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Happy New Year!!! Year in Review · Mechonomist Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 0:06
  what a year it has been a year for the ages and a year to
• 0:11
  remember most personally,
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: professionally,
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: politically.
• 0:15
  I started off 2024 working for the automotive free clinic and I
• 0:21
  ended up 2024 with
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: a son working at a parts store and starting my own for-profit business.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 0:31
  Of course,
• 0:32
  you know,
• 0:32
  as everybody knows,
• 0:33
  the biggest thing that happened is Hank was born.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: He was born three months early.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: We spent 80 days in the Ronald McDonald House.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: He spent 80 days in the NICU.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just an incredible year.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 0:47
  you have America maturing into full kleptocracy in which you
• 0:54
  have a bunch of just
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: total clowns running the country
• 0:59
  who have no idea what they're doing or what government is
• 1:02
  supposed to do or how
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: government works.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And they're just in it for their own personal fame and fortune.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that probably the future is going to be bad,
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: but bad in different ways than we thought it was going to be at first.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I thought,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:21
  I really thought that there would be like high levels of
• 1:23
  political repression.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think nothing's going to fucking work.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think everything in our country is going to be fucking broken.
• 1:33
  I don't think that they're going to be able to deport the
• 1:36
  people that they're going
• 1:37
  to try to deport because they're just not going to have the
• 1:43
  administrative capacity
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: to do it.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know how.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know how to do it.
• 1:47
  They're going to gut all of these institutions and
• 1:51
  bureaucracies and departments
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: and they're not going to be able to get anything done.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as much as shit doesn't work right now,
• 1:58
  and shit doesn't work right now,
• 2:00
  shit is really not going to work right in the future.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So probably in for a rough few years,
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: but it's not all bad because with any situation like this,
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: there's opportunities,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:12
  there's opportunities to fill the gaps in what the government
• 2:17
  is doing and start
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: organizations that,
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: act as stop gaps until,
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: institutions with bigger scale can step in and fill those gaps.
• 2:29
  But yeah,
• 2:30
  it's been probably a very hard year,
• 2:34
  but man,
• 2:35
  I love being a dad.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Being a dad is the most amazing thing that ever happened to me.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't imagine my life being any better than it is right now.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I spend four days a week at home with Hank.
• 2:50
  I spend two days a week working and one day a week with me and
• 2:53
  Robin with Hank.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I still get to tinker with cars from time to time.
• 2:59
  I'm starting a little diagnostic business to try to make a
• 3:03
  little extra money on the side.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of stay at home parents do,
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 3:08
  and one of the greatest things about that happened when Hank
• 3:13
  was in the hospital
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: was our friends really showed up for us.
• 3:16
  You know,
• 3:17
  there were hundreds of people that donated money,
• 3:20
  donated gift card.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: People came and saw us and visited with us and kept us company.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's just really amazing.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know that we got that many people that cared about us,
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: care about us,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: made it a lot easier to deal with.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: But for 2025,
• 3:37
  I'm looking forward to getting this business off the ground and
• 3:43
  really starting to learn,
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: really starting to learn and are continuing to learn about cars and about
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: automotive technology.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: In the next six months, I would like to get my ASC master certification.
• 3:58
  sort of my goals for this year in the next six months is to
• 4:02
  really get the business
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: off the ground and get my master's technician certification.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And, uh, also work on slowly, but surely work on a JDM rest of mine.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a longterm project, um, that we would, that is a cooperative.
• 4:18
  It's a little bit more complicated that we want to build into
• 4:21
  like a really big,
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: maybe not a really big,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: but a bigger business than just a,
• 4:27
  little go out and go get it business like HSH Diagnostic,
• 4:32
  HSH Automotive Diagnostics.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just kind of a go make a little extra money business.
• 4:38
  We want to build a business that can support all of us and our
• 4:41
  families going into the future.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, build wealth for our community.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what the cooperative model is all about.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, football has been the greatest
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: college football season I've ever seen.
• 5:00
  I think we're about to see some of the most high-quality
• 5:04
  college football ever played.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody gripes about the transfer portal and players getting paid,
• 5:12
  but the fact of the matter is that there's a lot more parity
• 5:14
  now than there ever
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: has been before.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can beat anybody, especially in the SEC.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: You may not like the fact that players aren't loyal to your school.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Tough shit.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: football's better.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: The football is better.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's more competitive.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's more fun to watch.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's fewer blowouts.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's more people getting into the playoffs.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's just better than it's ever been.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what people are complaining about.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're just old and grumpy and need to grow up.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, um, I'm optimistic about the future.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really am.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I, uh,
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're headed for some lean times.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think the empire is crumbling.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're looking at ecological collapse.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: But what I've seen in Asheville,
• 6:08
  North Carolina and places other places across the South is that
• 6:15
  people have really
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: stepped up to fill the gap where government and business can't do it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I am.
• 6:26
  I'm optimistic that we're going to get through this and come
• 6:29
  out the other side a
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: better global society than we are now.
• 6:36
  It may be a difficult 10 to 15 years with war and increasing
• 6:43
  global temperatures,
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: the collapse of empire.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think on the other side of this, I think you're looking at
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: a more kind, loving, and caring society.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I can already see the,
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think plebiscite is the right word,
• 6:59
  the plebiscite of that in what's going on on the ground in many
• 7:08
  places across the
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: United States with mutual aid programs.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not as worried as I used to be.
• 7:15
  And maybe that's because I have a son and I can't be as worried
• 7:17
  as I used to be.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe my perspective has changed and maybe nothing else has changed.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: But specifically what I saw in Asheville,
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: North Carolina,
• 7:25
  the way people rallied to work together and to solve problems
• 7:30
  on their own,
• 7:31
  it's really profound and it made me very hopeful for the future
• 7:35
  of the human species.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, Happy New Year, y'all.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think 2025 is going to be a good one.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I really do.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Happy New Year and we'll see y'all later.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, y'all.