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Our Millennial Conversation
Our Millenia Conversation brings together the stories of two friends who first met in the heart of Orlando’s theme park scene. After a year of exploring the magic of Orlando together, Dustin relocated to his hometown in East Tennessee, and the duo decided to evolve a passion project formally the “Orlando Unplugged Podcast.”
This new podcast moves beyond the turnstiles of theme parks, diving into relatable millennial musings, stories of growth, and the unexpected adventures of adulthood. With Dustin’s Appalachian charm and Ashley’s Orlando Sunshine, each episode feels like catching up with old friends over coffee— or a roller coaster ride of laughs and insights.
Whether it’s navigating career changes, celebrating pop culture, or reminiscing about their Orlando days, Our Millennial Conversation promises to keep you entertained, inspired, and coming back for more.
Our Millennial Conversation
A New Name, Same Great Hosts: Welcome to Season Two!
Dustin and Ashley are back for Season 2, sharing updates on their lives, the transition from Florida to Tennessee, and the challenges that come with significant change. They discuss social dynamics, job adventures, unexpected dramas, and reflections on technology, all while inviting listeners to share their own journeys.
• Recapping major life changes after a long break
• Navigating friendships from a distance
• Sharing memorable New Year’s Eve experiences
• The realities of car troubles and financial stress
• Job experiences in retail during the transition period
• The impact of AI and technology on daily life
• Reflecting on the past and what lies ahead for the podcast
from tennessee to florida. This is our millennial conversation with dustin and ashley. Hey there, guys, and welcome back to season two. Oh my god we're back oh, I could cry. I'm so happy it's been so crazy. Hi guys, I'm dustin, I'm ashley and welcome to, formally, the orlando unplugged podcast. But if you guys have seen our social media channel, you'll know that we got a lot of tea to spill today and one of the biggest things is we have a new name.
Speaker 1:now. I don't think we're going to have, well, we may. I don't know, the new audio, the new sound, may have played before this episode. I don't know, we're still waiting on it to come in, but we were just so excited to get started. So welcome to our millennial conversation.
Speaker 2:This is going to be so crazy and I'm so ready for it.
Speaker 1:I know it's been a lot of stuff. If you look on Buzzsprout, which is our hosting site, it says that it's been four months since we published an episode. I'm like it is definitely been three months. We definitely still have some time left before we get to four months, so calm down, but we got a lot that's been happening.
Speaker 2:So much obviously.
Speaker 1:I think that I think we should start off with, like the biggest news is it that I live here and you don't?
Speaker 2:correct nothing like a good old. What is that? What is the phrase like a, a change in a notch in the belt, a change in the in the, in the, the vibes? I don't remember my mom had this phrase where it was like big changes or something like a notch in the belt, a change in the in the, in the, the vibes. I don't remember my mom had this phrase where it was like big changes or something like a notch in the tool belt, I don't, I don't know, a wrench in the hammer, or maybe that's.
Speaker 1:I've heard of a notch in the bedpost wrong podcast, kids wrong podcast well, yes, so to go off what Ashley was saying, so November 17th I moved back to my hometown here in Maryville, tennessee. I left the city beautiful, so sad. Yeah, there was just. I mean I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Orlando, it was great. I totally would have stayed if things had played out differently. But I had been there a year and it was like two weeks and it was just. It was a lot to do as a sole income in Orlando, literally working seven days a week and still barely getting bills paid. And then, you know, my car broke down three days before I moved, which we will get into because there is a lot of drama with that Rip. But yeah, so I've been back up here for the last two months.
Speaker 2:Yeah, has it already been two months?
Speaker 1:I moved back the week before Thanksgiving. Oh my gosh, and it is effectively, january 12th is when we're recording. So, there's a little bit of time in there. Excuse me, I'm trying to drink water. I'm trying not to drink soda while we're doing this, but it's also funny. So we found we were trying to figure out. One of the reasons it's taken us so long is to figure out how to do a podcast remotely, especially since Ashley doesn't even know how computers work.
Speaker 2:Nope that was evident when we hadn't even we had to figure out how to put the podcast mic on a stand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, today. So we had to. I had to figure out a way for it to be super user friendly on Ashley's end, yes, but I ended up finding this really cool company called squadcast. Um, so I don't, I don't want to say we partnered with them because we don't we pay them. Um, they're a part of like uh, it's like d script or another company or whatever, but they do remote podcasting, so ashlyn are actually looking at each other right now. So like everything's video recorded and everything um so who knows, maybe eye contact guys I'm not even looking at my camera.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at my screen, which is in the off, the other direction. But who knows, maybe that means you guys will get us on youtube uh soon, or tiktok reels or something, I don't know, I don't know what I'm gonna do with my hands I have heard that when tiktok goes away, it won't go away overnight. It'll be like kind of like flappy bird, yeah, like, uh, over time, like it'll continue to run updates, but those updates want to be available in the us so it will eventually stop working, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:That'll be interesting, it's gonna be so sad back to the important stuff at hand. Um, ashley, yeah, so I left november 17th. Yeah, what have you done?
Speaker 2:nothing I realized I honestly, though, like I realized when you left, my social battery left with it, because, like I feel like we were so much more social when we were together. And then, when I say moved, it's more like when you moved out. It was kind of like, okay, so what now? But it kind of became what now it's a lot of like bonding, with not even bonding, but like a lot of hanging out with Zach and Julia and Rob. It was a lot of like hanging out with other friends of ours, a lot of you know to, I think.
Speaker 2:When we wrapped up season one, we kind of vowed to be very blunt with season two. It was a lot of cutting off people. It was a lot of realizing, like you know what, this is what I want and this is what I don't want. It's just been, it's been wild, like it's been so weird. Like we threw the second uh, the second annual, uh ruining Christmas party, uh, in my house. So that was. That was pretty intense. Um, lots of people that were here. Oh my God, it was wild. And then a lot of a couple of new faces that were here. Colton and Judy, um from drunk brother, joined um at the house this year, so that was pretty neat. Um, I rang in the new year with them and Gio, oh, that's an interesting conversation. It ended up with a witness statement and some cops, so that was pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:I don't even know about this. Do tell what happened there.
Speaker 2:So we were leaving this, oh, this beautiful place. By the way, when you come back, we have to go Well-born. You're absolutely gorgeous, Holy crap. It's like this Airbnb that they have turned into like this outside beautiful patio bar setup. Oh, the cocktail is beautiful. Love the entire setup. You order everything through your phone. You never have to talk to a single server. It is glorious. And the espresso martinis 12 out of 10. So we were there celebrating New Year's. They gave out free champagne, they have an entire bathtub that you can sit in that has a bouncy balls in it. It's great. So we're doing our thing. Then decided to, we were actually gonna bar hop and we were walking out of out of the wellborn and and leaving.
Speaker 2:And the next thing, you know, we see like this guy hugging the curb, like laying on the ground, like hugging the curb, and judy and I are like okay, we've all been there, we've all done that. You know, we got and had one too many drinks downtown, before it happens. But this dude like was not responsive, like he was not moving whatsoever. And then so we walk over and we're like, okay, are you okay, my guy, are you good? And he like starts freaking out, starts crying. It was very emotional. His mom had just passed away, so he's very sad. We're like oh my, oh my God, I'm so sorry, like Gia was like you know, I'm going to wait with you until somebody can come and pick you up. And then all of a sudden we see this car pull up and we're like cool, it's his Uber. He's getting out of here. We're going to go to the bar. I was starving and I was like let's go. And then the next thing, you know, this.
Speaker 1:So this all happened before you made it to the bar, correct?
Speaker 2:With the intentions of going to the second place. We had already went to the Wellborn, it's time for the second place. Yep, I think we were going to the good old sloppy taco and we were like, all right, let's, this is his Lyft, this is Uber, it's time to go home. Perfect Love.
Speaker 2:It All came out with like this other couple, and we're like, okay, this is not clearly his uber, no, it was the dude's fiance. Apparently he had gotten pretty aggressive and just blackout drunk and refused to get into like the six ubers that she put him in and she was like you know what? I'm done, I'm not doing this anymore, I'm over it. And she left him. Well, then she came back because she felt bad and then all of a sudden, geo sitting down, because we all love geo talks to everybody and he's sitting down and he's chatting away with them and then, I guess, saying you know, this dude gets up and like, after being basically dead on the floor, he gets up and he like starts swinging, like he threatens to beat colton up. He like hits this girl. She goes flying across the, the entire like lands on her butt, like we see her entire butt because her poor dress came up in the air and then she gets up. And then he gets up and he starts swinging at the dude that's there.
Speaker 2:So I got on the phone with the cops because Colton's now involved and they show up. And then the next thing you know, the cop goes up and goes. They show up and he walks up to the guy. He goes hey, I know you To the guy that had beat up all these people. We're like wait, how do you know him? Well, the dude that beat up everybody was in the police academy. So the next thing we know, we're filling out witness statements and it was a mess, a complete and utter mess.
Speaker 1:So happy.
Speaker 2:New Year's to us, crazier than my new year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, um, let's see, I've had a lot go on since I moved back, so yeah, you've been dealing with quite a bit yeah. So me, you and zach got my car loaded onto the u-haulul transporter.
Speaker 1:So about three days before I left I had met our my friend Bon Bon at Disney for a day and we had just split off and I was on my way home and I pulled up to the red light coming out of Disney Springs and my car, like it, slowed down weird, and I was, we're just gonna ignore that, it's fine. And then when I went to go, the engine was revving and I was moving but it was struggling to go from first gear into second gear. And I just happened to glance down and that's when I looked at my dashboard and it said uh, uh, warning transmission malfunction, c shop immediately.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, and I was like and this was I mean, we only lived like what? 12, 13 miles from Disney, but it's such a congested area that that drive is easily 45 minutes. So my car is driving, it is shifting gears, but it's it's shifting up late and it's shifting down late, Um, which, for those of you that don't speak car, um, that can really damage your car, Correct? So I get, uh, all the way up to the barber shop where me and your brother got our haircut, and I pulled into a parking lot because I was like it's getting worse. I don't know what to do. So I was like we're going to turn the car off. You never turn the car off.
Speaker 1:I turned the car off, could not turn the car back on, so I called you in a panic. I waited for a little while. I was able to turn the car on, I was able to drive and at that point I said, Ashley, I'm coming to your house, I'm going to drop my car off at your house. Because I lived in a rough part of Orlando. I lived in Pine Hills. For those of you that are not familiar with Orlando, it's the ghetto.
Speaker 2:It's called Crime Hills for a reason kids.
Speaker 1:Yep. So the portion that I lived in though it wasn't a bad community, you could clearly tell it was a community a lower income area, but all of my neighbors were extremely kind people a lower income area, but all of my neighbors were extremely kind people. I only ever had one issue on that street, and that was the Haitian block party, where they parked on both sides of the street and blocked my driveway. Fortunately, I had a smart car so I was able to get in. So I left my car at your house until we loaded, made that fun drive all the way back to Knoxville fun drive all the way back to Knoxville. And then we had Thanksgiving. The following week I got here was actually offered a job with Target, doing a seasonal job with them, which was, you know, I was just looking for any kind of money to come in the door. I was starting to fall behind on bills, so I just wanted literally anything that I could get. Um fun fact actually you can mute your microphone a little mute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you see the?
Speaker 1:little microphone button. Is that this? We'll click it. Oh, now you're muted. Look at that. We're still learning, guys. Oh God, where was I?
Speaker 2:Knoxville Thanksgiving I don't remember where I was.
Speaker 1:So Thanksgiving made it through. Thanksgiving, oh Target. So I was offered a job at Target before I'd moved seasonally and it was something I was just going to take it. So I had money coming in before I had moved seasonally and it was something I was just going to take it, so I had money coming in. Let me tell you something. I hated it. I would not be a good Amazon person because all I did for like a week and a half was stand at a like a standing workstation and I put tape. You know that Amazon package tape.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:That has like the string in it and it's annoying to rip open. Yes, I put that on a box to make the box, and then I would take the items from the cart, put them into the box and then seal the box, put a shipping label on it and then put it on a pallet. And after like a week and a half I looked at my boss and I was like, listen, if you don't get me away from this desk, I'm going to quit. And she was like oh, do you want to do like product pickup? And I was like what does that mean? And she was like well, you actually go out into the store and you take the items off the shelf, you put them in the cart and you bring them back here for the packaging.
Speaker 1:So, random fun fact, target doesn't like to use distribution centers. They use their stores. So when you place an order on Target, your order is going to go to the store closest to your shipping address. That has all of the items that you've purchased and that's how you get your target delivery. Just random fun fact.
Speaker 2:So I was doing that. You might as well do pickup then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I liked it a little. I liked that a little more, and then they started doing me on in-store pickup, where we go around the store and we grab the items and we take them up to the front, we put them in the bag and then you drive up to the store. The only issue with that is it is timed, um, and you do not realize how stressful it is to do that until you have to look for clothing in a store. Uh and the the clothing is rfid scanners, so like we had these little rfid scanner guns that we would literally just walk through the closing section pulling the trigger, waiting for the beeping to go off, to know that we were close to that item. Clothes were the absolute worst thing to try to locate.
Speaker 1:It was not a fun time. Shopping for. Everything else was fun, though, and it was nice. It was a bit stressful at times, though, because you'd have like 45 minutes to get like 52 items, holy crap, which doesn't sound like a lot. But when you're walking around in a store with people shopping around Thanksgiving and people wanting to excuse me do you know what aisle this is on You're not allowed to say, oh, I'm sorry, I don't, I'm new, I can't help you. You have to help that guest. So that means you have to stop what you're doing while that 45 minute timer is still counting down to try to assist them as quickly. As it was not a fun time, it was very stressful.
Speaker 2:That sounds awful, yeah.
Speaker 1:So in the midst of all of doing that, I had a previous colleague reach out to me to see if I was interested in doing a job back in the hospitality field. That is all I can say on that. Due to NDAs and other things that I've signed, ashley, you know a little more on that situation. If I ever don't work for this company, we'll totally talk about it, because it's a really cool thing. But, like I said, yeah, I'm not allowed to talk about it, so we're going to move on from that. But my car, yeah, all in this time my car was not working. So our wonderful friend Mercedes loaned me her car and I drove her car.
Speaker 1:She drove her truck and after a while you know me and my dad looked at my car. I called Mercedes, I called Carvana, I called the parts and warranty department at Carvana and they all pretty much were like oh well, that sucks for you because the smart car has been discontinued, they no longer make parts for it, the parts that you need are no longer in fabrication and we cannot locate them. So I went through nine different mechanics. I even went through Mercedes. Mercedes said it was going to cost $213 to have them look at the vehicle to diagnose, to do their formal diagnosis, because even though I knew what was wrong with the car, it's not their formal diagnosis. They said the likelihood of them being able to find the specific parts based off of what I told them was very slim to none and if they were able to locate parts needed, it would probably cost anywhere between $7,000 and $9,000.
Speaker 1:That, that's crazy which is about 85 percent of what I owe on the car, uh, which is also like five thousand dollars more than what the car is worth geez, oh pete's yep.
Speaker 1:So I made a big grown-up decision, um, and decided that I was just going to voluntarily surrender my vehicle back to my lender. So that's fun. That's going to go on my credit score for the next seven to 10 years. They're going to try to sell the car at auction and then I will have to pay whatever's left over on the car. But I definitely learned a big grown-up lesson there and I want to give a big shout out to my stepmom, my dad, my sister for really, really helping me out in that situation, and I'm now the proud owner of my sister's 2013 Chevy Captiva. Yay, do you know what a Chevy Captiva is, ashley?
Speaker 2:Absolutely not.
Speaker 1:So evidently it is a Chevrolet model vehicle. It's a crossover SUV that was manufactured solely for rental car fleets. What?
Speaker 2:does that mean?
Speaker 1:Evidently like as a new, like Enterprise or budget car like they were.
Speaker 1:They were manufactured only for rental car companies. So, like you, never went on a Chevrolet lot and bought a Chevy Captiva. That didn't happen. So it was only after Enterprise, or whoever owned the car, said we don't want to use this car anymore. It was sold as a used vehicle and that's how they made it out into the general market. So my sister bought that car after her car accident a couple years ago, but she's now driving our step, or my stepmom, her mom's old car and I'm now driving her car look at you, but it's really cool because for the first time in my life I have the title to a car woo, no, woohoo, big savings, uh, but yeah, that's um.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's kind of the rundown. I'm living with my friend, claire um who I lived with they're upstairs. If you guys hear the dogs and stuff, they're uh, I, I live in the downstairs, so it's a split level home. I live in the basement but there is no like solid door to this portion of the house. There's like an arch. So we have a? Um, one of those sound doors. It's like a fabric door and the cats come in and out, but um, oh my god, you went.
Speaker 2:I just realized you went from one house with pets to another house with pets.
Speaker 1:Look, at you, you're, you're a dog dude and I have clemmy with me the whole way. Yeah, believe it or not, they're actually two dogs, four cats, uh, and then my roommate claire and my other roommate shane. They are uh partnered together.
Speaker 2:Uh, we call him shano I love the clarification that they are together. Thank you so much for that.
Speaker 1:I call him Shano and he calls me Dina. Well, I don't call him Shano, everyone calls him Shano, but he calls me Dina. Why, I don't know. Claire said one time I came home and the two of them were being like all cutesy and romantic and they have this really nice bathtub so sometimes they like to take soaking baths together. And she said that I came in the door and she goes shh, dina's home, dina's here. Does Dina know that we're in the bathtub? Dina's going to find us. And it was just the funniest thing. Like. This is the most ADHD household ever.
Speaker 2:And now they have you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. And now they have me, so it's even worse. Correct, but yeah, so how, like how? I know we're not gonna say the job, but how, our job, how our job how to do um, it's still kicking, still the same one.
Speaker 2:Um, it's still sometimes what makes me want to pull my hair out, and other times, um, it's, it's, it's, it's great I, I got a new office, so that's a whole.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, your closet my closet office.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes it's. It's literally half of a dry storage closet and I love every minute of it. Um, yeah, that's pretty much about it. It's been the same. Um, Bruce has been great. She's driving me absolutely insane. Uh, bruce has been great. She's driving me absolutely insane. She's going to be three in March, which is just wild that. I've had her since she was four weeks old. Now she's going to be three. It's crazy, absolutely crazy. I'm trying to think what else has been going on. I did some traveling a lot in the last two, three weeks. I came to tennessee with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was cold. You didn't come with me, but you saw me while you were here. I did.
Speaker 2:I did um, and then I was in dc about a week ago. That was fun. Did you go to the holocaust museum, like I told I did? And that is like sorry if you hear uh screaming. The Tambay Buccaneers are in the wildcard spot right now.
Speaker 2:So that's definitely what's playing in the living room. So they have to win, otherwise it'll be a very depressing household, at least for Rob. I did go to the Holocaust Museum, though, though it was um very depressing, um very sad. I have never, ever, been in a museum where every single person was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Like this was wild. Um, I had never been to. I've been to dc multiple, multiple times, but I've never been in the holocaust museum and this is they had a portion of it.
Speaker 2:That was like what americans knew during the time period, and this was the most wild thing I've ever seen, Like. I like to consider myself like a very history knowledge based, but I did not realize how much I did not know about this entire situation and I thought I didn't know a lot. Oh my God, what Americans were being told was even worse. I saw, for instance, I saw like a little newspaper clipping like the front page of like the New York times, and, um, they had this like on the big screen. It was like or on like the front cover.
Speaker 2:It was like somebody was murdered in New York downtown, and then like a little tidbit, like I'm not even kidding the smallest little thing in the top left corner would be like and the Jewish people have just been killed off. Like it was like nobody cared that, like everything was happening in that world, like in that country. And then here's this little tidbit of like our massive information that was happening. And then there was like another one that was like McDonald's raised their cheeseburger prices to six cents instead of five. That was like the front page cover. Burger prices to to six cents instead of five. That was like the front page cover. And it was the the jewish people have been moved into, uh, restricted neighborhoods was in like on the second page.
Speaker 1:Like it was so wild to preface. Ashley did make up that headline because mcdonald's definitely didn't exist back then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was like this like massive, like whatever it was, was like big and well known and like nothing made any sense. It was just crazy well, you gotta think.
Speaker 1:There was no social media back then, there was no tiktok or facebook and there wasn't video no it was, yeah, it was a.
Speaker 2:It was a different world, yeah, well, and then there was the worst part, I think um, you know everybody talks about the shoes being the worst part is that you know, when they go to the hol Holocaust Museum, you go down the hallway with every single shoe that they had found and you know yes, don't get me wrong, that is the most eerie thing in the world. But for me the worst part wasn't the shoes, it was the hallway of tattoos.
Speaker 2:So they had taken a photo of all of the survivors of the Holocaust, of of their branding, of like their tattoo with the numbers correct and they had lined this like hallway. Um. Think, uh, okay, when you're leaving, um, the space mountain and you know how, you have that one hallway that you go down with like all of the stuff on the sides and whatever. Think like that that's how long this is of people's arm tattoos from ceiling to like roof, of just wall, like polaroids next to, and I was ceiling to floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that too, it was just like oh my god, this is wild. Like that is what got me. Like I had tears in my eyes for a second and I was like you know, I remember the first time I got my first tattoo and like how willing and wanting I was of it. And these people were forced to get tattoos that they never even wanted. And you're like oh my God, oh my God, like it just kind of made me sick and very sad all at the same time. Yeah, so that was wild. Plus, it was really cold, so I'm really glad to have left that.
Speaker 1:It was freezing you want to talk about cold. I know you look over at the west coast and they're like burning in hell on earth yeah, and then here in east tennessee I just spent the last day.
Speaker 1:Last three days snowed in over at mercedes house. Uh, during the snow, this recent snowstorm that we got fortunately it was nowhere near as bad as the 2023 snowstorm that they got where people were stuck in their home for like nine days I had a friend that said on her last day of the snowstorm last year all she had was orange juice and macadamia nuts for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day oh my god, I would have shot myself.
Speaker 1:Um we, we had good food. We had taco soup, we had pigs in a blanket, we had cocktail cocktail weenies we had taco soup. We had Mercedes homemade pancakes this morning with like a caramel and apple glaze.
Speaker 2:Is that why you wanted my recipe?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, actually we were debating getting the stuff to make it, because Mercy was like I am not a fan of meatless stuff, but that was actually pretty good, so we were thinking about trying it, but that was actually pretty good. So we were thinking about trying it. So, um, but that was. That was something else. That was uh, it was a long, couple days, but it was really nice. It was just me, mercedes and gavin, we were just chilling, just vibing, watching tv, playing board games. For like three days. It was nice it's been cold.
Speaker 2:it was like a hurricane right now. It's been cold here like so cold, been cold here Like so cold.
Speaker 1:I'm just like, and then we get like a little tidbit of sun and everybody's like, okay, get naked Like it's so funny Now, like you can actually go to Disney and wear all the sweaters and stuff and not die.
Speaker 2:Correct, which has been nice, except I don't want to go to any of those places because it's cold, like well, like that's. The sad part is, like you know, we're all like, oh my god, we buy all these sweatshirts and all these cozy clothes because we pretend it's cold and, like you know, september, when it's fall season, where it should be, and then it actually gets colder, we're all like heated blankets. Stay in my house with the fire.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you, I'm loving this, though, because I get to wear all of that Disney and Universal merchandise that I've bought over the last year. I finally have a climate that I can wear it, and it's so nice.
Speaker 2:And then in what? Two weeks?
Speaker 1:I'll be in Tennessee again. Yeah, coming up, actually, some big news on that. I don't think you know this. Tell me so. For those of you who know um, chocolate fest is a part of, uh, the conventions and productions that I've participated in for years. Ashley started doing it with me last year.
Speaker 1:Uh, she's coming back up for chocolate fest now and back up for a new event happening I think may, um, but uh, our good friends chad and g Greg, who have also been a part of this, moved to, I believe, indiana, and they will not be returning for Chocolate Fest this year. So that means that Chocolate Fest is on the look for a new master of ceremonies and drum roll please which Rhyme Brain Productions has asked if I would be willing to fill that role.
Speaker 1:So hair flip you'll be looking at the, which has asked if I would be willing to fill that role. Hair flip You'll be looking at the. So I will be doing all the announcing at chocolate fest. Might be doing some stuff with the other event coming up in May, but none of that's been ironed out yet. So that's exciting. So if you come to chocolate fest and you do the VIP chocolate tasting on Friday night, they have like a special elegant night, a special event. I'll be doing that and then on Saturday I will be emceeing all of the tastings. So you should come. You can go to mychocolafestcom to purchase your tasting pass and you'll see me.
Speaker 2:I'll be there, hopefully in the IP area again.
Speaker 1:You'll be serving, serving them chocolates. I think there's, there's a, there's a lot this year they had a meeting the other day. They were talking about it and it sounds. It sounds like it's going to be another fantastic year I'm so excited.
Speaker 2:That's exciting. I have so much traveling in this month and next month that are planned. It's wild. There's so much going on. I've got Tennessee.
Speaker 1:What's that?
Speaker 2:We've got Tennessee in two weeks and then I'm in Michigan for like two days and then I'm back in Florida. Then mom is coming, the iconic Shan is coming to visit with Jeff, so they'll be here, and then Are they coming for Moody Graw?
Speaker 2:They are coming for Moody Graw and it's going to be wild. And then the day they leave, rob and I are getting out of plane and going to California for Rob's 20th birthday. Jesus Christ, I know, I know he's going to be 20 and I feel old. So, yeah, it's going to be it. It's going to be 20 and I feel old. So yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be crazy. We have so much planned.
Speaker 1:You guys going to Universal? We are, and.
Speaker 2:I think we're we're also debating on doing the Warner Brothers studio tour, Apparently that's pretty cool. So I think we're going to hit that up too. It's going to be crazy. There's a lot of traveling, doing any Disney. No.
Speaker 1:No, disney.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, disneyland, no, no Disneyland. This trip, I think it's a quick trip. We're only gone for like three days, three, four days, because we're taking some time off, since mom's going to be in town. So immediately once mom's back, once she's gone, then immediately we're going to California and then we're back home. So yeah, it's nothing too crazy. And then we have Drunk Brother, all Stars, that's happening, so we've got that going on. And Colton and Gio's 30th birthday is happening, so we've got that happening. It's going to be a busy January and February for me, so it's going to be wild.
Speaker 1:I've got a busy January and then nothing, then nothing as of yet. So I will say I purchased my campsite for camping this summer. Yeah, that's, yeah, we're going in june yeah, where are we going? Going to indian boundary, where we always go. Oh, great.
Speaker 2:When do I need to take off?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna I'm gonna camp with you camping. You're not gonna camp, I'm gonna camp I've decided I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 2:I want to do it. My June cleared up anyway, so I'm going to do it. I'm going to crash your camping. We could have an Orlando podcast or not an Orlando podcast. I have to change my home for a bitch now. A millennial conversation episode in camping version.
Speaker 1:I did that once with my historic or with Tennessee Roads, and no, there's no service. But if you have, if I have my computer and our equipment there, we can record on site?
Speaker 2:absolutely, yeah, now I have to go wait. Can I like do the flannels and wear the, the, the, the, the duck hats and like, yeah, no, I'm camping I mean, yeah, you can wear a flannel in june. Yeah, I'll be fine and I just want to get one of those cute little pink tents. If I'm gonna do it, I want to like do it.
Speaker 1:Well, you can take that up with Mercedes, because I think she's already bringing a second tent, so like you two can work that out.
Speaker 2:That sounds great. I'll call her. Let me just call her. Put her on my to-do list. Be like hello, Hello man. Actually I'll just talk to her in two weeks. Hi, let, actually, I'll just talk to her in two weeks.
Speaker 1:Hi, let's talk about this camping.
Speaker 2:Thing okay I want to get the straw, the straw with the water, like the water straw thing did you see that? Where you could put, like this magical straw in any form of water and it automatically purify? I just want to try it. I want to try lake water. I want to know if I'm gonna die you don't want that lake water.
Speaker 1:It's warm, no, but like river water.
Speaker 2:Okay, maybe that too. I don't want that lake water. It's warm, no, but like river water.
Speaker 1:Okay, maybe that too, I don't know. Oh river water, oh my God.
Speaker 2:We could make s'mores and little weenies on the fire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, got all that, that's going to be great, but yeah, any anything fun and exciting. Since I, like since I've left Florida, I've my Universal Studios friends. I'm pretty sure everyone knew I don't think we ever confirmed it beforehand, but obviously I used to work for Universal Studios Florida.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, no way.
Speaker 1:I know you could never guess that, but I've kept up with a lot of my co-workers and friends from there, a lot of whom are moving over into Epic Universe. I think one of my co-workers and friends um from there, a lot of whom are moving over into epic universe. I think my uh one of my friends, his uh actual start date for epic is tomorrow. Um, so he's gonna go take a property tour tomorrow and do all that fun stuff, um, but like, what's it been like down there, with everything going on like?
Speaker 2:the traffic's been a lot worse because you know I have to pass that place to get to to my job, um, so the traffic I feel like has been a lot worse, because you know I have to pass that place to get to my job, so the traffic I feel like has been a lot worse. And also, I know this is going to sound super weird, but like for the past year, driving past that place, it would look like it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And then it was like about a month and a half ago it just stopped getting bigger. But the cars have been more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and you're just like where, where are you guys going?
Speaker 1:and it seems like tomorrow starts the beginning of a lot of on-site for a lot of people, so it's only going to continue to get worse correct, correct but hope, you know, hopefully the extension that they're putting on to Kirkman and the big roundabout and everything, hopefully all of that will kind of curb some of that. But I think for you, from what I gathered, the employee entrance to Epic is going to be off of. Is it Sand Lake? Yep.
Speaker 2:Which is what we would drive right past it. So I'm hoping that that means that you know different routes will have to be taken and things like that. We're going to have to go around, or I'm going to have to leave six hours early to go to work every day. So I'm just glad that you know I will take the employee entrance over the guest entrance, though.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine what that's going to do? Can you imagine what?
Speaker 2:that's going to do. Can I help you Okay? On my door handle is the CreepyCon lanyard that I wore. And I wish you could see this. Maybe you can, I don't know. We're going to try it. You could just see her right there and she'll just like bang at it.
Speaker 1:She's like open the door do you want to leave?
Speaker 2:is that what you want? Okay guys, cat, cat tv break. I need a new chair.
Speaker 1:My ass is numb on this one yeah, you do, and it's super, super squeaky. This is violent do you want to leave?
Speaker 2:come here, is that? Do you want to leave? Come here, is that what you want? Do you want to go Go see Uncle Rob? Okay, uncle Rob is home. We want to go see our best friend, uncle Rob, okay.
Speaker 1:So any hoozles?
Speaker 2:Need a new chair guys.
Speaker 1:We're just. What is it? January, february, march, april, may. We're only four months away from epic universe opening that's crazy, I'm interested to see, though you know there's a lot of plans for drones with epic universe and there's sinistational that happens at universal studios, florida, uh, and right now the company that universal has grounded all of their drones because of the incidents that have happened recently at Lake Eola, which I'm not certain if that's the same company that Universal uses for their drones, but I know that Universal's drones were also grounded.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think they kind of just downed them to kind of go. We've seen what's happened, we're acknowledging what's been going on and I think until we can get an accurate solution, nothing is happening.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that there's been legislation go in since that accident to stop all use of show drones in residential not residential, but like areas where people are, I know, like the drones at Universal, like they fly over sound stages and buildings. And I know that here in Tennessee, from my understanding, drones cannot fly over anything other than open land or water.
Speaker 1:They can't be flown over buildings. They can't be flown over roadways, houses, over people themselves. For this exact reason and you know, I think that this begs the question in this world of AI and technology that we're moving into, is this something that we should be concerned about, with the amount of technology that we're using in a theme park setting?
Speaker 2:I don't know, is it?
Speaker 1:hackable? Is AI able to reprogram mid-show? Is this something that can happen?
Speaker 2:I think it's very much something that could happen. I think that, to be honest with you, I think everything is hackable. I think everything could be taken over. We thought our credit cards were safe, having the chip readers, and now our credit cards are still getting hacked into it says the woman who can't figure out how to sign into her iCloud no, I can't.
Speaker 2:I have no idea how that works. So, like, like all of that information could be could be obtained from us. You know, I there's a lot like there's. I've been seeing um conversations that people have been having over like, uh, some banks will text you if you used your card, like to verify that you used it before you, before they allowed the transaction to go through, and there's been people that have been like I, this isn't my bank texting me, what is this? And they specifically want you to open the text message and then they try to hack all of your stuff. So, like, that's a thing that's been going on.
Speaker 2:I don't, I don't think that's how that works, but okay but like correct, but like there, there's so many things that I think like are so hackable that, if this is what we're looking into, if droids are the new things with chat gbt could be the new thing you know we're plugging in. Hey, write a love letter to my boyfriend into chat gbt. They could be like chad, chad, angela loves you, angela loves you chad. And the next thing you know, every, every part of chad is taken over.
Speaker 1:You know so okay whatever helps you sleep at night I need a little chat gbt boyfriend, that'd be great um, for the record and to clarify what are you calling it. What is it called? Chatgbt no.
Speaker 2:What is what called it's?
Speaker 1:ChatGPT. Is it really Yep?
Speaker 2:No, it's not it definitely is A hundred percent I'm going to.
Speaker 1:Google it right now. I am, I'm right.
Speaker 2:I don't need to Google it. Now I am, I'm right, I don't need to Google it. It's the last thing I used. Oh my God, it is chat you PT. I quit, I quit.
Speaker 1:You've been outsmarted by the AI.
Speaker 2:I love the little AI thing, though. I really do. I love chat, she PT, I like it. It's fun.
Speaker 1:Honestly, it kind of helps with like everything. Yeah, it definitely has some real world applications, I will say, with AI I've gotten pretty frustrated recently with the flood damage from Hurricane Helene here in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Just the other day with the Palisades fires in California. You know people were using AI to generate photos and videos of the iconic Hollywood sign burning and that didn't burn. That is still standing to this day and it just it frustrates me that we've come to a point where we don't know what's real and what's not, because AI is getting smarter and AI is getting better and if you have the more expensive AI, you know it's able to produce real things and it's it's. It's frustrating.
Speaker 2:It is. It's also, I think, terrifying in a sense because, you know, for, for myself, I, I, for the longest time, was on all the dating apps and things like that I've, you know there's, there's that fear also of like, are these people that we're matching? Are those ai people that are being created on here? Are they, you know, like, is that who we're gonna end up meeting? Paul, who's 50 years old, in his mother's basement instead of you know who we thought we're meeting.
Speaker 2:Is paul, this muscular, ripped dude instead, you know, I I think that it's such a give and take in a conversation which is just, it's so wild. You know, I think it's definitely something that kids shouldn't be allowed to mess with. I think it's something that schools should be really, you know, observant of, especially if you know we run the risk of copyright infringement, things happening, cheating could be happening. I mean, chat, gbt or gpt can create anything and everything you want it to, just in that app alone. So, yeah, no, it's wild, I mean, I think it. I think with every form of technology, it has its perks and it has its downfalls yeah, I, I think I would agree with that.
Speaker 1:That's. It's a cuckoo for a cuckoo puff, just what it is. I don't know what that was, um, but yeah, so, oh, man, we really. I love how we were like let's talk about our lives and what's been going on, and now we're over here talking about ai, like where did that even come from? But okay, because our lives are so strange I know, but oh, oh, my microphone's moving, uh, but yeah, guys. So that's that's kind of what's been going on. That's that's our lives. That is what it is.
Speaker 2:Oh, my god, my microphone keeps moving, oh, um, but yeah, so we're glad to be back season two, we got a lot going on, uh, a lot less conversing about um theme parks as we talked about well, I mean well, yeah, we can still talk about things from time to time but it's not like oh my god, we just went to disney world, guys, and now we're gonna tell you exactly every single thing we ate, did, where we peed, where we walked, what we. It's going to be a little different.
Speaker 1:Fun fact the bathrooms at the bus stop at Hollywood Studios 10 out of 10. But yeah, so obviously, with our new name and with things changing, kind of what we do here on this podcast is going to change. It's going to be more of our lives and things that are going on and the millennial struggle that we're all in every single day. So, with that being said, you guys know what to do. If you guys are listening to us, you know that you can go to that description box and you'll see that little link in there that says text the show and then you click it and then you can text us.
Speaker 2:Text us and you can tell us We've missed you guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've missed you guys yeah, we have missed you and we want to know what you guys have going on and we want to know uh what you guys want us to talk about or if there's things going on. Uh shout out to edward and rachel um, my, my british bestie, who was amazing and listened to our show when he lived in the uk and got other people to listen to our show, now living uh in New Jersey with his wonderful wife Rachel. We went up to New Jersey shortly before I moved uh to attend that wedding my gosh.
Speaker 2:You know how crazy this is. When we first started the podcast and he started listening, they were engaged and now they're the season two another marriage. Oh, congratulations, guys.
Speaker 1:You've seen us all the way through and we've seen you and they yeah, they were actually down there, uh, in december for their honeymoon. They were at universal and disney, um, so they were just a hop skip and a jump away from you, literally yeah, and then I was a hop skip and a jump from them for their wedding yeah, I want to give a a quick shout out um to all of our lovely listeners that like to listen, and nick nick from the hotel 10 out of 10 other jobs that I worked at I'm not going to say what hotels, because I don't want to talk about his personal life or his work life.
Speaker 1:But, nick, I hope, uh, you come back for season two. I hope you listen and enjoy and know that I I miss you guys at the hotel. I also worked at a universal hotel, um, but I miss you guys. I hope you all are doing well. Big shout outs to cynthia and, uh, cynthia bennett, which is zach's sister and matt her husband yep, and ashley mond Monday, who is someone that I've met here in the Knoxville area through CreepyCon and conventions. They were the first people to respond to our Facebook post as well.
Speaker 2:That's so exciting.
Speaker 1:I know. And David Cynthia Jordan Anderson, I don't know who that is. I don't either. Just kidding David Cynthia Jordan Anderson, I don't know who that is.
Speaker 2:I don't either.
Speaker 1:Just kidding. And Monica and Megan, and Nevermore Dark Tennessee. Thank you guys for responding to our Facebook stuff. Oh, never mind, I know who this Jordan person is. Okay, I just I was looking at the notification on Facebook. I'm dead I actually knew who this is. Uh, you know.
Speaker 2:Speaking of cynthia though, at our christmas party she came up to me and she was like, she like ran up to me, she goes. When is season two? I'm ready.
Speaker 1:I was like girl same she said that to me the last time that I saw them before I moved um, we're getting there, we're getting there, we got a lot of crazy stuff coming.
Speaker 2:I was like you know, the best things are always things that take a little bit of time. And season two. I kind of gave her a little tidbit into the changes that were coming towards the podcast for season two and she was like I know, I listened to the last episode, I'm ready. I was like she goes. I have a little notifications tab on my phone so anytime the podcast goes up I immediately can listen to it.
Speaker 1:I'm just interested to see how many people I want to know if you're listening right now text the show when you got the notification on your phone or device that a podcast you follow? You got the notification on your phone or device that a podcast you follow, the millennial con, our millennial conversation, posted a new episode. I want to know how many of you went. Uh what? I don't follow a podcast named that because I just I, I changed everything and then we put a posting up um.
Speaker 1:So I'm just curious to see how many of you like to do a double take, to be like I didn't follow that show.
Speaker 2:Who is that? It's going to be great With that being said we need to wrap things up.
Speaker 1:I have to wash my bedding my lovely little roommate kitty. Anytime I'm gone for multiple days she's peeing on my bed. Anytime I'm gone for multiple days, she's peeing on my bed. We think it's a territory thing because there's other cats in the house that they didn't grow up with, so I don't know. But I got home today and I was like, oh, there's some cat pee. I got to wash that. So she's going to the vet in a few days. So Claire's going to ask the vet about it.
Speaker 2:But I was like I mean okay, mean okay, so now you gotta wash your sheets. So yeah, time to wrap it up.
Speaker 1:I just gotta finish the other half now and it's 9 30 and I have to be at my work, which takes me about an hour to get to um at 9 am yay, it's at 5 am for me, so I love it.
Speaker 2:I love the episode. It. I love the episode.
Speaker 1:I'm glad we're back. I'm waking up at about that time.
Speaker 2:I'm glad we're back, but I love you guys. I have to go to bed now.
Speaker 1:Yep, so love you guys, stay safe, stay educated. We'll see you sometime next week, hopefully.
Speaker 2:And, of course oh, I've missed this Share our podcast with your friends, your family and your favorite bartender. Bye, guys, bye.
