Hello everybody, this is Shane Arman row you are in the passenger seat with me passenger seat radio. It's February 19 2020. And you're on my 13 mile commute home. Welcome to the show. So we have 30 minutes will totally 28 minutes to do a show I am calling ahead for food for my family at 430. So I must have a hard break at hard stop at 430 so you get what you get. And I know it's been a been a while since we've had a show. You're probably wondering what the hell's going on. So we had obviously we had Monday off so that was one day out of the week that I didn't run the show. And so let me tell you the woes. It is me My poor I'm a poor little thing as we say in my household. So a week and a half ago. Sad Saturday before last. I use the last of my testosterone gel. Okay, so this isn't a big deal, you call up and you get the prescription refilled and maybe takes a day, if they don't have it on hand, and you go pick it up, you're good to go. So you miss a day, it's no big deal. Start missing two days, three days, four days. gel, the gel last a little bit longer than the shots do. But you do start to drop. And so I call it so it's like no big deal. So I call up on Sunday. And they're like, yeah, the insurance company is wanting a prior off again. Now remember, I talked about this last time when I had to do a prior off, it took a month for that to get through. on all of a sudden I'm looking at a month long absence of testosterone. So I'm like, what, Okay, so first off And they said your prescriptions expired. Okay, so that's what it was. Let me get my story straight here on Sunday. Like your prescriptions expired, you'll have to get your doctor. We've already sent a fax over to your doctor. So Monday I call so now this is day two. So I use the last of it on Friday or Saturday, I'm going to assume that it was Saturday. So now I'm a day or two without and I call up and they're like, yeah, yeah, we'll get it right over to you. That was Monday. Tuesday, I get a call back that says yeah, you're good. We sent the prescription over, they should have no problem. So Wednesday, I call up Cigna. And I'm like, hey, they should have had that. Prescription should be over there. Can you confirm that you have it? And they're like, yes, I'm like, good. I need to get that filled and you have any on hand, because I want to come by and pick it up. And they're like, we actually don't have any Unhand and we're having a problem with your engine. Insurance the insurance is saying it needs a prior authorization. Like son of a bitch. So this is Wednesday. At this point in time, I assure you, I am feeling the effects of the loss testosterone. I can I can tell. I physically feel wiped out. I'm losing like all energy. It's crazy. starting to feel this weird, lightheaded sensation. I mean, all of this has to do to the fact that my body is like, not getting what it's used to. So now I'm in now I'm starting to get panic mode because I know it prior off means and I know how long that can take. And I said, Okay, well just for fun. What's the cash price on that? And she goes, the cash price is $938. And I'm like, Well, I guess that's out. I said, Okay, I will go and pursue the prior off. Wednesday on my way home or Thursday on my way home. I call it My urologist, and we close it for mother. Alright, so now I can't get even the prior off starting. Next day I call up, I tell them, I get ahold of them. I say we need to prioritize. They said, Okay, we'll get started on it. So now we're over the weekend, right? Monday, I call they're actually working. I was on that they're working on Monday. So on Monday, so that would be day before yesterday. They said, Yeah, we've sent it over to the insurance company. We're just waiting. I mean, there's nothing else we can do other than wait, they said, you know, you could start calling and harassing them. And I remember what this was, like, last time calling it harassing them. So now, I mean, by Monday, I'm just I'm like I'm a zombie. I don't even know how I have any energy today at all. So I started looking online at this point in time, I'm so fucking desperate to get my testosterone filled guys, I'm going on vacation. I'm going to Vegas for you know, a week in March. And I can't be a zombie. I can't be dead on my feet. I can't be no T. in Vegas, I can't I can't do it. So now I'm desperate. I started looking online, right? Because you can get other stuff online if you're willing to get it from Canada, right? And the sooner I get started, there's got to be some rush delivery or something. Right? So I'm desperate. I'm looking around. I'm looking around, and I find a couple of places that will sell it to you for like 55 bucks a bottle. And I'm like, that's not ideal. But at 55 bucks a bottle. Hey, Alex. I'm willing to pay 55 bucks for a bottle of testosterone gel at this point in time. Because I am fucking I feel like I'm dying. I feel like I am just wasting away to nothing, right. So I'm Looking at this and then I run across something called good RX. Now this is something you see on TV all the time they they're like a discount prescription service, they're not an insurance. But through their providers, they they managed to get copay prices are lower on a good number of medications. One of them is testosterone gel. Now that it's gone generic Of course, you would have never been able to get this Andrew gel was the only game in town. But thanks to it being generic now good RX is a possible solution. So it's like show me pharmacies nearby that will provide me with this coupon deal. And there's like Target and CVS, there's a whole bunch of them something okay. So it looks like if I'm willing to transfer my prescription to one of these other locations and use this good RX. maybe just maybe I can get a bottle for 55 bucks. So I'm wondering they say, you know, other pharmacies, hey, Travis, other pharmacies may accept this good RX. So you should try it wherever you normally do your business. So I try to call the pharmacy and for some reason the phone system is all fucked up at Cigna. So I'm like, okay, I told my wife last night, I said, I'm just going to drive over to the, to the pharmacy. And I'm going to see if I'm going to see if I can get the signal to work with this good RX thing. So I go down there, right. And I'm like, I'm like so I'm waiting for a prior off to come through is it by any chance hasn't gone through? And so she pulls up everything and she's like, No, it's not. So the insurance companies still denying I'm like, Okay, great. I said, What about this good RX and you guys taken She goes, Yeah, we accept good RX. I'm like, Oh, okay. And so she looks up and she goes, No, there's no price difference with the good RX. And I'm like, and she goes and she She goes, you know, she goes, Okay, so here's how it went. She goes, she goes, No, there's no price difference on the good RX. I'm like, well, that sucks. And she goes, Well, what is what is good RX saying it cost and I said, well they're talking like 45 or 48 bucks at CVS. And she goes, it's only $53 in the system. I'm like, Wait, what? And she goes, Yeah, the cash price for one bottles $53 I'm like, well, that's not what they said, when I called up earlier in the week, we're talking like $900. And she goes, let me let me check something. Let me let me run this through our system. And you know, because we actually don't have any on in on hand right now. But we haven't for you tomorrow, and I'm like, okay, but is it going to be 900? But I can't I can't afford it at 900 bucks. I said, $53 Yeah, I was willing to pay 50 bucks for this bottle. And she goes, it says 53 bucks. I'm like, shit on the good. Get it on order. I'll come pick it up tomorrow. I said, Can I buy it now? Because I just know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna come Tomorrow, it's gonna be 900 bucks. And she's like now I think you're fine. I think you're okay. I'm like All right. Cool. All right, then order it up. So I got a call today saying that the prescription is ready for pickup so I'm on my way there, right here after work. So, that's where that is. That's what they charge insurance. Yeah, what a racket, right? So, normally speaking, I think it's $18 a bottle when I'm getting it with prescription off my insurance. So listen $53 I'm willing to spend that I've got to get it boosted back up. get myself ready for ready for Vegas next month. So obviously I have not felt like doing jack shit. So the the ramp down period. So the ramp up and the ramp down. Like with shots. Remember we talked about this when I was talking about gel versus shots? The gel brings you down slower, but it also ramps you up slower. So if you get a shot in your acid testosterone, you're like, good in an hour, right? But as soon as you as soon as you come down, I mean, you drop like a rock. And it's only it's only good for like five and a half days. So you get shot up on Monday, and by Friday afternoon, you're dropped, right? So I didn't want that. That's why I went with the gel. But the gel. I mean, it's, it's, it's as little as three days of being off the gel, you start to have a decrease, and within a week, you're dropped off. I met a week and a half. So I'm not in good shape at this point in time. So I've done nothing. I mean, I really literally my whole free day weekend. I got nothing accomplished. I didn't go to the gym. I didn't go for a walk. I did absolutely nothing. It's It's tragic, quite frankly, to be off of this stuff when I'm my body is so so accustomed to it so that was the first item I had on my checklist. Just a reminder for those of you who joined us late I have a hard for 30 drop off here. So just so you guys know when 430 comes home or not, I've got to get off of here. So there is a there's a running joke amongst my circle of friends that my home is a technological Devil's triangle Bermuda Triangle because electronics technology. Hey, retro, Sean, what's up, technology, electronics, anything of great value. It's digital tends to come to a disgusting, revolting and often terrible, and my household. Just a few things. Let me just point out a few oddities that have occurred in my home. One, my son led his tablet Sliding between the crack of the of the recliner and the armrest. And when the seat was pushed down it crushed the tablet I still have that tablet By the way, totally crush the tablet. My wife is trashed at least three laptops. Hey, Mike Partridge from New Zealand. Hey, welcome to the show. New face I love that Justin's in retro Sean is in Bruce Willis kids in yet you guys got here halfway through the show. This is unfortunate. I just talked about my my testosterone drop thanks to being off my gel for a week and a half. I have to go back and listen to the first part of the show. I bought Chris one of the regular listeners of the show friend of mine inner circle kind of guy. He sold my daughter well me his Microsoft Zune way back remember that like the portable mp3 player, pristine condition. He sends it over here, within like two weeks. It's dies, it breaks, it stops working. And my daughter didn't drop it or crush it in the couch or anything. My son has destroyed a Pikachu 3ds because he decided to rinse it off in the sink. Right now these aren't mysterious actions. These are longtime rGr Patterson radio, sir. Fantastic. Thanks for joining us live. I appreciate that. So these are not mysterious disappearances. Although we do have a red Nintendo DS, a Mario Kart DS that vanished in the house and we haven't been able to find this has been you know, better part of a decade. There's a red DS somewhere in the house and we can't find it. But most of the time, it's my wife dropping it. Picking it up by the screen man handling it. You know, there's all sorts of problems and technology in the hands of my family is not long for this world. So recently my wife, so when I buy my wife a laptop, my wife gets the shittiest laptop I can lay my hands on that will do the job, right. So typically speaking, I go to fries, I go to Walmart, I pick up a $250 laptop, because I know it's not going to last long and she's going to do something terrible to it. something bad will happen. Well, my good buddy Justin here after my wife's last catastrophe, where she snapped the screen off the ENTJ he had an HP elitebook folio what 9450 or something like that very nice, very nice laptop. And I told my wife, I said, Listen, you got to take care of this. I said, this is not this is not a Walmart special. This is a very nice higher end, sweet ass laptop. So you need to take that into consideration. I know you feel like if I give you a $200 laptop, you can, you know basically take a dump on it, but I'm not It gives you something nice and Justin's gonna cut us a really good deal. And we're going to pay practically nothing for it and you're going to get a top of the line laptop. This is much better than anything you've had. And I said, hopefully, you'll be able to treat it nicer if you know that it's more expensive and more valuable. So I don't know how long ago was that Justin? I mean, you're on you're on the horn here that was five or six months ago. You obviously know where this story's going. But I wanted I wanted an ending to the story before I told it here online. My wife has been attempting to break the Diet Coke habit. Okay. Diet Coke, as you know from listening to this show for decade on end here that we have a very personal relationship with Diet Coke in my house now. I've been off the Diet Coke. I have a Diet Dr. Pepper with Justin like once a day. But it's not like I'm drinking six or seven or eight cans of this shit a day or my one was up to some six or seven cans. Not good, right? Listen, it's just, it doesn't matter if it causes brain cancer or whatever, it doesn't matter. It's just not good for you. So one of the things my wife has been trying to do is get off the Diet Coke. And the easiest way to get off of Diet Coke is to not put it in the house at all right? So I also know that you don't go cold turkey on shit. You're trying to break yourself up. Okay. So the solution was to get those little tiny cans those little itty bitty cans are wondering who the fuck would buy for the same price? Hey, Brian, who would buy like an eight ounce can of soda for twice the cost of a 12 ounce can of soda. I found out the solution people who are trying to break their addiction to diet coke. So we did both we got Diet Coke Diet Mountain diet, seven up. We got diet ginger rail. We got all these little tiny cans and we left them in the trunk of my car because it is where Our time here in Phoenix so you can actually leave soda in your car. Hey man, how's it going turbo turbo to excess has joined so we've been doling these out in very limited quantity to my wife over the course of the last several months she's been trying to branch it herself back. Good for her. I mean I want to support her quest to get the hell off of Diet Coke. I've been very pleased to get off Diet Coke. And while I do enjoy a diet soda once a day not usually on the weekends though so weekdays I can do without it. I mean I literally can't it doesn't hold it doesn't make a dopamine hit like it used to diet coke bad dopamine hit. So we've been winning or down when we ran out a little cans and my goal was a listen once we run out of the little cans, we're just kind of done there'll be no more Diet Coke in the house right? But be good so few weeks back she had the For some some Diet Coke and I just so happened I had a two liter of diet caffeine free diet coke in my trunk that I was not really hoarding, but I wasn't going to bring it up that we had it. But it was there just in case right? If you need it if you need to hit I got it. So she's like, I don't suppose you have any more cans of diet coke in your car D and I'm like, nope, they're gone. And she's like, damn it and I said, I do have a two liter if you're desperate. And she's like, I am desperate. So I got out the two liter I poured her a glass this is I know it sounds crazy to talk about this like we're doing you know, heroin or, or crack in the house. But that's kind of what it is. And so I poured her a cup and she drank it. And then my son it asked for a cup. So he had a nice big tall. Hey, Margie, what's up about time you got here now everyone can relax. Good, good, good. Just you guys know ran a 10 minute time limit to go here on the show. So I'm going to try to bust through this as quickly as I can. So now we're at a half a two liter, half a two liter. Yeah. So now the idea is when the two liters gone, the Diet Coke is gone. Okay. So fast forward a day or two, she hasn't had any diet coke. So she's like, She's like, bring me the two liter. So I bring the two liter. And I don't know if she dropped it. I don't know what happened. All I know is I gave her the two liter I walked back into the kitchen, and I heard Fuck, and I'm like, She's like, God dammit. No more fucking Diet Coke. And I'm like, Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I said What happened? She just spilled it on my laptop. I'm like, Oh my fucking god. This is like this. This is an HP elite book and ah, and I saw I ran into I ran in there with a towel. I grabbed the towel. She had a flip. Dover's, she flipped it over as soon as she spilled it. So she had it flipped over so that like, hopefully the coke wouldn't get deep into the computer. Right? So she flipped it over. I said, Did you power it off and she'll shit no. And so she held on the power bunch of power it off, I bring in this towel, and I'm wiping off the keys. I'm doing everything that I can. And I'm still here. So I ran into my office and I grabbed the WD 40. Electronic contact cleaner. I've talked about that on the show before. And essentially, I'm hoping that if I hose down the keyboard, that and she flips it over, maybe it'll dilute the Diet Coke and they won't because you know what's going to happen, right? Even if it's not dead, the keys are going to stick it's going to be completely useless. It's like fuck. So I sprayed down with it. I drench it pretty well with the electronics cleaner. And then I said that well, this will evaporate. Hopefully it'll take some of the nonsense with it. So I took it outside and I put it outside because it was like, you know, six degrees or something outside, I put it outside to dry. She goes and checks on and about an hour. The keys on the keyboard are starting to pop off. I mean literally just like popcorn. 123 10 keys, maybe more, have popped off or just loose and I'm like, fuck. So I'm looking at how to put these keys back on and they're not there. They're not going back on and I'm like, oh my god. So now now I am online on YouTube and she you know, she's almost to the verge of tears. So she feels like totally bad about it. Yeah, the caffeine might speed it up. So anyway, so I'm like well, so I got the I got the unit. I brought it back into the house. I tried to put the keys back on and they're not going back on. But on a good note that I powered it up and I plugged the keyboard in and everything. I mean, there Some keys that were like, like stuttering and stuff, but it didn't look like there was any real damage. So I look up on YouTube. I'm curious. I mean, a lot of these laptops, especially cheap, shitty ones from Walmart, not designed to be repaired, right? They're designed to be thrown away. Well, HP gets a clean clear page in my thought book because I went online I looked up the make and model and that keyboard is actually designed to be replaced now I know this is madness, I would have never thought that a laptop keyboard was designed to be replaced by an end user. So I'm watching this video I'm going shit. I can do this. I mean, I'm no micro technology kind of guy, right? I mean, I'm not going to open a cell phone repair it at the micro level on the board but shit this is like 10 screws and free ribbon cables and not even hard. They find it hard to plug in ribbon cables. hopped up on eBay, I'm looking for an OEM keyboard turned out to be like 21 bucks. So I ordered the keyboard. I got it in on Saturday, this last Saturday. And I followed the video to the letter I replaced the wife's keyboard. And I am happy to report that the laptop is now as good as new. So I told my wife, I said, have we learned anything from this? Are we do we got anything going on here? Is this is this a wake up call? Are we going to change our behavior? And the answer is pretty much no so I'm expecting that I mean, I bought myself maybe another six months but anyway, I there was a happy end of the story for a change in the great electronics Bermuda triangle that is my house. I'm sure something else terrible will happen in the near future with electronics but in this case, we dodged a bullet. It only cost me 25 bucks and an hour of my time and my wife Unfortunately had no, she actually used it with the keys off for a while once it kind of dried in the key stop freaking out. She actually ended up using it a little bit and she was I think she looked at it as a punishment. So she was very displeased to not have that. So hopefully that'll least last a couple of months. So there you go. The story of the destroyed keyboard. Wife trashes another notebook, Don. Let's see a quick update. I told you on the last show that I was switched to the brave browser. I'm happy to report I'm still pleased with it. I am still using it as my daily driver. So it looks like looks like we're going to be here to stay. According to their statistics, they've saved me seven minutes of ad traffic and other nonsense so I can thank them for getting seven minutes of my life back providing that's actually accurate, which doesn't would not surprise me. You've seen how long pages load when there's as in shit on him. It does not it would not surprise me in the least. I was recently given the opportunity to make a purchase for a very nice collectible coffee table book called Art Kade AR t ca D. This is a European book. And it's it's, it looked beautiful. It was like 40 bucks, which is a little pricey for a book. And yeah, opera gx is what I moved away from. And I think I talked about it on an earlier show. Opera has a couple of little nuances that was pissing me off. But brave does not have the same problem. So it's just like opera. It's using the same fastest hell engine. But I get the privacy tracking built in and I also do not have the nuances that opera gx had problems with. So anyway, so this arcade book, I ordered it from overseas so it took a couple weeks to get here. And this is a visual coffee table book. It's long. It's interesting looking book It's very well crafted, it's not cheap and shitty. It is. It's like landscape. It's like super cinema scope, you know, like, you know, like regular landscape or in a movie is like 185 to one ratio. This is like super cinema scope is like 235 to one ratio. So the book is long as hell not as tall. And inside is a collection of artwork from arcade games, right? I'm talking about marquees side art. Absolutely beautiful. And to just sit there and pan through this book, high quality paper, high quality construction. It feels fantastic in your lap. I took some pictures of it and shared it for those of you who have it. Yeah, Mercury ratio. Exactly. And I gotta say it is a gorgeous book. If you're if you're looking for something. It's not super unusual, but it's unusual enough that like, if You if you're looking for something for, like an office like a, like a receptionist for the doctor, if you're, you know, if you're looking for something unusual and amazing to put on that table, you're looking for something for your home. Or you're just looking to have something really, really cool. It looks. Yeah, it's great. Bruce said, Have you seen it? It's a great book. And I highly recommend it. It is a little pricey, but it's heavy, right? And so when I bought it, it was like $39, including the shipping. So it wasn't I mean, it's like 10 bucks, at least to ship that thing. Maybe more. So anyway, it's a really neat book and I wanted to share it with you. Now this is fantastic. I love you to the chat get to the arcade book. Maria loves it. She puts it on the book. She puts the book on the calendar. I had a maid move it all the time. I love it. Fantastic. Okay, I got like one minute left to have anything on my list, but I can talk about for one minute. The answer is no. Next episode, I'm going to tell you About the C 64 carousel tool, the C 64. Mini as you know in the Maxi, I just got a maxi. That comes with 64 built in games, these games are hard coded into the ROM, you can add more games by inserting an SD card or a flash drive. And you have to go through this kind of hokey ass interface. A team of hackers from Norway speaking of opera, hackers from Norway had figured out the reverse engineered the firmware upgrade process and has made a tool that makes it possible for you to inject your own games and your own metadata along with screenshots and covers directly into the firmware of the C 64. Mini. And there's room for like 150 games in that memory. So that means you can wipe all of the shit that came with it and putting your own complete lineup of games. And it is fantastic. I am a beta tester for the tool. I will be I've just made an 80 game carousel completely of my own top 100, Commodore 64 games, I shared some video of it on my channel on YouTube, of it in of how it looks and all that good stuff. I've been authorized by the developer to produce the first fully top to bottom front to back tutorial video. And that will be coming soon. The final release candidate in the product is expected later this week. And it's such time I will go in that will make a complete, how to get the artifacts, how to get the games, how to create snapshots of the game so you can skip intros, I've got a whole bunch of amazing things to share with you on my journey to creating this this perfect Commodore 64 carousel. So you will want to stay tuned for that. I will tell you more about that next time. I've got to get up Here in order my wife food, or I will not be coming home to a happy house. This is Shane Armin row passenger seat radio. We will see you next time. Take care everybody.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
