3 Year Retrospective
In this episode, Frank and Andy share their thoughts on three years of podcasting, stoicism, and climbing Mount Royal.
Show Notes
This is the first show that we recorded via live stream. It also marks the debut of our AI voice over talent.
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Transcription (AI Generated)
The following was generated by YouTube’s caption system.
hey Andy how it’s going good how are you
good I’m seeing a black screen and for
some reason the audios being piped
through you know are you input should be
my my camera does on the pair of B let
me try turning it off and back on again
I know you have a call so for those of
you joining us on YouTube and our
Facebook live page Andy and I are doing
an experiment and what’s data science
without experiments right Andy so true
so how’s my audio your audios awesome
okay could you hear
all right I’ve turned my camera on main
using the app that came with it so the
software that we were explaining for
folks and for you Andy I’ll bring our
listeners into this the image we haven’t
started three years ago plus or minus a
few weeks we wanted to hold off on the
celebrations for a number of reasons and
we originally envisioned this show to
become a video podcast so technology and
costs have come down that if Sumi Annie
gets his camera going we will be able to
do there we go I see yeah I am here I
found the Settings button awesome so
this is good this is good so we have the
ability now to kind of do something more
long a lot to think what we were
originally envisioned so as awesome as
you may think the show has been we
actually had even we had even grander
plans so this is just an experiment
might even put this live on the feed is
kind of like a
call it a data point how about that Andy
I like it I like that a lot because the
advantage is that because I’m using a
product called restream that I can pipe
two different output so this is actually
going to Frank’s world TV YouTube
channel our Facebook live feed and
because of the magic of automation this
is also going to be I’m actually going
to once this ends will see that it
should pick up the arm the video feed
from Facebook and then pipe that into an
mp3 file which should be ready for
upload to the scene so again it’s data
science right in data magic it’s not
science
I told that to customers a lot like you
know it’s ok to fail because it’s called
data science it’s not in Dean in the
perfection so you know and and silently
calling it science what you say well it
failed but you know we weren’t sure it
was gonna work so it’s kind of so how’s
it going I know you have a call in like
five minutes but yeah it’s I’m I’m
waiting on someone and if they if they
don’t show up that that’s ok they’re
busy it’s a regular call with with
someone who subcontracts with me and
he’s older but he is a data scientist as
well and he sometimes gets distracted
heads down that’s why you pinged me
about five minutes till the call I was
like well I got a call in five minutes
five let’s do it
I was upstairs drinking coffee when I
messaged you and I’m glad you did
this is our oh I like this Frank this is
you’re right this is our vision that’s
why we registered data-driven dot TV so
okay there’s another reason we want to
register theirs right there’s a reason
why we’re distr dot TV but the real
reason we didn’t do coms because it was
taken so well there was that full
transparency minor and convenience minor
inconvenience I turned it into a
potential opportunity to make it into a
video podcast but the and
look here we are so don’t give up on
your dreams kids that’s right no things
are things are going good here today
Franco a little busy it’s um it’s an
interesting time to be an entrepreneur
right in technology it’s it’s usually
feast or famine but there’s a lot of
factors kind of weighing in on all of
that today
I think 2020 has been that kind of year
where it’s just been you know one thing
after after another but Frank you and I
are both people of faith right and what
I say when it’s good times and bad times
is you know we’re in God’s hands and a
lot of people don’t like us mixing that
kind of stuff that way if you’re if
you’re don’t believe in God then you
know you can take the stoic approaches
um anyway I mean well and we have you
know we had I remember a couple of
people that we interviewed brought that
up brought up the stove approach Brent
those are stands out right right
Raven the last one so and in Bob Ward
spoke a lot about his face right all
right at the end of it and I’m gonna go
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I
still believe this room I mean something
I read it might have been from talev but
wasn’t in one of his books it might have
been like a tweet or something like that
you know that wars and plagues happen so
frequently in human history yet we’re
still surprised when they happen yeah
and that kind of that kind of stuck with
me and and you know if you are person of
faith Amen that’s cool if you’re not
that’s cool too we all have to live on
the same planet we did until Mars is an
option then we’ll share too but I mean
you know as someone you know you all
know I mean I don’t not everyone knows
but you know I was at the World Trade
Center I had PTSD
and one of the lasting legacies is a
PTSD is kind of the the overreaction to
stress now to say the 20/20 has been
stressful here both for family reasons
I’m kind of side this is an
understatement and you know I you know I
it’s it’s it’s very easy to cower and
kind of like just zone out and I’ve done
that like you can figure out when that
happened when if you would look at the
blog when kind of the post kind of
dipped as well as the podcast when we
didn’t record but kind of I had this
moment of of clarity that you know
reading reading uh things you know about
stoicism it was a really good book
called the obstacles the way yeah and
you know there are two things in this
world right there’s one way to look at
I’m paraphrasing but basically things
you can control and things you can you
know so things you can control
well you know laying in bed all day it’s
not kind of fix it right and things you
can’t control
you can’t do anything about it so at
some point I kind of this thought that
how can I make this how can I be a
better person despite all this how can I
be a better father how can I be a better
technologist not gonna be better like
human being just in general right
because you know I I’ve listened to a
lot of Tony Robbins over the years and
some people like him some people hate
him but one of the things he says that
the quality of your life is largely
determined by the questions you ask
yourself and we’re really off topic here
that’s okay we live in a very odd year
but I mean you know if you ask yourself
constantly why is this happening or why
is this being allowed to happen by you
know some divine entity you you’re going
to get answers that lead I think to
despair but if you ask your
self questions of how can I use this to
be a better person what can I learn from
this you’re gonna put your head in a
better place now I’m not saying that’s
gonna magically solve everything but
honestly and if falling apart isn’t
going to help anyone
it’s interesting the where you know
where the euler’s overlap between
stoicism and and faith and where they
don’t right and I think it’s you know
it’s a it makes it’s important
distinctions and I think there’s
different flavors of both stoicism enter
or is it a Venn diagram well I think
this would that you could probably get
away with a ban on this although since
we’re doing experiments let me try this
let me try this yeah do your pen thing I
see your pen I got my pen and let me
make sure customer notes I had a huge
customer engagement yesterday which is
why my LinkedIn live feed yesterday was
kind of like it was short because I had
to pick up the one of the kids from
daycare but okay I leave my frame was
pretty much melted I miss Frank and and
while you’re bringing that up no I don’t
know if the our listeners know it or not
but I’ve been doing twitch yes oh you
see that screenshot I said I I think I
did well you send me a bunch Frank let
me finish this fuck I spend I spend a
while stop forehead let me scroll up the
one I think I said there whose is it’s
not the profile one is it no let me
finish this is one of you on art there’s
another view on live there you are
alright update assurance I want to do a
joke okay do a joke so this is your
right I think it is ven em no no I
spelled it I spilled it all out because
you’ll see okay bad movies diesel it’s a
joke
I don’t know
yeah it is it is actually then and I
think it’s to ends but this is cool so
we can actually do we can go further the
original vision in terms of you know
doing architectures and stuff because
when you’re talking about data
engineering aspect especially in some of
the more esoteric kind of mathematical
concepts around data science in AI I
think having that whiteboard will be
very helpful and it’s nothing fancy I
mean it’s like it’s like literally the
cheapest Wacom tablet you can get and
and here’s here’s a good example that I
can bring it back now I can bring it
back full circle is I did a just before
I switch to my new role as an MTC
architect we did an architecture designs
us and with some company there was a
customer of mine and we were trying to
architect something on a virtual
whiteboard because we’re all virtual and
I were really struggled to draw it with
the mouse and I was already powered well
and it’s not you it’s not if the sample
rate on the mouse is like 20 to 40 times
per second and the sample rate on a pen
on the stylus system at least in Windows
is 120 so it’s not you it’s Knology so
for those that don’t know I was a tablet
PC MVP prior to joining Microsoft and
for those who don’t know I know these
things that’s why I know these things
for those who don’t know tablet PC was a
platform that prior to the iPad but I’m
gonna leave that there negativity there
so to bring it back together I kinda I
was really I fortunately the customers
happy but I was not happy with how I
performed and I was kind of like oh my
god this is my new job and you know I
wasn’t so hard in transition but I
basically was kind of like a practice
run and I felt like didn’t quite I felt
like I didn’t do my best so I kind of
you know I two options here right I can
you know I kind of thought about that
that’s though a kind of mentality of
what can I do to be better right right
it’s not a character flaw it’s just yeah
it was your first time out yeah and so I
was like well you know what I really
needed was if you could draw the diagram
because when you’re when you’re on a
webcam and you’re kind of like with a
customer and you can’t read the room
like you normally can and you’re
struggling to draw with the mouse that’s
all I say all right how can I make that
experience better so then I was like
well you know look for I’m like well I I
need the right um thing and well you
know don’t want to buy a whole new like
you know monitor thing but you know for
like 40 bucks I was able to get this
this Wacom tablet and that is
transformative you know so and I spent a
lot of time I I like to doodle sometimes
so like I got used to us I spent some
time practicing it so now you get to see
really bad jokes on now this so but I
think that’s just for me that that kind
of was like you know I was stressed out
and you know one of the advantages of
having kind of dealt with the half the
longer-term after-effects PTSD is you
have this ability to kind of stop and be
self aware mindful this I guess or self
aware and like all right why am i
feelings what right yeah and I actually
talked about this on another podcast
it’s called a rad dad podcast I’ll put a
link in the show notes where we talk
about that how like you know that was
kind of like you know helps me be a
better dad now my kids may have a
different opinion of that but but I mean
you know the context was like you know
you want to yell at the kids because you
know it’s like 30 minutes into they were
supposed to get dressed and they still
don’t have their socks on you know what
I mean right so you kind of have that
moment of like before you’re about to
yell I kind of take a deep breath I’m
like alright focus you know and that’s
kind of like it’s it should come like a
habit now and I’m sure many people will
point out times when I didn’t do it but
you know just like a I just like data
science
eighty ninety percent mom
it’s good enough for the play we are you
worried about overfitting Frank as a dad
oh I hadn’t thought of that one
mm-hmm that would be a good book series
philosophy and data science that might
work somebody should and you know just
to throw this into the mix for your kids
you’re their best and worst example of a
dad this is true Hamiltonian so is it
true you know I’d I had this experience
being a dad where I’m you know I was a
dad way too young two daughters who are
awesome and then I became a dad again I
three three children two sons then
another daughter and what I learned
going through that experience of you
know two sets of children is that it’s a
vicious trap that it really is you will
if you think about you know how good of
a dad you are and the time you’re not
spending especially if you work and most
dad’s work right um you know if there’s
this this whole thing I thought should
be spending more time with my kids and
the truth is yes probably probably most
dads should be spending more time with
their kids but the second time around I
have spent more time with my kids
I still feel guilt yeah that was the
heard that you know you know you
what’s interesting was and I go into
detail about this story I think I shared
this with you not on the podcast but
like my young girl give the two-minute
version my younger son gets in the car
after I picked off from school one day
and he’s like upset he goes oh they want
us to learn an instrument and I’m like
like anyone has time for that and I
turned to him was like really I was like
look when I gave him my stump speech
I’ll spare the audience but kind of like
you know everyone on this planet has to
the same 24 hours in the day of all the
things talent money resources anything
the only thing that’s evenly distributed
in our existence is taught Bill Gates
Warren Buffett have the same amount of
time as the poorest people in the world
it’s really about how you manage that
time now yes Bill Gates Warren Buffett
can pay people to do errands like you
know groceries have the dry cleaning
that sort of thing because what they
really what they really have learned is
to optimize their time and I kind of
went on this thing in a way that a
ten-year-old would understand what would
understand it you know and then months
later and I I just saw him roll his eyes
and kind of like I was a kid too I think
the kids are gonna understanding like I
was a kid to you like I know I know this
is a game so so like he I read over
something he’d read and was something
like you know what’s what did was a
lesson you learned recently and it was
all about like everyone has the same
time like almost verbatim my speech
which I have spared the audience you can
go to the RAD dad podcast kind of your
the whole kind of thing
very cool Frank but but yeah so I mean
it’s you know I’m excited to have the
show we’re 251 episodes in this is I
guess to 53 years let me pull up the
math here the calendar to 52 divided by
three it’s 84 shows per year bad not bad
I was hoping we hit 300 to be honest
with you yeah why it’s not just you
Frank I mean it’s you mentioned earlier
that we get in the court because it just
just stuff going on it’s been that way
here too
I mean I’ve been I’ve been slammed up
and you know I’ve been writing a little
more I last time I had a book come out
was in 2017 and had three come out that
year you’re working off a year maybe man
there may have been one that slipped
over from 20 because I was teasing you
that like you’ve been slacking you know
I have been well it’s it’s acting
artists I have four put on the air dude
cut yourself a little slack your pens to
write because if it’s a rewrite or new
it
or something like that point dude that’s
not nearly as much work as writing the
one book I wrote was a Silverlight book
and one day I will expound upon what
happened but let’s just say that when
the second edition was coming out this
was just before the Silverlight
apocalypse my employer at the time which
was not Microsoft decided that hey you
work for us
so everything intellectually you produce
is ours so what gets makes perfect sense
we’ll get a royalty without it and I’m
like I do this on my own computer on my
own time and honestly writing a book is
you don’t do it for the money and you
know and they were like well here’s what
we’ll do the second edition we’ll take
the royalties from and then we’ll give
you something and you can keep the
royalties you already have on the
existing book which I thought was nice
because I’d only worked there like three
months and the book had been out seven
months and so what I did was after some
very tense negotiations with the owners
and founders of said company I so they
called my publisher said I’m out don’t
want to do it and which and I told them
it’s like hey I know you have your
policy and I know I’m not going to read
your mind but here’s the unintended
consequence I can’t for everything I was
supposed to do a Pluralsight course
because they they basically said you
know and I’m like don’t want that don’t
want now I’m like I’m out and I said
this is what you’re doing so instead of
getting my name out there and this
company’s name out there essentially
what you’re doing is you’re squashing
any kind of thing now I know rationally
why they did that but you know the the
problem I had was they wanted me to see
their point of view when they didn’t
wouldn’t even entertain my point of view
well you know Frank I own a company
right and I’ve got people that are
associated with me here and I find that
kind of thinking very short-sighted and
it fosters bad will because even though
you’re not mentioning them by name
folks are clever they can figure it out
hey only there was some site where all
of your previous employers were linking
in to your program
oh I see what you did there I see what
you did there none I don’t wish them bad
will like yeah yeah I mean they had
their point of view my issue was like
there was another company in Richmond
that I almost worked for but they
wouldn’t work with me on I mean honestly
I wanted again this is not a cadet
session I swear
and for those who don’t know I’m from
New York right kvetch is I think it’s a
Yiddish term for complain it may be you
know what that means maybe no word but
anyway so this is not a cadet session
but you know they wanted me to work for
them I wasn’t happy where I was again
could probably figure out company this
was and there was a lot going on my life
my dad was safe he died and like so
there’s a lot going on and I basically
said all right
I understand that I make X amount more
than what you typically pay and you know
they came to me as an offer unless I
tell you what I’ll meet you halfway and
they’re like no that’s not our policy
okay let me repeat that this is where I
am today
and this is where you want me to be I’m
not happy but I’m not gonna be happy
anywhere where I think that much of a
pay cut but I’m willing to meet you
halfway and I know that it was
ultimately we’re not talking about a
massive sum of money here it wasn’t like
I mean it wasn’t a lot of money but it
was enough to be like no now fortunately
for me I met my wife who lived in
Northern Virginia and I left in Richmond
although I do miss mid low mid low was
an awesome place to live
although it’s crowded now my god we were
their only class yeah yeah it is it’s
the looks I notice autumn lips there
yeah it’s gotten crazy because looks
yeah it looks like more Jersey
um but uh cleaner and they were no
disrespect but uh I don’t know where we
were going with this but I mean I mean
but but here’s the thing this is why
this turned me off in both cases and I
think this gets into something that my
current boss or maker boss you know
Sasha Nadella he talks about empathy
right he talks about it a lot and if you
don’t know kind of the context they’re
talking about empathy it sounds very
touchy-feely kind of like okay but
empathy is not just a touchy-feely
concept it’s actually there’s a really
good book I listen to the audiobook or
never split the difference
yep and he calls it Chris Voss I think
is the author and he calls yet ethical
empathy mm-hmm which I thought if you I
can’t recommend that book enough because
it’s it’s awesome and I’ve tried I had
some of the techniques and you know
there there was somebody who was selling
of course and it was like two three
thousand dollars or so kind of mentoring
thing and I’m I don’t want to name
anyone but I’m like I really want to do
it but I I just couldn’t justify the
cost at the time and I’m just for fun
I’m like I knew I wasn’t going to do it
but I was like I said to this person I
said you know basically one of the
things that that’s in the book is you
know you you answer with how am I
supposed to do that yes and I just did
it as an experiment and work because
this person changed the payment plan so
it went from like in one warm some to
like min there was like a monthly thing
I still didn’t do it because I knew I
just didn’t have the time to commit to
it but I mean it’s just amazing so I
can’t recommend that book enough I think
he even has now a class are like the
whole thing on master class calm
we talks about the art of negotiating
yeah so this guy knows the stuff he was
a hostage negotiator for the FBI for
like 20 years so yeah he is he’s awesome
and the book is awesome
yeah and I would ask him to be on the
show but we know how that goes you know
the more I think about that so Frank and
I had a non positive experience
how’s that when we dress yes we we tried
we went after a big fish and you know
Frank I I think I own that I think
approach that I took was not well
thought out so it’s mine you swung for
the fences I can’t fault you for
swinging for the fences but I think we
also learned a lesson that people we
listened to we admire their podcasts we
admire their books we admire their
thoughts even at Meijer their protein
bars yes and you all affect clever you
could figure this out right they may not
be the awesome people that we think they
are they may have hired on awesome
people that was excited initially they
are also in a place where they may have
hired in a virtual assistant who may be
a jerk and that’s kind of what happened
where we didn’t get we won we didn’t
think about the gatekeepers to the
gatekeepers have a higher opinion of
themselves then it’s really warranted
but I will say I want to give a big
shout-out to an author who has been on
the show recently did you get what you
should get yours yet I did I have my
book so this is we got a signed book so
Bob Ward was recently on the podcast
since I’m posting this relatively soon
this is going to be probably the
previous episode he posted on this you
know he was on show it was an awesome
show definitely listened to it and I
kind of appreciate now how we got
involved with sequel server a little
more so like I’m looking through the
book oh yeah so it’s always cool to cut
another story but but he was awesome
after we hung up he goes hey you guys
you know if you don’t have a copy of
this book let me send you a signed copy
send me your address and I’m like that
was really big of him I thought that was
awesome it was it was very awesome
loving he’s a you know I like we don’t
hang out or anything
I’ve known about Bob Ward for four years
and you know seen him speak a number of
times
various past summits and and alike and
yeah I think you saw him at Tech ready
earlier this year late last year okay
probably if not the last like the
second-to-last presentation he’s given
publicly yeah it’s just that’s he posed
a very knowledgeable also very humble I
think in the way that he and I don’t
think it’s a it’s it’s false humility
years he is just that kind of guy and
I’m at that I think that that touches on
empathy right because like it does not
only is he an awesome guest but we just
want to work with him again
you know what I mean like yeah you know
so it’s kind of like you know so for
this other character we you know I see
his protein bars and shakes and in the
store and I’m like I like and every time
like they’re at Sam’s Club they’re at
Wegmans I like reach them because and
I’m like all they’re expensive and then
I’m like you can’t see this on the
podcast but you see the hand going to
touch the thing so let’s do it was
dramatic reenactment so this thing here
and I grab it and I’m like yeah that’s
funny
I still subscribe to the podcast then
like it pops up in my feet and I’m like
nah my maybe later and it’s not it the
funny thing is because it was his
handler wasn’t me enough we didn’t have
interaction with him directly and I
would posit but but I think would really
soured the milk on this was the fact
that he blocked you and me on Twitter
like yes we didn’t all right I mean I
don’t think it was I think it was his
handler I think was his handler which is
interesting because his handler that
handles his Twitter which is you know
just you know it is probably in the
three years of podcasting you can try to
keep this on topic yeah yep yep the
three years of podcasting
I anticipated a lot of things some of
them happened that wasn’t one of them
that was that we yeah so in terms of you
know you know I guess that kind of makes
this a three year retrospective
in terms of our numbers here let’s be
super transparent let’s be not let’s be
what we think other people should be
which I think might be another stoic
thing I’m liking it while you’re pulling
that up Frank I’ll say one other thing
about empathy the book I’m wrapping up
right now to get ready to go to you know
where the publisher takes it and does
everything they need to do and with a
press this takes a couple of months for
them to get it and you know between when
I’m done and then there’s a physical
copy and there’s a section in them
writing on some pieces about automation
frameworks and I have a section in there
about empathy no actually at the
introduction of it I think everything’s
a big part of software
you
Oh what no I’m back everyone can see and
hear me I’ve got a little note down oh
so there’s a little blooper then that’s
all right so I need to figure out how
this works
oh here we go here we go but there’s our
number if it is you wondering all right
now you can see it I’m sorry about that
fix that in editing but basically turned
30 we could round up but let’s just say
130 seven and a half thousand downloads
Wow
what’s really cool you can see growth so
normally our episodes would would tend
to top out around three four hundred
we’re we’re almost to the point where it
tops out at 700 actually Congrats
and what’s interesting some of them go
higher and you know this gives me more
stuff so we definitely are growing I did
notice the other day that we are somehow
delisted from Spotify so I can’t happen
I think when so we use a this is an
awesome service called podcast websites
which we’ve been using and they split up
kind of their product into two parts a
podcast hosting which is what captivate
is and I think the URL changed so when
the URL the old URL stopped work I’m not
sure they automatically handled Apple
podcast who rule I don’t think they
automatically didn’t Spotify so I do
need to redo that because hmm that was a
big source of thing so you know again
two ways to look at this right oh my god
we’re off there’s like we’re getting
numbers and we’re not Spotify imagine
what happens when we add Spotify see
thanks Mel good thinking Frank I love it
it’s all in your authenticity yeah yeah
and it’s not you know it’s not just
playing some silly game it really is
about
yourself motivated right and you know
and you and I go back and forth on this
a lot because we’re it seems like you
know one of us is up the other ones down
when we bounce around I think it’s
normal
like a good team so I think so I do I
mean you know it’s it’s we have it seems
like we have strengths and each of us
has streaks where the other one has
weaknesses except you don’t have any
weaknesses so it’s all I assure you
so speaking of both and I can’t seem to
find it that’s around here somewhere for
the art of war I gave it to my
ten-year-old to read I saw maybe it was
on Instagram I think was on Instagram
yeah and this one’s cool because there’s
those multiple copies of it and my
favorite one I don’t know where that
book is but basically you have the
original text yeah well you have the
original text in Chinese then underneath
is the English translation and then you
have kind of like over the centuries the
different commenters have kind of added
flavor to it which is really good like
you know so it’ll say by land you know
by the earth sunsuit meant this and like
they’re kind of ruminating on it because
the book itself is actually really short
yeah it’s not it’s not a lot but it’s
very pithy if your world very meaty and
but having that extra commentary really
help this one is a it has a really cool
all right now let’s go and bother me and
I can’t find it but but what’s really
cool about this one is it has this
really fancy like binding and it looks
like an old ancient like Chinese book
and stuff like very nice half of its the
original Chinese script and 1/2 is the
English translation so very cool it
looks cool it was definitely a very
Instagram friendly couple cover yeah you
know you mentioned it’s short and
there’s that’s that’s true of a lot of
books that were written centuries ago
especially before the Gutenberg press
and a lot of that is due to you know it
was a lot of work you know it’s like
it’s not like what you and I do today
like when I
I start typing in a temple you know and
work but they had to go make paper first
I was gonna say like there was no
Staples office deep no like whatever
they couldn’t go to Walmart and you know
pick up that so I think that i think
that encouraged more of a pithy
discipline and i shame for us for us in
the 21st century i think they chose
their words careful more carefully than
we would today yeah act today it’s the
opposite right what are kids taught in
school need to write 300 words on this
topic right you know and there was a
meme going around like you know in text
message you know it was like no you
wrote no and then like you know and in
an email you write no I can’t and then
like in a in and then ultimately that
the punch line was at the end it was
like unfortunately at this time due to
circumstances I find myself unable to
perform said activity you know we’re
trying to becoming more wordy because
the cost curve is not there’s no I don’t
know we’re really deviating that’s what
let’s take it back to data science okay
if you look here this is the I really
won thing I really do love about the
folks that are captivate I think the
parent company is now rebel based media
or something like that but what’s really
cool the they really feed my
visualization guy you know not my inner
visualization geek so you’ll see now
they’ve added this thing where episode
releases and you see it we have a nice
kind of up curve there yep yeah and Bob
Ward we had a pretty healthy up curve
too and let’s see if we can go back
let’s go to all-time Andy let’s see
let’s see how we look like over time oh
wow now okay I won’t let me overlay the
episodes but you’ll see like over time
he did have some good spikes and what
have some more we’re not going more I
mean if you look you know our best spike
so far has been you know within the last
12 months
yay us yep
but um sorry if you’re not seeing this
in the podcast we’ll screenshot this and
put it in the show notes and big shout
out to Andy because he does the show
notes I learned so much when I do that
because when we’re doing the show I’m
kind of in a different mode you know
kind of in hang out and I’m not really
thinking that much about it it’s not
that I’m not listening it said I’m
listening differently no no different
modes of attention – yeah and when I go
back and start going through the show
notes I’m pausing it reflecting looking
up links and stuff like that yeah there
was hurry up and do it and I hear it
again – as I had yeah so it’s like we I
think we make a good workflow team there
you know like yeah oh yeah yeah so I
like those minutes you charge in Tibet I
know
fancy charts this is kind of like
all-time obviously you know if you look
most of our downloads have been and we
kind of see this from the fan email we
get we love fan email by the way yeah we
kind of see this in a fan email is that
most of our audience is in the US with
the UK second and most of our engaged
listeners though I think are in the UK
which is interesting
yeah it’s got to be the British lady
voiceover intro that fits which which
which you know since we’re kind of doing
a three year retrospective I chose that
intentionally for several reasons one I
have a very New York it’s much more
muted now but I have a very New York
kind of accent are you sure about that
well you don’t have an accent at all but
everybody else talks funny you’re right
I didn’t want it to be too East Coast so
I wanted to kind of mellow it out and I
thought you know a generic American
accent we’ll just how do those and I’d
this lady I think shifty pop on fiverr
she’s awesome she does mostly kids work
now but I thought that would add a nice
kind of British you know posh type of
aspect to it because what
think I don’t know if a lot of British
folks know this but one Americans here a
British accent
immediately we assume that everybody is
like super educated and super
sophisticated whereas people hear me
speak right or me you know be like hey
you cuz youse guys over there you know I
don’t talk like that generally but like
oh I’m yelling at my kids I’m like you
know I can’t say that every now and then
folks if you if you don’t know this
Frank woman I I refer to it as Frank
going Jersey I’ve had him on speaker a
couple of times and I’ve had my one of
my one or more of my kids in the car and
I’m like I didn’t know I needed any he
went unders I went on Jersey pretty
quick I can kind of control it now it’s
all good I’m not judging and it makes me
laugh actually it is pretty funny we had
a pretty good we had a pretty good thing
like I think with your older son let’s
not say where he broke down his car
broke down and I was like and then I
said something you’re like oh my god he
really said that maybe we’ll do this
we’ll explain kind of this stuff in the
four or five year retrospective yeah we
were data-driven data-driven after dark
no but like it’s funny because when we
first start talking about doing the
podcast we had originally said let’s do
it for three years and see what happens
let’s go for two maybe three years so I
don’t know I’m game for doing another
three how about you up I’m in oh man
cool man and if you want to help spell
we we do have that relationship with
audible and and and it’s it’s it’s just
the program to do for podcasters it’s
this is the more the advantage of life
you get and when we always live stream
to Facebook live traditionally because
it works great on the phone wherever an
idea strikes us but if you want to
support the show go ahead over to
audible check out any of the things we
mentioned obstacles the way you go to
the data-driven book.com
and you’ll be routed to that and then
basically you’ll get a free autumn free
audible book if you’re not already
subscribed and I can’t recommend
anything by Grant Cardone enough I just
finished inner sighs by John Assaraf
excellent book there’s also the two
books we talked about today
never split the difference which is
about negotiations and the obstacle is
the way and I forget who the author is
on that one but that’s also good it’s a
good kind of introduction to stoicism
and but yeah and we also have our
t-shirts which Amazon kind of shut that
down because of the pandemic they shut
down all the t-shirt right so parentage
and they’re going to reopen on July 30th
so and yeah so if you buy that you get
the word geeky shirt and you get to
support the show so and support us in
the next release we have a couple other
ideas that we use from
we’ve been pondering that’s okay
I looked at my phone too because I was
like I don’t know my wife was naked well
I guess so I think this is cool I think
what’s really exciting about this is one
took us three years but we finally have
the platform and the setup that we
originally envisioned but you know with
this fancy schmancy thing here if we now
have the ability to whiteboard which is
something I never envisioned so keep
going keep pushing towards your dreams
and your goals even it may take three
years I mean the the origin story of the
name data-driven was from Black Friday
in November of 2016 we didn’t launch
until essentially early June 2017 or
late mate late May it was Memorial Day
weekend Memorial yeah last weekend in
May so it was when when everyone was in
front of their computers at home well I
intentionally conquered the soft launch
but was not intentional is that it took
us months to get this going so you know
it was really me kind of hacking away at
the kids you know we do need to learn
how to do this and yes you took the lead
on you know how we would do this and yes
we envisioned as up because I remember
having those conversations we envisioned
like in January when we got the URL
dated urban TV it’s like okay
dated urban comm was taken grab data
driven TV and we said we will do what
you see on your screen today right if
you’re watching when I had enormous
problems making it work reliably I props
to you because you’re like dude let’s
just do it you know yeah just do what we
can do remember yeah we can do audio I
know we were recorded in awesome three
episodes like back to back with Jen
Underwood and honor would Lin Lang it
and Nick Harris great shows they’re
still great shows they are awesome shows
there are some shows I was talking to
Jen some time ago and
about having her back on the show and
kind of cold it’d be cool it’d be cool
to get lin back to because she’s up to
some interesting stuff and she Nick both
of them are just constantly yeah and so
yeah that’s all I got man I think it’s
been an awesome ride but we we’ve we’ve
we’ve P owed a lot of well not a lot but
we pee out at least one published famous
author guy we’re still hoping the court
Nicholas Nassim Taleb but we want to
want to do that carefully I can live it
being blocked by like a
pseudo-scientific self-help guru on
Twitter but I wouldn’t want to be
blocked by Toula
well you know we could reach out to to
Chris Paul’s as well I think that’s a
good name to enter that oh yeah I mean
and and here’s the thing so here’s the
some time doing a LinkedIn live so I’m
probably gonna stream live on LinkedIn
live later today we’re basically wish
everybody and Microsoft a Happy New Year
July 1st is the Microsoft fiscal
calendar it is and but the kind of the
thought I had on LinkedIn was kind of
doing sessions for folks that are I will
eventually get to the lemons to learning
summit that’s kind of been dropped
because of some things going on in
Frank’s world but the the idea is that
the best place I can reach and serve
that mission I kind of feel like I’m on
is LinkedIn live-streaming because they
engaged when I get there is through the
roof I mean yeah you know so I want to
help folks get into data science in a
format that is more approachable and
part of that is you know yesterday was
was more popular I thought it did kind
of like you know PowerPoint skills for
data pros and it was looks like 20
minutes it’s kind of like here’s how I
get around piston and I know what you’re
thinking that you know
shouldn’t my skills alone should get me
where I need to go I shouldn’t have to
know how to present yeah you might get
where you’re going but the road will be
a lot easier you know like absolutely so
here’s a story from my college days
don’t worry it’s PG we went to once a
Montreal for spring break
now you think spring break everybody’s
going Florida but this was literally
like the last 24 hours we were like
let’s go some more I don’t want to just
think around right working to go on I’m
like let’s go to Montreal and so all of
our pictures from Spring Break they
apparently that year they had a big
blizzard like the day or two before we
got there so our Spring Break the cold
weather so for me it wasn’t like a like
but like all of our Spring Break photos
you know we’re like us like you know on
top of like 20-foot small mountains and
stuff like that and it was just funny
and then one of the things that we did
was we climbed Mount Royale which is
kind of where the city God’s name and
but we didn’t know there was an actual
road up to it so we climbed up like the
side through the woods which the first
to thought two-thirds were fun but the
final third was like almost like it was
like this like 72 70 good 80 degrees but
at that point we looked down and like no
at this point really we got a deal I’ve
got to do it and so the funny thing is
we finally climb over to the top of the
mountain to a parking lot and there was
like this one thing where there were
like thorns on some of the things I had
to grab on to so I caught myself so my
hands were like bloody and but at this
point I had so much adrenaline in my
system I didn’t care and I was also much
younger and I would have been 21 or 22
at a time and like my hands are all
bloody and I think I may have even
caught my phase 2 but I didn’t care like
I climbed it and I climbed over the
little
like the Vidor thing and then fell into
the parking lot and then got up and was
like yes right like I’d like the EDD
Milan kind of gosh right and then there
are all these people just sitting there
on the bench looking at me like I was
insane so and then I realized oh if
there’s a parking lot there’s got to be
a road and if it’s a road is probably a
trial so the moral of this story to
connect it back in so we don’t want me
under too much is that if there’s an
easier way think about taking it don’t
do what I do it by climbing up the side
I’m not real and not bother to look for
a trail it is what it is it was fun it’s
a memory I’ll never have I’ll never
forget but like you know we going down
we took the trail because we found it
but you know and I kind of did this on
another link in life so you want to talk
about you know how many blogs I post per
month which is 100 now for 18 months in
a row and I kind of said you know set
yourself up for success right like don’t
yeah life’s gonna throw stuff at you
randomly and you can get mad at that but
you can realize this that’s kind of just
how things work right and you write that
thing
don’t make things harder on yourself if
you don’t have to just don’t worry the
universe the world God whatever you
believe in is kind of to that you know
on its own right whether that’s
malicious or is it a way to make you
grow again that’s the way you want to
look at it but you know in short we are
trying to impose order where entropy is
a force and those two forces are always
in conflict so sure so don’t make moral
story is don’t climb the side of the
mountain if there’s a path I like that
story I think I need to get more coffee
so I can stay for more focused coffee
sounds awesome you know where I really
want to get as a sponsor wake the hell
up coffee yeah now I know I didn’t
Graham and I’m like it’s like a cup it’s
a king copy I know I’m lazy I’m not a
true aficionado but honestly on
three like and my wife before we bought
the first Keurig machine my wife was the
can’t you just make coffee and I was
like you don’t understand the first cup
you could be like press the first cup of
coffee doesn’t have to taste good it’s
like the opposite of wine like the
second or exactly I don’t have to taste
as good as the first one but you know
it’s a the first cup of coffee just has
to have caffeine in it wait a week tell
us Rafi’s really good it’s really
flavorful flavorful and I’m trying to
not have cream or sugar or any sweetener
in my coffee because it helps with
weight loss and good stuff like that so
which I’m down like 52 pounds so gave me
congratulations Frank that’s awesome
I found some of the weight you lost I
have quite the I’m calling it my
pandemic belly I think a lot we’re gonna
have that actually that’s actually a
good point I should probably talk to the
doctor I went to dr. trow who’s a weight
loss doctor and kind of have him on the
show and talk about because again we’re
not doctors he is but for me having a
continuous glucose monitor I think was
telling you about this I don’t know if
we mentioned this on the show but a
continuous glucose monitor is a kind of
a it’s kind of a it’s not a OT cuz it’s
not directly connected sitting internet
justice so if I call it IOT someone will
call me out on that but true but it is a
device that is NFC powered you stick in
your arm for two weeks at a time and you
scan it with your phone and it will read
your sugar levels on demand or every
five minutes and you can chart that
using the app and using a website so
yeah meanie
it helped me identify when I was hungry
be more mindful of why i was hungry am i
snacking mindlessly but more importantly
seeing immediate
back of what was eating and how is
impacting my blood sugar so for me it
turned weight loss into a data problem
right okay some kind of issue with my
weight for as long as I can remember
yeah but once I kind of saw the data and
I saw it real I mean real as numbers on
a chart can be yeah it made it more
manageable and more understandable and
less hocus-pocus because when it comes
to weight loss everybody and their
brother and their cousin and their dog
has an opinion about how things should
be done sure yet you look around obesity
epidemic so opinions are like elbows
everybody had one or two but I may be
putting the data onto it an actual doing
experimentation in science like for
instance I saw that you know I would eat
fried mozzarella sticks and fried
chicken I mean it’s mostly me it’s not
gonna affect my blood sugar first day I
had the CGM on I had Caesar salad no it
was a grilled chicken it was chicken
salad with bacon and fried chicken and
I’m like mom being healthy I’m being
healthy and then boom I saw what my
blood sugar did I’m losing so that
breading really does kind of add a plus
the oils it’s into apparently factor so
once I saw that I’m like you know and
and it’s interesting I I go now and I
see foods that used to tempt me
they don’t tempt me but there was a time
when they did tend me but I’m like oh
god that’s gonna spike my sugar and you
also yeah like when your your sugars
going on man you feel awesome like it’s
like it’s the crash that hurts yes so
it’s kind of like like this bit like
reinforcement learning if you will you
know the the the upside
is fun but the downside it becomes like
you-know-what Sorella sticks were a big
kind of thing for me and I would eat
them back when Wegmans had the open
buffet yes
like I’d buy like just feel like one of
those things with it and be like yeah I
mean no I mean I’m eating low carb and
then I see what my blood sugar did and I
was like I have not had one since now or
that is helped by the fact that they’ve
closed their open food buffet because of
the pandemic true but there have been
times when I was like really hungry and
I stopped I’m not gonna lie I stopped
and I kind of did what I did with that
with that other guys protein shakes and
horizont like now let me tell you from
someone who’s been trying to lose weight
for a while a version works a lot better
than willpower yeah yes you know it’s
the carrot and the stick it’s not
either/or and you look and it’s cool
about this is I guess this is a true
proper retrospective because we’re
meandering like we usually do because we
had no set topic we were just good
testing this thing out for five minutes
for your god here we are sometime later
but the part of this is is is the
instant feedback because by the time
weight is a lagging indicator right eat
you know chicken salad or chicken and
just salad and just really be good on
your diet for a week or two before you
with any progress on the scale right if
you see progress at all and that’s very
demoralize it is yeah in the obvious but
for me you feel like you’re getting away
with right I mean you you’re eating what
you want right right it’s not impacting
you
there’s rise great thing but this adds
more of a real time component because
your sugar responds within 20 minutes
and yeah I guess technically speaking
that’s not real time but 20 minutes
versus a few weeks that’s that’s a
quantum leap forward near real time it’s
near its you know I’m sure at some point
there’s going to be another one because
one of the debates now and the
low carb kind of keto world is you know
I drink too much dr. pepper one of the
debates now is you know does the
artificial sweeteners raise your insulin
which may not raise your blood sugar
because there’s no sugar there but does
it trick that and then so there’s a lot
of there’s a lot of debate about that so
you know one day maybe when they’ll be
like a CGM but you know for insulin you
know they’re that you know that would be
another thing too but you know so it
adds a more of a real time component
because like you know and I would eat
stuff that I wasn’t sure about and I
would do it you know with the with the
with the twinkling eye it’s for science
you know but to be fair if I did find
something really did spike my blood
sugar I wouldn’t have it again no you
know I’ve mostly been been good alright
so with that I think we’re actually
gonna end the show hopefully if all has
gone well you’re listening to this on
our podcast feed and this all worked the
way it’s supposed to and you have a
great day
any parting words of wisdom on this
three years or so of podcasting I know
Frank it’s just been great and I
appreciate you taking me a long
photograph dude dude I couldn’t imagine
a trip without you man we’re a good
balance in a lot of ways I’ve got a lot
of good game got yang because you know
part of the port thought I had was when
I started the podcast when I not when I
started when I had the first ideation of
it at Dunkin Donuts right right Dunkin
Donuts so here in Maryland or in DC area
it’s the Dunkin Donuts at the corner of
West orchard and Norristown Road are
behind the gas station and McDonald’s a
real luxurious place if you will but no
it was this like you know as I kind of
dwelled on the idea I didn’t think I
didn’t approach you and feel like
December so I got a room it
week or two if I want to do a podcast
what would it be and you know I didn’t
want you added more of the data
engineering kind of panache and
credibility then then I had which I
would have been in data science I think
I think we’re a good team for multiple
of us I think we’re great to you and I
and I love working with you brother
likewise man well cool you have a great
afternoon
well who knows when your listeners but
whatever remainder of the day it is I
hope you have a good one and we look
forward to helping folks and providing
you with good education and
entertainment and silly jokes and
ridiculousness and Maran meandering
stories for the next three years all
right thanks everyone all right I’m
going to try to shut this off and see
what happens
About the author, Frank
Frank La Vigne is a software engineer and UX geek who saw the light about Data Science at an internal Microsoft Data Science Summit in 2016. Now, he wants to share his passion for the Data Arts with the world.
He blogs regularly at FranksWorld.com and has a YouTube channel called Frank's World TV. (www.FranksWorld.TV). Frank has extensive experience in web and application development. He is also an expert in mobile and tablet engineering. You can find him on Twitter at @tableteer.