know it is what it is, but Yeah. So it is it is a very difficult time. Now, after the elections of this week and some of the tech stock bubble fears that happened over the past few days. The fact that a lot of states basically put data centers on the ballot and said, like, whoa, we need to slow the fuck down with electricity costs and land and People just getting rich off of this stuff that aren't normal everyday people. Maybe this will help drive some of that stuff down. It's not gonna happen overnight.

Paul 57:36

But maybe. Maybe, yeah.

Drew 57:38

But everything you read online, everybody says all the capacity for 2027 in these fab places is booked. It's all going to the big data center providers, the hyperscalers.

Paul 57:51

Yeah.

Drew 57:51

We're not gonna see this stuff. It's I know that it's already affected people and their switch twos and the price increases and all that other stuff. By the way, are you playing Ocarina of Time?

Paul 58:01

No, I I'm not a fan. Can

Drew 58:05

you know what can I can I be honest with you? I'm not either. I don't think that game's all that.

Paul 58:08

No, I don't either.

Drew 58:10

Sorry? No. Sorry, not sorry?

Paul 58:12

No. No

Drew 58:14

So yeah, that was that's where I that was the level of hell I went into over the past couple weekends.

Paul 58:21

Well, I'm glad that at least the money has solved the problem. It is nice when that is the no that isn't an option. And I'm glad that you I

Drew 58:31

I am definitely at a phase of my life where I have more money than time, but only just when it comes to this stuff. Now

Paul 58:37

it's just it's still real it's still prices are are dumb. Yeah.

Drew 58:41

I get I get a nice one year warranty directly from Micro Center. I can just drive it over there. Drive it over there if I have a problem. I'm covered for at least the next year to kind of hopefully weather the storm in case anything else bad happens. You know, the other things were probably either RMA cases or

Paul 58:58

Yeah.

Drew 58:59

Whatever. Because that computer I think is probably four years old at this point.

Paul 59:03

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Drew 59:04

But it but it it held up. Like I was able to I was able to I I have a 4K monitor. I I game in 4K. The 4D90 was fantastic for that I really hope it's not the GPU, if I'm honest. Because I I could really sell that and recoup some of this cost. I really, really could. I don't know if I would.

Paul 59:21

Right.

Drew 59:22

But Yeah, I I just need to do some more troubleshooting.

Paul 59:25

Well, I hope you figure it out.

Drew 59:27

Thanks, buddy. Anyway, that's a show.

Paul 59:31

That's a show As you know, you can find all of the links we talked about in your podcast player or on doingtheirbest. com. Anyway, thanks for listening.