Rick seeks out advice from new- and used-in-ground pool salesman Maxwell Pool (Hank Nooney), only to find out the pool magnate's business might not totally be above board. Music: Noir Theme by The PK Jazz Collective
Music:
Noir Theme by The PK Jazz Collective
Hank 0:06
The ancient Greeks knew what it meant to be a man. Just look at their statues. In those days been follow spears and arrows built massive structures that have metal and stone and taught their apprentices some of life's most difficult lessons. More importantly, they luxuriated in pools. Hello, I am Maxwell pool owner and proprietor of pools pools. Let's face it, you know I must commend as you were back then, and your wife, she knows it. You don't want to leave so why not add a pool for the relaxing and forget how much of a wimp she really thinks you are here at pools pools we have steady, New And Used in ground pools make you feel like a man. Come visit us at 164 Main Street for a free consultation and chance to save that crumbling marriage of yours.
rick 0:59
Hello, my name is Rick McNamara. I'm a 55 year old retired printer salesman and lifelong above ground pool owner. However, recent events have forced me to make a lifestyle change and transition into the role of an inground pool owner. Previously on what whatever we whatever we decide, I forgot what it's called. That cool skill with the cool black Exxon is cool Red Hat told me that there had been an avalanche on the north side of the mountain and that my wife and son were missing. They were presumed dead and their bodies will never cover. One month ago, I was skimming the pool when I got spooked by a very big dog causing me to fall hot into the wall of the pool, which in turn caused the pool to collapse and spill almost 6000 gallons of water into my basement and my neighbor's garage ruining among other things, my vintage baseball card collection. And then to the right of Gumby. We have a second Pep boy. Oh mocks Pep mock Pep. Didn't they didn't care for the third one. Yeah, I wonder who they're gonna get to replace him. That's a word. My son My son called himself. I hate these before you know. So which it's across from the dog park. And right next to the dairy. I think that place just burned down. What? As chicken tag? blank tech, not helpful. Episode Two, industry Insider. Having owned an above ground pool for as long as I can remember. I don't know the first thing about inground pool construction. Do I dig the hole first and put the pool inside? Do I just build a really heavy above ground pool and gradually let it sink into the earth? Do I have to pay more taxes on an inground pool? I'm not a political man, but I'll vote for anybody who makes it so I have to pay less taxes. I'm currently taxed at a 51% rate as reparations but accidentally making what the IRS has called uncharitable donation. So I decided to talk to an expert. I drove down to pools pools on Main Street and pick the brain of company owner Maxwell pool. Once again, I got a little bit more than I bargained for.
Excuse me, sir. Is this Do you work here?
Unknown Speaker 3:55
This is my store.
rick 3:58
Oh wow. Very it's it's huge. It's it's very impressive. Can I can I ask your name sir?
Unknown Speaker 4:06
Well, as you can see on the store name Matt, this is a pools pools and I am Maxwell pool.
rick 4:12
Maxwell pool. That's a very often those kind of name so well. You know, they say the name makes the man and I make pools. I understand. I understand I've been there. I used to work as at McNamara's construction warehouse. And in Walton I'm sorry, my name is My name is Rick McNamara. And sorry before I forget, full disclosure, I am recording this conversation right now because I am recording a podcast you see I was a I was a above ground pool man for a long time. And I eventually due to recent events in my life, have been forced to convert to a inground pool, which is a huge change for me. So I'm trying to document through making this podcast so Is that okay with you if I were
Unknown Speaker 5:05
my grant my grandchildren say I have a voice for the radio so Sophia, I'm flattered
rick 5:11
you do have a beautiful voice and you don't look that old I would not have guessed you had grandchildren
Unknown Speaker 5:17
well my daughter had a teen pregnancy was very thank you for asking about that. It was very hard time in our lives. You know she was maybe 1415 and much older boyfriends you know, and I wander about it I said he sees 27 years old you know, you can't date up you know, and I mean and but I love my grandchildren and they tell me my voice is beautiful they tell me it's deep and I you know, I love them very much.
rick 5:43
It's interesting how it became almost Woody Allen s describing that inappropriate relationship in a minor in an adult
Unknown Speaker 5:53
Well, I say that's the you know, my father was Jewish my mother you know was not so the you know, that's they say
rick 6:03
I can't refute that as I've not heard anyone say it and I again I cannot prove a negative so but anyway Sir, I came down here today to kind of I am a total outsider when it comes to inground pools and I was hoping that you might be able to show me kind of some of the show me the ropes a little bit when it comes to inground pools.
Unknown Speaker 6:29
I'll show you the ropes or share the noodles I'll show you the chlorine that you need to put in it because let me tell you above ground pools you know they're good for first time husband with your first wife You don't know what you're doing. If you're messing up half your kids up in ground pools are for the big man second wife new set of kids this is when you get it right you get it right right now coming into my shop. Okay, so what would ask me any questions? What do you need to know?
rick 6:57
Well, firstly, I don't I don't plan on taking a second wife. My wife and son were tragically lost and presumed dead in a avalanche five years ago, almost to the day and no I'm sorry to bring that up but I I'm I'm fine with it. I've moved on. I didn't mean to be a downer. But so. So what what I'm kind of looking for is is almost almost like a midlife crisis kind of thing. I want the Corvette of pools. No, no, I want the Corvette have in ground pools. This
Unknown Speaker 7:36
is this is midlife crisis, late life crisis. indiv life crisis. I have the pool for you. Okay, so let's let's talk pool shapes. Okay, the midlife crisis pool. perfect shape is something like an infinity symbol. Okay. It's like two bubbles at the end. Okay. This is like
rick 7:53
an eight even
Unknown Speaker 7:54
Yeah, like an eight. And you you know, this is what I don't know what kind of God you have. What kind of space are we looking at? Because what I'm thinking, Okay, is you swimming perfect. Do you feel edges? Do you think infinity is God's bow tie? Listen, I don't I don't believe in God, but I believe in selling this pool. Okay, so I'm thinking long loops. Long, long loops. Middle of the yard. Okay. I don't know what yard space you're looking at. But any of it. The whole yard devoted to the school. I got.
rick 8:27
I got probably a medium yard. I got like a man like a it's like a blue collar. Yeah, but it's, it's in a pretty good neighborhood. Okay, okay,
Unknown Speaker 8:39
let's good thing. It's in a good neighborhood. Okay.
rick 8:42
It's got a lot of trees in the so it's, we're gonna have to cut some of those trees down. We're gonna have to cut some of those trees down. Okay, so let's Oh, well that. So then I then I run into an issue because I like to swim at 62 degrees exactly whenever I can, because that's the perfect temperature to swim in the water on a hot day. And so I would I part of my strategy is I have so many trees in my yard that creates great shade in my yard. So how do I if I'm gonna cut down these trees, I got to find a way to replace it because we I can't cool down the pool but I can heat it up to 62 if it's cold. Well it
Unknown Speaker 9:22
is isn't it? This is your lucky day because we have sunshades Okay, whatever shape the pool is I have a perfectly shaped sunshade to go for it. Okay, now it is about the price of the original pool but but it's a worthwhile if you occur if you're concerned about temperature which I am to. It is a worthwhile purchase.
rick 9:42
What you're concerned about temperature, what kind of temperatures do what what kind of temperatures do people who own inground pools swimming because I'm again, I'm new to this world. Maybe the inground pool has a better temperature to swim in than 62 degrees. I doubt it. But
Unknown Speaker 10:00
I want my pools. He did. Okay. My children are very young. My wife is very young. Okay. People like to judge. I don't judge. It's my second wife. Okay, what are you gonna do? Okay? So my young wife and I, you know, we like to go swimming 7580 degrees. I want to be boiling in there. It gets my skin very red very flushed. Okay, well it takes away a couple of those wrinkles couple those, you know, little of the gabagool is collected on my face over the last few years like that you understand? You're about my age. You know what it's like as you get older.
Unknown Speaker 10:33
I'm God, Jesus. Well, I
rick 10:36
you Okay, you just swallowed a hole? You just swallow the whole jawbreaker?
Unknown Speaker 10:41
Listen, I I'm like a snake. I can swallow. I can I dig dislocate my jaw?
rick 10:48
Whoa, how did how does that were you born like that? Or was that a set of new a trade? Yeah, well, you know, I have a certain I have a condition. Okay, I just don't discuss it with every, you know, Joe Schmo coming in here. But I do have a condition that you know, I have a looser job and most it's called loose jaw disease. Okay. Is that something that that I can get? Because I have a hard time. I I like to eat. I tried to swallow a full meatloaf one time on a day and I course really fucked up my jaw. Sorry, EFF up my jaw tremendously. And so I've never really recovered. So if that's something I could do,
Unknown Speaker 11:29
I just loosen up the job and listen, I know a guy I don't know too many doctors but I know a couple a couple handyman. And I know a guy who can loosen up he just got a he's got a garage. Okay, and I know this sounds a little below board and he does only take cash. But he's got a garage. He's got some pliers. He's got a little machine that's something like a drill. But with, you know, a couple little attachments on the end of it. And he does drill, like a drill but like an extra drill. Okay, a drill and a half is what he calls it. And it's got a few other attachments on there. And let me tell you, you want your job loosened up. He can loosen the old Jai can loosen. Loosen your teeth do okay. Very rough man. Not, you know, not not very patient focused.
rick 12:18
So how did you get into the pool business? Because you seem you see more rough and tumble than I expected from a an above ground or below an inground pool kind of guy. I'm sorry. It's getting you it's getting I'm getting used to say in that.
Unknown Speaker 12:34
So let me tell you let me tell you a story. I was a sub above ground pools let's say okay, I'm not proud of it. I'm not proud of it. I would I would take a banded once. One of the most frequently abandoned household luxuries is the above ground pool. Okay? Because this shit, they're bad. Okay.
rick 12:52
Oh, and I don't know, I disagree. I still love about
Unknown Speaker 12:57
shit, this shit and your shit if you like them, okay. And I would take them the abandoned ones. And I'd rehabilitate them. Okay, I, you know, put a slap a new coat of paint on it, slap some new boards on it. Okay, you know, put it out, you know, install it in someone's house for half price. Okay, that was my initial job. And I got forced out. Okay, there's a union out there. There's a union out there has certain rules. And one of the rules is you can't just steal abandoned pools and reuse them. It's unsanitary. Okay. That's one of the rules. Another rule. Second Rule is don't sell pools and someone else's stuff. Okay, listen, I was parking in front of my Gary's pool store. Okay, you know where it is, is on Scottsdale Boulevard. I parked in front of there and, you know, big pool in my truck. And I'd say hey, pool for 60 bucks, a installation, installation fee, five hundo. That's really clever. Very clever. Also against the rules for the pool union. So they took my union card, they said we never want to see you in a pool that's above the ground ever again. Okay. So every time I get in the pool, I have to take a ruler and measure out how many feet it is underground.
rick 14:20
That's a that's harrowing. I'm sorry to hear that. It it just it seems to me like you wouldn't have had a How did you even get into the union? You? You're just stealing
Unknown Speaker 14:35
rules. Well, listen, Okay, listen, this is a different time. Okay. This is the 1970s 1980s you know, the union. It was very powerful at the time, okay. And my mentor, a man named my name mentor was a man named Robbie Kenna, volare. Okay, you heard of him Bobby's pools Ah,
rick 14:57
I believe I have Heard of Bobby kind of all a but not I didn't know he did pool so I thought he was mostly a very talented actor.
Unknown Speaker 15:08
This isn't the same. This isn't the same Bobby cannavale Okay, this is this is Bobby's fools, okay, maybe they're related cousins, fathers, you know five twins Okay, that's tough if you and your brother named your kid the same name well, you know it listen well actually, my brother's name is Maxwell as well.
rick 15:31
Whoa. So who named to first there was a you both popped out on the same at the same time kind of thing.
Unknown Speaker 15:37
No, my brother died of rheumatism as a young baby. And they just use the name again. I guess they couldn't think of another one when I was born. Oh, the grief. I mean, my mother was she couldn't leave a bed for two years. You know, even when when I was born, she just lay there. The doctor said he had never seen a lower energy birth.
rick 16:01
Um, so for this pool,
Unknown Speaker 16:05
Bobby's pool
rick 16:07
for for but for from the pool I'm looking for Okay, I guess is I'm looking for something more in the in the classical pool kind of feel to it. I I don't know if I can do an infinity pool. I get scared at edges. Especially since my last pool my above ground collapsed because I was skimming the pool. And an adult big dog scared me and I fell into the wall and it collapsed. So part of what I'm looking for is something with that can't happen again. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 16:45
I have you Okay. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 16:48
oval, perfect oval. Okay. Both dovo. Small, shallow, little bit shallow. And I usually use this for my more elderly people. Okay. Because, you know, you know what, Granny, you want to walk outside see granny flow to the pool the wrong way up. I'm saying it's happened quite a few times. And
rick 17:09
that's tragic.
Unknown Speaker 17:10
Oh, it's when wasn't my granny. So?
Unknown Speaker 17:14
Listen, okay. Maybe shallow. Three, four feet, four feet. Okay. And I'm thinking, you know, oval 30 feet around. Okay. This is a very small compact pool. Okay. You kids can play in it. I know. You don't have any Sorry about that. The avalanche? Very hard to hear. Okay. So you know, if you have any kids, you just hang out with your friends with they could play in it, though.
rick 17:41
Yeah, I would love to get something that I think the neighborhood could use to and yeah, I could just maintain and it'd be like a public pool. But for my yacht. You see, I don't, I don't get a lot of visitors lately. I just feel like I've been, you know, since I retired, I was I was a printer salesman. You know, it's been, it's been a little bit lonely, you know? So part of it is, I want something, you know, fun for the whole family. And so I'm looking for more ways to keep it fun. So where do you store? Where do you store these pools? So they all are backwards? What is it like? Oh, I see you got a big catalog here. So
Unknown Speaker 18:27
big catalog, big catalog?
rick 18:29
Yeah, no, I wrote it. It's occurring to me now that you wouldn't be able to keep full pools in a store. Unfortunately, now that'd
Unknown Speaker 18:36
be a store in heaven is a story.
rick 18:39
Tell me about it? Oh, man, I just swim all day. It'd be like a mattress store, but you try them out by swimming in them. That'd be fun. I like math. I like mattress stores a lot. I like, I go in there and I test the firmness and I, I I don't lie down on him ever. Because I think that's gross. But I like to look, you know, I like to
Unknown Speaker 19:02
my wife and I would my first wife and I would just cuddle on the mattresses for hours at a time. And they'd say leave and we'd say Don't worry. We're buying all of them. And they'd say, really? We'd say no.
rick 19:14
That's, that's a pretty mean trick to play on the minimum wage employed in their district. pretty dirty trick. It Hey, whatever you got to do, man to keep the romance alive. Love alive. Well, it sounds like you and you're sorry, you sounds like you and your first wife really had something what what happened that
Unknown Speaker 19:36
I had the first wife. You know, she, you know, we were kind of living on two different planets. You know what I mean? Maybe she was on mercury. And I was on Mars. You know what I mean? Maybe she was on Pluto. And I was on a regular planet, not a dwarf planet, you know? Or maybe she was on, you know, Aquarius, and I was on regular Jupiter. You know, Oh, she was on the moon. And I was on the fucking Earth. You know what I mean? I mean, she was she was she had the body of she had the body of like, I thought,
rick 20:14
Oh, I, I know you're about to say sent a lot, but I think I just felt like I needed to clarify. Is Aquarius a planet? I'm not a I'm not a guy.
Unknown Speaker 20:28
Yeah, no Aquarius is the fucking plant. Why would it? Why would it be the space if it was the fucking planet?
rick 20:34
I I again, I'm not a space guy. I don't know the answers. I'm just wondering what the deal is. But your pools. I'm torn on. I'm torn on this feature. I'm torn on the waterfall. I think that the waterfall is super, is a super cool idea. But I think it could lead to catastrophe. You see, my my yard has no natural drainage, which was part of the problem. So I'm worried about the the waterfall causing issues. I'm worried about basically any moving parts. So what do you do when someone's yard has no drainage? And, and they want to have an exciting fun pool for the neighborhood. But they also and they don't want to be boring, but they also you know, they need they need something that won't ruin another person's vintage baseball cards.
Unknown Speaker 21:31
Well, let me tell you, let me say what we do.
Unknown Speaker 21:35
We build a
Unknown Speaker 21:36
fairly complex system. Okay. I know a guy. Okay. He does pipes. He's a pipe guy. Okay. And not just the pipes he could build okay. Okay, let's just say is it different kinds of pipes do and he can build a complex system of pipes that goes through your grass. Okay. We cover it up with more grass. I know a sod guy too. Okay. And, you know, we, you know, we have those pipes. We lead them all the way out to the sewer outside. Okay, outside your house. Okay. complex system of pipes, hidden pipes. And let's just say let's look two ways while doing the mower. Okay, but it's a very effective system. I use it 100 times.
rick 22:21
So I don't that didn't answer my question, really at all. I was just kind of wondering like, what kind of features would be safe for me if my
Unknown Speaker 22:32
Yeah, prone to flooding and my basement. I have the safest waterfalls in the world. Okay, the safest waterfalls and the safest pools. I had the safest drains, okay, in the in the world. So no worries above ground pool. Listen, you're playing Russian roulette with six bullets in the chamber. Okay. It was inevitable. Isn't that a bad thing? Yeah, it's a bad thing. With that above ground pool. You had a gun to your head, six bullets in the chamber. And you were saying, I wonder if I'll be okay. You weren't? Okay. The gun went off six times. Okay. into a dead man skull. Now I have a gun that is empty. Okay, which gun? Would you rather put the ad the one that's empty? The one that's full?
rick 23:20
Well, definitely the one that's empty. I'm just confused if we're following this metaphor, how the other five bullets got into my head after the first one? Well, you know, I mean, I think I don't know how much you've read about what dead bodies do after the body, you know, after the brain is gone, but they can still repeat mechanical actions for some time. So maybe, somehow the muscles in the in the hand was still working and just fired six times into the skull. Jesus, that's, that's a thought. Because it's also like, what happens when we die? You know? Yeah. And that's part of the thing that's, I think, scariest to me, especially having lost my wife and son having them presumed dead, is that I don't even know where they are right now. You know, I, all I know is that a guy in a hat told me you know, they're gone. And, and I'll never know. And so that's part of it for me, and that is definitely tainted my enjoyment of the pool. So I mean, if you have any, if you have any strategies as to how to, you know, enjoy the pool without feeling guilty, because it seems you seem like a guy who's seen some loss. I see some loss and
Unknown Speaker 24:37
yet I have not lost, okay, that's my deal. Okay with myself, is that no matter how much I lose, I am not lost myself. Okay. It might not seem like it, but I'm very self actualized man, okay. And, you know, I focus on myself. I say, I look at myself in the pool. And I look at this pool and I say, I am but I'm Little bit of a little bit of hair and flesh in this water, okay? Now I don't I don't know where your wife and your kid are okay? I don't even really care when you leave. I'll forget about you. I won't think about this again. But But think about the pool. Think about immersing yourself in something, something large, something big. Okay. And, you know, even if then No way, they were somewhere. Once you know,
rick 25:25
God, you're cool.
Unknown Speaker 25:27
Thanks. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 25:28
I'm just in you like a rock star of this pool sales thing. This comes my next question, because I'm trying to figure out the financing of something like this is it says you got a you got deals on New And Used pools, but you said yourself, you don't sell above grounds anymore. So how do you do a used inground pool? I turned 45. I went through a little bit of a crisis, maybe like the one you're going through right now, except for the missing wife and the kid. Um, when I was 45, I, you know, I said to myself, What if I become just building pools for people? And I went back to my old ways. And so what I do is I go to, I go to houses that have foreclosed on, okay. I look at that concrete, concrete is very expensive. Okay, I get a jackhammer. And they get, you know, some of the toughest men I know, with big sledgehammers, and we break that pool up, we put it back together, and another yard, okay. And in some ways, much more time consuming than just building a new pool. Because we have to perfectly dig a hole that perfectly mirrors the dimensions of the original pool. It's a very precise process. And, you know, people say, what do you do it, you know, it's it's much more overhead more time, and I sell it for much less. So it's cheaper than my normal pools. And I do it, I do it for the love. I do it for the passion. Okay. You know, why does? Why does LeBron James shoot that ball? You know, he doesn't do it for the money. He does it for the love. Where are you meeting all these tough guys is my other question because I I don't know very many, like tough, cool dudes to help me. You know, dig holes and stuff. And it seems like you have this network of, of, you know, unsavory characters and, and strong men at your disposal. And I don't want to jump to conclusions. But do you have sort of an explanation as to where you meet these guys? Well, listen, I I you go to the gym much you could shape
rick 27:42
me. I go to the gym. I use the elliptical a lot at the gym. And sometimes I'll do I'll do some stuff with the medicine ball and some stretching. But plant I usually go on pizza days to Planet Fitness because they sometimes this is true bringing a big pizza for everybody. While they're working out you can eat the greasiest pizza your life right at the front of the Planet Fitness. So but but most of the time, I just go and I do Oh, I do some calf raises too. I started doing those recently. So I have these big fat calves from working out and you know, those just soak through my cargo shorts.
Unknown Speaker 28:31
Um, okay, well, I don't go to the gym, but I go to the gym saunas. I've been going for years. Okay. And you meet people? Is that the is that the hot room?
rick 28:42
Yeah, the hot. Oh, okay. Sometimes if I if I have, you know, a second slice of pizza that I'm not ready to eat. I'll put that in then and wait. like to keep it warm.
Unknown Speaker 28:54
So
rick 28:55
I just called it the hot room though.
Unknown Speaker 28:57
Well, I call it the sauna. And I go to the sun. I sit there I sit there and I put my towel on I sit there and you meet all kinds of customers there. Okay, you meet guys that are into pools. You mean guys that are into their into their into pipes. You meet guys that are into drills. Okay? And so first guy, you know comes in there I said what are you into? What are you into? What's your thing? Okay, more often than not this thing works with my thing. Oh, you're in the hammers. Come on. I get some to smash up for you. Okay, you went to you know you're in the drills say loosen my job a little bit. Okay. So you know that's I'm Asana guy.
rick 29:42
It sounds like the kinds of guys you meet. I don't want to jump to conclusions but Mario fill ins
Unknown Speaker 29:51
is a big into pipes and hammers and drills. Well, you know, we nicknamed one of our friends turtle off That show entourage which, let me tell you very funny show.
rick 30:03
It's a great job. Great show. It's, it's just like it's, it's so it's so down to earth. You know?
Unknown Speaker 30:12
It's like, which the characters do identify with the most. I don't fucking
rick 30:16
know, bro. I can't tell them apart so I can't tell you.
Unknown Speaker 30:21
But yeah, so you know my answer, Raj. Yeah, this sauna guys.
rick 30:26
The song The song saw entourage that entourage? t shirts.
Unknown Speaker 30:32
Yeah, no and it's all the characters from
Unknown Speaker 30:35
entourage but with all faces on them.
rick 30:37
Yeah. And towels over that ding dongs towels. Oh, they will get dead naked photos of all the cast and then put towels over there. Dig dogs? And then maybe I'm coming in to grab my slice of pizza on the shirt. Yeah, maybe maybe. Yeah, well, yeah, I guess it's your shirt. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to buy shit. It's my mind. Do you mind showing me some of these? So I see you got a bunch of tile samples in the back for you know, maybe a stucco or something in the back? for the for the pool area. So do you mind showing me what what kind of what we got here?
Unknown Speaker 31:14
No. Um, we're not going to show you.
Unknown Speaker 31:18
I'm sure. Um,
Unknown Speaker 31:23
yeah, what kind of style Are you interested in?
rick 31:26
Well, I'm nervous about this bathroom tile, because I think that's gonna get slippery, you know, around a pool. So I'm looking more for like a stucco with something that's gonna make it so my feet. My wet feet can kind of grip and I don't fall.
Unknown Speaker 31:43
Okay, okay. I mean, I'm thinking, you know, in my, you know, I have a pool at home. I built it myself. And I have something more like, it's, it's not really stucco at all. It's more like a mosaic, like a Greek mosaic of like a warrior fighting some big monster. That's my my thing at home. But
rick 32:04
yeah, we can get a little great. For the listeners. He just showed me a picture on his phone. It's gorgeous. It's It's huge. And it's pretty erotic to look at. I'll be honest.
Unknown Speaker 32:17
But we can get you a cute little little stucco.
rick 32:18
What? Is there a reason? Would you prefer the stucco? Do you recommend the stucco over the mosaic?
Unknown Speaker 32:26
To you? I'd recommend the stucco.
rick 32:29
Oh, there's a Why?
Unknown Speaker 32:34
Well, you know, I think, you know, the, in some ways, yet the in the Mosaic, you know, and I think, you know, the mosaic is something that, you know, it's only a few of my friends I've even really given it to. So I think,
Unknown Speaker 32:48
you know, I think
rick 32:49
I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. Okay, so I stuck out I'll do stucco and then I mean, what kind of what kind of tile? Would you recommend for the inside? Do you do tile on the inside? You do like a lining. I've seen some pools do like a lining on the inside
Unknown Speaker 33:07
to a pretty we have a pretty extensive tiling system. And yeah, we do some, you know, perhaps some, some tasteful, you know, tile, you know, busy. I'm very good at grouting
rick 33:20
the grouting. So, and this is Second you, you mentioned you put in your own pool? What was that like? And sort of how did your family you know, feel about you digging up the yard and all that stuff. But I think because my wife was always nagging me about going in ground and which is part of why I'm, I'm so ready to do this. Now. This is a tricky one. Yeah. So did your family have sort of the same kind of feelings about putting in a pool where they resistant at all?
Unknown Speaker 33:57
Uh, well, I'll say What? My first wife, you know, she'd left me, okay. she divorced me. She dumped me. Okay. And I was, you know, going through a lot. And, you know, I sometimes, uh, sometimes the sunniest days, would would just look great to me, you know, and so I started looking into the, the old warriors, the Greek warriors, you know, and sort of thinking about, you know, what was Hercules thinking when his family left them when he killed him? Okay. And I'm reading these myths, and I'm thinking maybe I'm a little like, Hercules, you know, I'm a little luckier, you know, maybe I'm not the strongest, maybe I'm not the smartest. Okay. But, you know, there's something in me, you know, I'm, I, you know, there's this, I
Unknown Speaker 34:39
come back. And
Unknown Speaker 34:42
so, I was alone in the house, you taking the kids? And there was no one even to you know, I was like you I was alone, okay, and there was no one to tell me not to put a mosaic of Hercules slaughtering. You know, one of the great the great geese. You know, the great Greek piece? And, you know, so, uh, yeah, it's, uh, you know, pretty, you know, I spent a lot of my my fortune on it. And it's a, it's a large mosaic of Hercules slaughtering the biess a large mosaic of a king David, you know, killing Goliath that kind of mixed up my religions a little bit. And then I have a big, big idol actually have a big a large, pretty large prayer shrine to, you know, Athena.
rick 35:33
Well, that's pretty Oh, that's the picture. The picture really helps. That's huge. Yeah, that's pretty rad. I had a, I had a golden calf for a brief time. Okay. But my wife made me get rid of it, obviously. Because not because it was, you know, upsetting to her. She's not religious. she just, she had a bad accident with a Matador. And, you know, it was triggering for her to have the golden calf in there. So, I guess, again, you're really hyper focusing on I was just wondering, you know, because I miss my family a lot, sort of what what kind of things they would like, versus what kind of like what what do families look for in a pool? What did your family look for in a pool? Because right now, it just kind of sounds like you've described what is a project in absolute vanity? So I'm just kind of curious as to what might, what what they think about things What are they happy? How did you meet your new wife, by the way,
Unknown Speaker 36:45
my new wife and metta I met her at the matter, you know, my new wife. I was driving along the street. And I I stopped at a fast food place, you know, and I was eating a burger. Okay, you know, burger. And I went home.
rick 37:07
I'm sorry. Which fast food place was this? I thought it Oh, my God. No, God.
Unknown Speaker 37:12
stepped in churches. Chicken.
rick 37:15
Chicken.
Unknown Speaker 37:16
I was eating a burger. You know, I don't get the chicken there. Okay, I don't I don't eat chicken. I'm more
rick 37:21
of a jack spees man myself.
Unknown Speaker 37:25
And I was eating it and I finished it. And then I went to a Bojangles. And I got a I got the hat. I got a biscuit with ham egg and cheese on it.
rick 37:36
Okay. And I'm driving breakfast.
Unknown Speaker 37:40
Little breakfast, a little breakfast at 10pm.
rick 37:42
Did you did you eat it then because I like to go I sometimes go to McDonald's and get a mcgriddle for the next morning because I'm too tired in the morning to go order. So I save it.
Unknown Speaker 37:55
Well, I I what I do is I eat half and then I save the rest. Okay.
rick 38:01
So people don't understand how well fast food saves.
Unknown Speaker 38:06
It says very well. I mean, I still have, you know, I sometimes plan a meal plan the entire week by buying fast food ahead of time.
rick 38:15
I've done that I've done that. I also, that time my refrigerator broke, I thought I wasn't going to be able to save anything. Turns out Big Mac was still good. Three days later, I didn't even need to refrigerate it.
Unknown Speaker 38:30
So I you know, I'm eating my Bojangles and I'm trying to get it perfectly in half. So I'm not really looking at the road. And then I hit what I thought was a dear. Okay. And I get out and it is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And you know, I'm getting a little emotional talking about it. I'm sorry. But she she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And I took her to the hospital. I waited there until she regained consciousness I I nursed back to health. You know, I was there every day. And then she said my sister really needs a man. And that is the woman I married.
rick 39:09
Wow. So do you. Are you still friends friendly with the sister or the original sister?
Unknown Speaker 39:18
No, our relationship kind of fell apart. I really really really didn't take her rejected me too. Well.
rick 39:26
Yeah, you don't seem like a guy who does well with rejection. Is that no say that's very fair. You seem like a don't take no for an answer kinda guy with no. You know, probably one of the most unhealthy mindsets a human being can have very good for selling pools very well for being friends with you. Your wife, sister. Yeah, isn't Ain't that the truth? I my wife sister, my wife sister also isn't a big fan of mine. Because she well accidentally it's also car related funnily enough, I, I accidentally popped all of her tires on a minivan with a BB gun. I was trying to hit a can. And off of off of Well, are you familiar with William Tell? Of course, of course. My husband and I, her husband even started it right. It was like, Hey, Hey Tony stand against the car, we're gonna put this on your head. We're gonna put this cane on your head, and we're gonna shoot it off. And he got it first try clean. He's an he's a real alpha male, you know. And so, and then I gave it a try. And I 444 hit every single tie and deflated them all on the minute on this minivan. And which I was I was not aiming for any of the tires. I just, I don't know, I think my I think I admit, I messed up the scope of something because I was way off.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai