Reflecting on the holiday season, Jay shares personal anecdotes about his wardrobe mishaps and the challenges of home renovations, particularly with a problematic backyard project. He discusses the importance of quality in both his personal life and podcasting journey, emphasizing the need for improvement in 2026. The episode also touches on car news, including impressive performance stats from the Corvette ZR1, and Jay's nostalgic connection to Tupac's music, which evokes memories of his past. The conversation blends humor, personal growth, and automotive passion.
In this raw, old-school final episode of 2025, host Jhae Pfenning reflects on the holiday season, shares personal updates (including ongoing backyard remodel frustrations and a near-miss sewing machine purchase), dives into car news (stock C8 Corvette ZR1 running a 9.2-quarter mile), and gets introspective about life changes inspired by Tupac's "Staring at the World Through My Rearview."
He discusses podcast growth in 2025 (going full video, technical challenges), goals for 2026 (studio refresh, better quality), a personal conspiracy theory moment, and wraps with sponsor thanks, supporter shoutouts, and holiday well-wishes.
A reflective, rambling, end-of-year solo episode blending cars, life stories, and gratitude.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro & holiday vibes
05:20 - Backyard remodel nightmare saga
12:25 - Car news: Stock Corvette ZR1 9.2-second quarter mile
17:20 - Tupac "Staring at the World Through My Rearview" reflection & past life stories
22:21 - Podcast growth in 2025 & challenges for 2026
28:17 - Personal conspiracy corner (simulation theory & weird coincidences)
"...but Brooks Wiseblatt just drove a stock Corvette ZR1 obviously a C8"
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is a fast sports car that is part of the Corvette family. It's built for performance and is known for being one of the most powerful versions of the Corvette.
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is a high-performance variant of the Corvette sports car, known for its powerful engine and advanced technology. It's designed for speed and agility, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts and racers.
"Ran a 9 2 on street tires with a stock zr1 michelin pilot for s's"
The ZR1 is a special version of the Chevrolet Corvette that is designed for speed and performance. It's one of the fastest cars you can buy.
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is a high-performance variant of the Corvette, known for its powerful engine and track capabilities. It is often regarded as one of the fastest production cars.
"You know what with with my old NSX and even my new one"
The NSX is a sports car made by Acura that is known for being fast and having a cool design. It uses both a regular engine and electric motors to go faster.
The Acura NSX is a luxury sports car known for its performance, handling, and hybrid technology. It combines a powerful engine with electric motors for enhanced performance.
"I can get these pure 900 turbos from science of speed. They're expensive. They make your car sound badass."
These are special parts that help the car go faster by forcing more air into the engine. They also make the car sound really cool.
Pure 900 turbos are aftermarket turbochargers designed to increase the performance of the NSX by providing more boost and power. They enhance the car's sound and acceleration.
"You know with the old NSX I I had significantly modified it. I made it very fast..."
When someone talks about modifying a car, they mean they've changed parts of it to make it better or look different. This can be anything from adding a new engine to changing the paint color.
Modifying a car refers to making changes to its performance or appearance, often to enhance speed, handling, or aesthetics. This can include upgrades to the engine, suspension, or bodywork.
"...with let's say a tesla model 3 and somebody in the car that didn't give two shits about cars..."
The Tesla Model 3 is a popular electric car that can go very fast. It's known for being able to beat many traditional cars in a race from a stop.
The Tesla Model 3 is an all-electric sedan known for its impressive acceleration and range, making it a popular choice among electric vehicle enthusiasts and everyday drivers alike.
"Even if a car runs a 10 and we're talking quarter miles for you non-core people. Even if a car runs like a 10 3 or 10 1."
The quarter mile is a distance of 1,320 feet, often used in racing to see how fast cars can go. It's a way to measure how quickly a car can accelerate.
The quarter mile is a standard drag racing distance used to measure a car's acceleration and performance. It's a common benchmark in motorsports to evaluate how quickly a car can travel this distance from a standing start.
"...a c8 corvette a zero six or a zero one you have to call those exotic sports cars and they're absolutely super cars because they can run with anyone..."
A supercar is a very fast and expensive sports car that is built for high performance. These cars are often some of the best in the world and can compete with each other in speed and technology.
A supercar is a high-performance sports car that typically features advanced engineering, exceptional speed, and a high price tag. Supercars are often designed for extreme performance and are capable of competing with the best in the automotive world.
"That's damn near a hyper car except for it's not a million dollars..."
A hypercar is an even more advanced and expensive version of a supercar. These cars are designed for maximum performance and are usually very rare and costly, often costing over a million dollars.
A hypercar is an extreme performance vehicle that pushes the boundaries of technology and speed, often featuring cutting-edge design and engineering. Hypercars typically have a price tag of over a million dollars and are produced in very limited quantities.
"I had mentioned The singer cars the singer porches and you know, I've posted this online and people have talked about it..."
Singer is a company that takes old Porsche cars and makes them look and perform like new, but with a classic style. They are known for their high-quality work and unique designs.
Singer Vehicle Design specializes in restoring and modifying classic Porsche models, particularly the Porsche 911, to create bespoke, high-performance vehicles that blend modern technology with classic aesthetics.
"They do it with gtrs all the time. It's like, you know how many of those cars there are"
The Nissan GT-R is a really fast sports car that many people love. It's known for its power and technology, making it a favorite among car fans.
The Nissan GT-R is a high-performance sports car known for its advanced technology, powerful twin-turbocharged engine, and impressive handling capabilities. It has a strong following among car enthusiasts and is often modified for even greater performance.
To commission a car means to order a special version of it, often with unique features or designs. It usually costs a lot of money.
In the automotive context, 'commission' refers to the process of ordering or customizing a vehicle, often involving a significant investment for bespoke features or modifications. This term is commonly used when discussing high-end or luxury vehicles.
"The market on those is one to two million dollars..."
Market value is how much people are willing to pay for a car right now. Some cars can be worth a lot more than what they originally cost because they are rare or special.
Market value refers to the price that a vehicle can be sold for in the current market, which can fluctuate based on demand, rarity, and condition. For high-end vehicles like Singer Porsches, market value can be significantly higher than the original purchase price due to their exclusivity and desirability.
"I just got my Acura Integra... but this was my 1998 Integra GSR."
The Acura Integra GSR is a high-performance version of the Acura Integra, a compact car known for being fun to drive. It has a stronger engine and better handling than the regular Integra.
The Acura Integra GSR is a sporty variant of the Integra, known for its performance and handling. The GSR trim features a more powerful engine and sportier suspension compared to the base model.
- Intro & holiday vibes
- Backyard remodel nightmare saga
- Car news: Stock Corvette ZR1 9.2-second quarter mile
- Tupac "Staring at the World Through My Rearview" reflection & past life stories
- Podcast growth in 2025 & challenges for 2026
- Personal conspiracy corner (simulation theory & weird coincidences)
- Squid Game talk & reality TV thoughts
Select text to request an explanation
All right, so now we are officially recording and we're going to jump into this. This is it guys. This is it
This is hard parking brought to you by right honing right Toyota out of Scottsdale, Arizona
This is your first time tuning in my name is Jay and I'm recording from my home studio
home built studio
Literally in my house like quite literally in my house here in Gilbert, Arizona
It is a holiday season. So let's just get that out of the way right now
Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates the holidays regardless of your religion. It's a great time of year
Hell, this is the week of Christmas. It's not even just an American thing. It's kind of a global thing, which is great
Talk about my Christmas list a little bit. I should have asked for a sewing machine
It's funny, but
like I have a hoodie that I wear a
Vf1s NSX hoodie, which was the old school. So if you've been following me for a while
That's the old car kind of the one right behind me on the wall, but I made a hoodie with the cartoon drawing
I paid for the drawing commissioned someone. It's very similar to the logo for hard parking
same artist
And it's ripping. You know how we always make fun of women for always wearing their yoga pants all the time
If you've been around me long enough
You would notice that I am always wearing adidas those adidas warm-up pants that are kind of tight
And now they're starting to make them a little short, which I don't like where they kind of I kind of wanted to touch
The top of my shoe. I don't want them to hover around my ankles. That looks just weird to me
But anyway, I was sitting here the other day and I'm like, hmm, okay
And I realized I have a like a vagina sized
Slit in the crotch of one of them that I wear all the time
I
Know I noticed that before and I thought I threw it in like the donation pile. Yes
I was gonna donate it, but it's something I could quite simply fix
with a sewing machine I
Also wear these
jogger or rather kind of like these hiking parachute pants. I have three pair. I have a gray pair of black pair and a tan pair and
And so 90% of the time when you see me I'm wearing those or adidas joggers
In the pocket of one of those it's coming apart
the gray ones know the gray ones have a stain on them the
Cacky color ones the tan ones so now I have to shift everything to my other pocket because I don't want my keys to fall out
I don't want my wallet to drop
It's not the hole is itself is not big enough for my phone to fall out
But I just started thinking man, I got hoodies that are coming apart. I got pants that are coming apart
Actually, those adidas joggers. Those are one of like three that I have that I found weird holes and weird seams
So maybe I should get a sewing machine
Kind of silly right oh
Before we go any further. Let me go ahead and do this. I want to kind of give you guys the old school
This is a raw old school probably the last episode of the year
I want to take this time to just kind of
Reset a little bit that doesn't mean anything major for the podcast if you're watching this on YouTube
You'll notice that my opening video is a little dated in resolution and content
I don't really talk about car parts nearly as much anymore. I don't talk about electronics at all
I don't really do car reviews anymore. I
Always plan to get back to that space. I just never did and so I've been living with the 720p
opening in
A 4k world and so I'm gonna rework that I want to rework the office around me
You know, it's time to feature some of my guests behind me when I have books from guests or autograph pictures from guests
And just kind of cool things, you know kind of change up the background just a little bit
The good thing is all my major sponsors and supporters are still here and have signed on for 2026
So with that being said
We're gonna go old school here
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Decided to sit here and pour myself a drink. I have some
Blantons gold that I'll be sipping on throughout the course of this episode last real episode of the year
Mmm
That's good
Before we get to some car news kind of want to let you know
It's been a while since I've kind of talked about stuff going on in my personal life as it relates to my house
a little over two years ago we
We have paid a lot of money to the backyard redone those of you who follow me on social media or that know me personally that I've been here
I've seen the dramatic
Transformation of our backyard. We have marble tile and we've had to get it fixed twice now around the swimming pool
Twice in two years. It's two year. We have a two-year warranty that expires in in March
I'm not gonna say the name of the company, but I tried to reach the owner once and I couldn't get a hold of them and
I ended up filing a complaint with the state the Arizona
Register of contractors which ended up smoking the owner out and he got a hold me from a different number
Long story short
We set a date for the state inspector to come out here and the company had
With the complaints they were able to come out and try to fix the issue and then try to close and cancel the inspection
I go no way. We're not gonna cancel this inspection. We still want the state inspector to come out
so state inspector comes out and
at this point I'm kind of armed and done a shit ton of research of
how the job should be done because
Every time they touch our yard
They warranty extends for two years two more years
Which is great the owner of the company said he's trying to sell the company
So it's in their best interest to fix our issues because you don't want to sell a company with a strike on it against state
This is why it's important to go with somebody who's bonded and insured when you're getting work done at your house
The shitty thing is most people myself included have no idea what's really involved when it comes to remodeling which is why we
Pay people to do it through some discovery
I found out that with a very high probability
They didn't do it fundamentally correct the first time which is why we keep having these issues sure shit
State inspector comes out verifies that they didn't do it right the first time and so they had to redo
the whole thing
Not the entire thing so what we had is we had a Baja shelf put on our pool
And if you don't know what that is that's that little very popular thing where you can put chairs on it
Pool lawn chairs, and you sit in the water and the water's usually about eight to eight inches to like a foot deep
And you can just chill in the Baja shelf. So we had a Baja shelf added to our existing pool
They chose it away all the old
Pebble tech spray new pebble tech because you have to because we had a Baja shelf which is a structural part of the pool
And we got brand new decking. We got all fake turf in the backyard
Trees we have 12 trees back there. We have a raised platform. So we basically did the entire backyard
So what they had to redo is everywhere that they put the
Marble tile there's a pad when you first come into the backyard
There's the pool deck area which extends all the way to the basically the back door
To the back wall and then there's another pad on the other side
Which is where our barbecue grill is in smoker and things like that
They had to redo both pads. Well actually
All three pads the raised platform, which is a pad the entrance pad and the barbecue pad
And all the decking around the pool
So they had to pick all that up trench down put this stuff called aggregate base, which is called ab or abc
aggregate base compound
and
You have to compact that
And then they put the sand on top and then they put the tile on top of that and set that so
It's kind of shitty and working on it for a little bit
Um, it's a nightmare. It's a little stressful
It's a little stressful because I have to even after the state has told them to do it correctly
They're still trying to cut corners. So I'm out there. Thank god I work from home
But I'm out there every day taking pictures walking around using my translator app to talk to some of the people that are working here because
No, I'm lying less
But there's times where I've had my wife come out there with me and translate
Or I've had my mother-in-law heaven forbid come out there with me and translate
and uh
It's been kind of a headache
But this time around
I don't trust that it's going to be done 100 right
But I can live with 98 percent at this point
I've had to go out and buy stuff
And in some cases do it myself
The last time they were here they installed a drain channel because we were having problems with the water sitting on top of the tile
And the ground was moving and shifting because of that because they didn't use the proper
Foundation for the tile they didn't dig they didn't dig down at all. They just remove the top layer of soil
and put some
quarter minus
Which is some material and a little bit of sand and set the tiles or the pavers on it
But they put a drain channel and I noticed something was up with the drain channel. It's like, you know, it's it's working
Right after they installed it it started raining like hell this year
It's working, but something's not right
It's every morning I look out and the tires or the tiles are gray like dark gray, which means they're damp
and I went out there
A few days ago actually and started investigating the channels
And what it is is there's four
segments
There's an end piece and then they what they did is they they built like a rock drain pit at the end of it
with a little grate
visually not ideal
but
Functionally it seemed to work
But what I noticed is in between like the two pieces the four the four connecting pieces. There was nothing in the middle to connect those pieces
imagine
those of you with kids
Imagine doing the hot wheels tracks or those of you who know the hot wheels tracks of the orange hot wheel tracks
There's always these little blue connectors that you have to connect one piece of the track to the other
If you just lay them next to each other the car is going to crash not really roll properly
These drain channels had no connectors in the middle of them
And there was nothing on the beginning either. It was wide open
so
Called around got the missing parts fortunately
got them for free
Once I showed the picture of what I was doing
Maybe they just thought I worked for a pool company and then I spent two hours in the backyard fixing it myself
Why did I fix it myself and not have them do it?
Because they couldn't do it right the first time and it's my backyard
And it's such a fundamental thing that there was so much sand
in those
In the drain I had to dig all the sand out
It had a bunch of what's called polymetric sand in there
Which kind of gets hard a little bit you put polymetric sand when you're doing pavers outside
You kind of you you sprinkle it on your pavers and you sweep it in there and you wet it down and it kind of gets hard enough
just a little bit to
Hold the pavers in place but not like cement
You don't want to cement because with cement it can't shift and if it can't shift a little bit then it's going to crack
The channel was the drain channel was just filled with all that shit. So
We're going through that right now. We're guessing that they will be done with this being Christmas week and next week is is uh
Obviously New Year's week
I think they'll be done by New Year's. I don't think they'll be done by Christmas
Because you really have three working days this week and I mean those guys they're out there busting their ass
They have families
Uh, my fear is they're not going to get paid
Honestly, I can't be worried about that, but I am I wish I just had a few money
I'd buy them a 12 pack of modello and and slide them a couple hundreds
You know, I just don't trust that their employer is going to pay them
But that's kind of the bullshit I've been going through
Let's get into some car news
If you've heard of drag dragtimes.com you may have heard of Brooks
Wiseblatt, I apologize for saying his last name wrong, but Brooks wiseblatt just drove a stock
Corvette zr1 obviously a c8
Ran a 9 2 on street tires with a stock zr1 michelin pilot for s's
That is insane
Nomads
That's fast. He ran a 9 2 7 at 153 mile an hour
You know that kind of reminds me that
You know what with with my old NSX and even my new one
We'll just talk about the new one. I can get these pure 900 turbos from science of speed
They're expensive. They make your car sound badass. They're bigger turbos
Uh, in fact, I have said of my good friend Kyle Nielsen who has the same car as me a blue one
That his is the only new NSX that sounds better than my NSX
When I was at Salt Lake City a few months ago for NSXpo, obviously you heard me
I stopped by
I hung out with with Kyle and we went and had a nice dinner and he drove his car and met me up with my car
And my god, his car sounds nice. I'm getting off course here, but
My point is no matter what you do to your car
There's always somebody out there who's faster. No matter how much you work out. There's always somebody who's stronger
No matter how good looking you think you are. There's always somebody who's better looking than you
You know with the old NSX I I had
Significantly modified it. I made it very fast
I could have dumped even more money into it made it even faster. But why I was happy with where it was at plus
The reality of pulling up to a light with let's say a tesla model 3 and somebody in the car that didn't give two shits about cars
They don't care about cars
They're just picking up groceries or just doing their thing in any given time
They can just hit that gas and blow you away no matter what you are driving
For a vast majority of people on the road well over 99.99 percent of cars on the road
That's how it's going to blow you out of the water your average EV is going to blow you out of the water
And that's when you realize
None of this matters just build it for you, right?
But then you get this car this corvette zr1 brand new corvette
bone stock 9 2
You know how much money you'd have to dump into most cars running a 9 2
Even if a car runs a 10 and we're talking quarter miles for you non-core people
Even if a car runs like a 10 3 or 10 1
Or a 9 9 just getting it from a 9 9 to a 9 2
You're talking big money and you're rolling the dice and blowing your engine
You may be able to run once or twice down the drag strip before before having to rebuild something
And we got corvettes that run a 9 2
You know last week we talked about hypercars was the last week two weeks ago whenever I had charles warden on
What's the difference between a super car and a hyper car an exotic sports car?
We never talked about corvette
I would say that a corvette
a c8 corvette a zero six or a zero one you have to call those
exotic sports cars and they're absolutely super cars because they can run with anyone and in many cases beat
Most cars out there on the road
Stock for stock. There's almost nothing out there. They can beat a zero one
That's a super car
That's damn near a hyper car except for it's not a million dollars
And I think that's where you might draw the line something that's kind of cost like a million or two million
There's like 10 of them in the world
And you have major fu money
Then you buy hypercars
That's my thought
slight self-correction last week when I was talking about the jas motorsports designed by pinion ferrita
in sx
I had mentioned
The singer cars the singer porches and you know, I've posted this online and people have talked about it and
Kind of given their opinions about what the car is worth the donating it in sx2
And then you got the guys like well, they do it with Porsche all the time
They do it with gtrs all the time. It's like, you know how many of those cars there are
You can do that
But what the self the self-correction part comes with a singer Porsche?
It's going to cost you
two three four
500 grand just to commission one
The market on those is one to two million dollars
So I said that you can get a singer Porsche and you know for a couple hundred thousand no no no no no
It's going to cost you at least a couple hundred thousand to get the build done probably closer to half a million
So I was a little off on that when I got done saying it and listen back to it. I thought to myself
No, there's no way they've got to be way more expensive than that
So I looked it up and I was right and then it's it for the car news
I was a big two-pot guy
In I like watching reaction videos. I have a reaction channel
But not music
I just recently went down a rabbit hole of people reacting to
Biggie two-pot bone thugs, but some of you may have never heard this song
So I encourage you to look it up and maybe listen to it, but
Two bogging the outlaws had a song called staring at the world to my rear view and that used to be my favorite song
I used to drive around to that song like that song spoke to me
And those were times we're talking mid 90s 95 96 96 97, you know, those are rough years for me
And there was a time it reminded me of a time when
I didn't really
Believe it or not. I didn't really care if I lived past a certain age
You know, I just didn't and it's it's a weird mindset
You know, I've gotten to like debates with my wife about
cultural
Issues and mindsets and how things have to change you can't expect everybody to change it for you
You have to change it yourself if you're able to not sometimes you're not able to I don't care what you say about it
Sometimes you're just not able to pull yourself from situations
And I was living a life
non-violent, but I floored with danger all the time
And there was an incident one night when we were hanging out in a very bad part of Dallas
When we had showed up. I just got my Acura Integra
At the time I had a 1998
Because I had a 98 and a 99, but this was my 1998 Integra GSR. So we rolled to the hood
me and the homies
and we pulled up
To we pulled up around this to the corner of this house
And rolled down a window of my one of my friends put his hand out the window and he was like, hey, what's up, mother?
And then I noticed
And some of you have heard this story before but I noticed there were people coming at us from
All different angles with guns in their hands
And I said, hey, yo, you better say some I don't think they know who you are and he was like, hey, it's me
It's me. It's me
Well come to find out earlier that night someone had had driven by and was firing shots at their houses
Now this is a part of town where the police
Aren't there. I mean you do that shit here in Gilbert and the cops are gonna be there for a while
Trying to figure out what's going on not here. It was just normal stuff
And that night we're hanging out
My car was parked right in front of this house and we were kind of standing in the front yard smoking and what's called wet
Which was weed, uh, like laced in the bombing fluid and some other stuff. Yeah, I it was it was an interesting time for sure
Make you a little nervous
Every time a car rolled by everyone would kind of duck and kind of scatter and then we're just standing there and I'm like, okay
What where am I gonna go if whatever happened earlier just happened to happen again?
I didn't have a gun
So my friends had guns. I didn't have a gun at the time eventually got one
That's that's for another story
But I remember thinking kind of standing back looking my car kind of casing the scene
Like what am I doing here?
If something if something happens to me if something happens to any of my friends if something happens to my car
How am I gonna explain this to my dad?
how am I gonna explain this to my
best friends parents because he lived right behind me
and that was
The second to the last time I was in that neighborhood, but that was the last time I was there at night
And I think when I listened to some of those tupac songs that was a time in my life where things were just so different
Here I am now. I have a 2022 Acura NSX type s number 130 of 350 in the world
Have a nice house. Have a good job
Been married for 21 years
Wife has a great job. I got grandkids
Things are different
And I listened to those songs and they just they just immediately teleport you back to a time
But staring at the world to my rear view was one of my frustrating songs
That you would just drive around at night by yourself and your Acura or whatever you're in and just
Blast the radio Dallas was good for that. Dallas was good for getting in your car and going for drives
I don't do that here, but I don't my mindset. It's not the same
I don't have those times. I just have to get in my car and go for a drive
Hell, I probably have this podcast
I just come up here in the studio if I have to blow off some steam or
I have friend circles now. I can call up people and just bitch to them about certain things
But my mindset is different
you know
and
God, it's like it's funny because
Beastie Boy Sabotage was one of those songs you're getting in your car and just blare it and you drive
Crockets theme
Miami Vice Crockets theme if you don't know that song
Go ahead and pull up Crockets theme
Miami Vice Crockets theme that that song
That song to me is kind of like staring at the world to my rear view
It's just it's a song that you just listen to when you're just going through some shit
And you just need to think
Go stand on the go stand on a hillside overlook the city at night and think to these muses this one of those songs
That's the shit, but you know
I guess where I'm going with all that is things change and you know this year's 2025. I challenged myself
I challenged this podcast like what can I do to try to get this podcast to to the next level?
You know the the goal if I wanted to go out and chase big names
I mean, I think that's probably the goal of going viral
getting somebody on your podcast and
Get the next famous person the next famous person and then go viral have someone say something stupid or say something stupid yourself
That's not me
And my responsibility is keeping this podcast going and giving
Peers and other people a stage to tell their story
Like Tyler Patterson. I just went to Tyler Patterson's meet this weekend. It's called proper like a proper car meet txp media
You guys Tyler Patterson was sitting right there in front of me a couple months ago
Didn't really know him. He wanted to come on the show
Didn't know what to expect one of my favorite conversations on this show all year
It's the Tyler Patterson's of the world that that I
you know embrace
having this podcast
But one of the challenges also was it's time to get on video
If you guys recall that I wasn't always on video
only on rare occasions
This year I'm on video all the time every week
I challenge to do a video podcast
And it's easy to do here in the studio
In my house the challenge is when I go other places and I've had issues this year
I've had growing points. I've had I've had times where I've had to adjust
There's times I've gone somewhere and I forgot a piece of equipment and I just
you know with
with young motorcars
in Matt O'Connor
The camera kept focusing in and out. It was overexposed. I eventually went out got a pl filter that I end up using
at the next time that I went out
Um, but I didn't have my mic stands with Matt O'Connor
So we had to hold these microphones. These aren't the kind of microphones you sit there and you're holding your hand
These are not designed to do that
But that's what we did and I hated it
every second of it
But the podcast itself was great. I just hated that
and most people would have no idea
and I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but
I know how it should be and the fact that it wasn't
drove me to make adjustments now I do
Equipment checks before I leave sometimes I'll do a mock setup
I will set everything up here in the office and break it all the back down and take it with me
Next time I went to Ron Evans in the vault
Great episode Ron Evans great guy
Had him in focus
He gets up to take a drink sits down out of focus gets up take a drink sits down in focus gets up one more time
Remains out of focus probably 90% of the interview
I was in focus because I didn't move those are just another challenge other growing point very frustrating
John Rivers mr. John Rivers of Acura you guys don't understand how
Grave an opportunity that is to get somebody like Jonathan Rivers on this podcast
Twice it's two years in a row
Camera goes out of focus on me
That's fine. We got John Rivers to stay on him the whole time, but those little things
Those are the little things that I keep beating myself over the head with because quality
For me it's got to be quality first
And for those of you who listen to this podcast instead of watch it
You never see those things the only reason you don't know that even exists because I cry about at the beginning of every episode
When it doesn't go the way I want
Because I just pushed myself and it could be these cameras. I mean they have focal settings
I've gone through them all
Tyler Patterson when he was sitting in front of me in studio
He kind of taught me a few different things on these cameras which helped a little bit and I adjusted it since he adjusted it
Because I was still searching for a certain look, but that in itself helped a little bit help significantly
But we'll see what 2026 holds. I don't feel like going out and buying new cameras. I have two
They're about $800 cameras
They're fine for this
But you know when you get out of the studio at times you can struggle or the equipment can struggle
Mobile lighting that's a challenge mobile lighting, you know, I don't I take these wands with me now
I should have a wand right in front of me right here. Look at this. Whoop. I think I have this whole lightsaber that I'm handled up
That's one of the lawn the lawns. That's one of the wands that I use now when I go remote
I set those up in front of people instead of these giant ones that I have in the studio because they're kind of a pain in the ass
If you're here local, I'll take the big ones with me, but
But I went to albuquerque. I had to use the wands
Worth randy early this year. You didn't notice I noticed so, you know 2025 is
It was the year I just challenged myself to get better
You know my cousin every year she sends us a card now a card stock really hard thing and has a word on it
The word this year was better
What can I do to be better? What can I do to be a better person?
What can I do to be a better husband?
What can I do to make my podcast even better? You know, I just looked at the word earlier
It's in our restroom. It's in our bathroom. You know in my in the master bedroom, but
We have a desk in there. Okay
But I look down at it better
It's right better
So then what happens with 2026?
Better like I said earlier
The studio is going to look a little different the intro to the podcast can look a little bit different
It's going to be better
You know one of the things that
That I talked about what I talk about every year is the guests
I always have these guests that I'm going to bring on and then
It's just the timing just doesn't work out
Or I never get the guests
But that just gives me 2026 to chase them down one of my disappointments
So this year that I experimented with was a conspiracy corner
And I only had two conspiracy corner segments
It's one of those deals where everybody's excited to do it. I even made shirts for it
Everyone's excited to do it. It's just so hard to get people to find the time to do it
I don't want to say that people want to do it, but then they don't want to do it
It's just hard to get people to find time to do it
So I'm going to break in with a conspiracy of my own
Do you guys believe in the simulation theory? I'm not entirely sure I believe in the simulation theory
But every once in a while there's some weird shit that happens that makes you think
For instance, a lot of times when I look at the clock, it's 12 34
It is
One
Two
Three
Four
I always thought that was weird
I think I talked about that before
But according to I don't know. I'm gonna call it numerology. I don't know what it's called
But I have
Some good friends that are kind of into it. Well, my buddy Jeff's wife and I was into it more than he is
But it means that you're on the right path
That's what that that's what that number very specifically means. Just keep doing what you're doing. You're on the right path
and I look up and I see
one two three four or
two three four a lot my wife will tell you it's because I'm always looking at the clock
I maybe I am maybe I'm not
I don't know if I am I look at it a lot, but it's not like it's like, okay. It's it's 12
It's 12 33. Let me just look back in a minute
Oh, it's 12 35. Shit. I missed it. No, it's just the weirdest thing
But where I guess where I'm going with that is the last three times I went to our storage facility
We have one across the street
the last three times
There's been a car parked out. So here's the deal
You go in the gate
I'm sure many of you have been to storage for those maybe not all you go on in the gate
And there's two main doors in the back and each main door has enough parking for two vehicles
So people usually back their trucks up or their whatever
And you put your coach in the sliding door
And so these doors
There's two doors because one of them is going to be closer in proximity to your rented space than the other one, right?
Logically, that's why there's two doors
Ours is the far door
Or the near door if you come to the other entrance, but for the main the entrance that we consider the main entrance because there's two entrances
Our doors are for the store. It's not unusual to see other people
At the storage base battling for those parking spots or parking a little off
It's very common, but the last three times I've been there up to and including today
There's a vehicle parked outside now. There are
I have to say thousands of storage. My storage is on the second floor. It's in the
2000s is the number
The last three times I've been there
there's been a car parked outside and
Their storage space is within four or five spaces of mine
In fact today when I went there
It was right across the way and they had all their stuff and they had to move their stuff out of the way
So I can even get to mine, which was right by theirs
Thousands of storage spaces
Three times in a row. It's someone near my storage
Now i'm not talking
Down the way like 12 lockers down. I'm talking within five of my own now. That's crazy
It doesn't make any sense
When we're the only two in the building
Make it make sense
And finally i'm trying to get my sister-in-law
To watch squid game the show like the netflix drama
because now
Was you guys know that and i've worn it before here on the podcast
I was a squid game character number 130, which is the my car number 130 360 350. Sorry
Uh, but I was that for halloween
I didn't know that at the time
That mr. Bees had started a squid game game show
Like a game show like a squid game
I play a video game called squid game or ios game called squid game unleashed. So i'm always playing it
That's my my new thing and what I love about that game is
There are bots, but there's also other real people you're playing with and you can't buy anything
thank god
Netflix gets it because most apps you have to buy stuff right you want to buy
Fake money to unlock a skin or unlock a level you can't
Buy you have to earn every single coin in this game to unlock stuff and it's it's cool
But they have a new challenge
Really like hey watch along with
This thing that's on netflix. I'm like, okay
Well, I did the other one post after watching the whole series of all three, you know
um
all three seasons of the
Korean drama show squid game
That now they have one and i'm start i'm starting to watch it because you could play along to unlock stuff
I'm like, what is this season two? It's and it's a squid game
Show called squid game challenge and what it is if you haven't seen it
Is it's a bunch of people basically dressed like the halloween costume
I have with a squid game jumpsuit and it's a it's a reality survival tv show
And i'm looking at it and i'm seeing some of the stuff from the video game on there and it's just
I'm not big on reality tv
Uh, there's a few i've seen i think i want to say outlast have i talked about outlast where they take people up in the
Alaskan wilderness
And they have team captains and there's alpha
beta
Charlie and delta so there's four teams and you pick your
The team captains picks their teams almost like picking pick a basketball like i'll take you i'll take you based on their skills
and long story short the surviving team wins a million dollars right
And uh, that's a really good one. Okay, that's the type of reality show i could watch it's almost like survivor
right get voted off the island type of deal but
I would say not the same drama, but it probably is the same drama, but i usually don't watch it like that
So i'm i'm watching this squid game challenge on my phone
and i'm like
This is stupid because what happens is you can't you can't emulate the intensity of the tv show
Spoiler alert on the tv show
You get kind of tricked into competing because you're a loser essentially or you owe a debt
And if you don't pass you're dead
They kill you
There's one season one they have a tug of war
On this giant tower so the losing team falls like 500 feet to their death
That's squid game
So i'm watching this thing on my phone and you can i could watch on netflix too, but anyway squid game challenge
and when they don't pass
They get hit with like
Unless it's already in their chest they get shot with like a black
Paintballs what it looks like and they have to lay there and act like they're dead
And then the other players are like i can't believe bobby was bobby was i love i miss bobby
He's the reason why we're here and i'm looking at i'm just like man
Like i guess it wouldn't suck so much to me
If they didn't have to pretend like they were shot and dead just be out
The thing won't outlast the survival game is you they have flare guns and you could flare out
And so the other teams look and they see a flare shot like oh where that flare come from
Would that come from team team charlie?
Oh team charlie's down a player. We're gonna win. We're gonna win you flare out
Or if you get sick you could flare out or you can get voted off your team
And you have 24 hours to get with another team if they don't accept you you flare out like to me
That's a lot more drama and exciting than
Getting hit with a paintball and just laying there like you're dead. That's just dumb to me
First world problems
Uh first world complaints i know
All right, i'm actually gonna do the official closing to this too
So look i don't look if you like what you've watched
Which why would you not if you like what you've listened to for some reason?
This is your first time consider subscribing on whatever platform you're listening to it
And or if you're watching it on youtube hit subscribe you become a member
Which i think it's like buy me a coffee or something you get access to i would say you get access to episodes early
But i rarely have them early in fact i'm usually up to like 2am on sunday getting them ready for monday
But if you really like this consider doing it and if you don't have to because you know first
I'll say this before i get on this list of people i'm thankful for
Many of you watch this show
This podcast many of you listen to this podcast and for that i mean i thank you
You don't have to listen all the time or watch it all the time, but you know who you are
You're awesome
You motivate me to keep moving you don't have to become a member you don't have to become a patreon
I'm not trying to shame you for not doing so i'm just glad you're here
But what i will say is let me well let me just read this really quick
You know i haven't received a review in a long time on apple either
So if you haven't gone to apple i don't think you have to have an account
But if you have an iphone find the podcast and go click write a review
Give me a four give me a five don't give me a two don't give me a three don't give me a one star
But those reviews have to help been listened to the hard parking for five years
You know they started in 2019
Guys we're going on six years seven years
Toward the middle of next year of 2026
So you can say hey i've been listening to this thing for years
This show is really good talks about everything
Everything
So do it
But with that being said one of the right haunted right toyota sparkforge ai brought to you by arcus foundry
One log in one platform all under your control auto cannon officially licensed honda and Acura gear
Thank you so much can't forget patreon business partners
automotive specialty 12 owing's most maryland coyota motor about a winter garden florida
The lucky breaks sports breaks out of caledonia michigan
Be how small home design out of ashburg virginia and driver city michigan
shape mix success
treasure valley at a boysy idaho
Uh, it's funny. I have automotive specialty tolling here twice
Special shout out to marx doleman catherine cox city ramos richard graves byrd and joe's bow jung aus community drew bunkley andre
bullens email the show heart parking podcast at gmail.com
Guys you should also subscribe to me on uh on instagram
Right at heart parking pub
But yeah, I want to special thank you. So this year so every year I buy my
supporters my financial supporters a gift
I don't need the money, but when I see those supporters there it just
It helps push me to keep moving, you know, because sometimes I just don't feel like doing a podcast
every week
Pretty much since january of 2021
Before that it was every two weeks
But this year I bought this really cool
heart parking mug
You can see it's kind of like reverse negative almost like a uh rubber stamp
And then on the back it's got you know 2025
Um, but the supporters has got their names
Everyone who was eligible as a supporter receive one this includes of course
Jane and joe of of right honda right toyota
Um, arcus foundry nate. Thank you so much for giving me the platform and supporting me and of course
michael
And denis of max boost and well, I can't say max boost because they technically don't do this
But it is autocannon. So denis of autocannon and and michael. Thank you so much
For everything you guys have done for this show and the support
And again, thank you everybody else who's watched this listen to this and if you're still listening
Thank you so much. I know you probably could have checked out like 10 minutes ago
Or somewhere in the ramble about the backyard
Which at this point would have been about 30 minutes ago
But I will see you guys
officially in january again, I don't know if i'm going to do
Uh, I know i'm not going to do an apple another episode this year
But I don't know if i'm going to do a couple classic episodes. I guess when they pop you'll see them
I'm going to try to pick something with video from earlier this year or something that's
That I felt was some of the best that this
Podcast has done or maybe
Maybe I will put one of the early episodes so people can see how far this podcast has gone
You tell me
If you're a patreon, I don't want to hear from you
But if you are not a safe, if you're not a financial supporter of this show
Tell me do you want to
You want me to post something super old?
Maybe I'll do that
Maybe I'll post something in the beginning
Some of those first episodes are rough, but
Anyway, I will catch you guys on the flip side have a merry christmas have a safe
new year
go, texas
texas versus michigan and the cheezus bowl. I'm gonna give me a nice bowl of white cheddar cheez-its
With the michigan. I really like the michigan wolverines, but I love the
texas a lot more
See you guys later
So I will catch you on the flip side
Shut up
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