MOUNTAIN BIKING MISHAPS AND PODCASTING PERFECTION: Fine-tuning Bikes and Mics.

In a humorous and reflective episode, we explore the challenges of podcasting, the absurdities of aviation incidents, and the intricacies of mountain biking repairs. Listeners are encouraged to re-evaluate their approaches to DIY solutions while pondering the intertwining realms of politics and personal finance. 

• Exploring the frustrations of audio quality in podcasting 
• Sharing thoughts on recent aviation accidents and underlying problems 
• Discussing a hypothetical taxpayer refund proposal and political implications 
• Detailing the trials of mountain biking and the desire for DIY repairs 
• Reflecting on customer service experiences in differing cultures 
As always, we invite your thoughts! Reach out to us via email at theobjectivejerk@gmail.com.

Transcript

Audio Quality Troubles and Political Commentary

Speaker 1 0:00

What's up ? It is I , the Objective Jerk and I am . Oh , that messes up my little thing , doesn't it ? It is I , the Objective Jerk and I am Cedric . That doesn't make sense . This is the Objective Jerk and I am Cedric . Wow , I really heard that slurp . So what is up ?

Speaker 1 0:21

I listened to my last podcast because I'm really trying to get down the audio and it's not that good . Like , actually , parts of it were good , but the parts like what sounds good on my headphones right now as I'm talking , doesn't sound good on what's published . You know what I mean , and it's because it goes through both on I mean my recordings , for the podcast gets processed , and then when I upload it to Buzzsprout , it processes it even more . And then the same thing with the video side of it . Imovie processes it , and so it kind of changes it . So it I don't know it sounds what sounds good on my headphone . It just didn't work . So it wasn't bad . But I did notice some stuff . So I'm not going to be making out with the microphone because it seems like it right about here . This sounds great , right , I mean , it sounds great later , not right now .

Speaker 1 1:28

Um , and then also I had I had like noise gate setting on , which kind of helps get rid of any kind of background noise , because I have like a fan on and stuff , but it just it makes that that weird . It's hard to explain for those that know that , no , but so I turned it off , I turned off my fan . So for however long I just won't have a fan on , which is not , you know , I do have an air conditioning on it's just in my room so it's not as cool in here as it is in my room next door , which , you know , it's a doorway , so it does keep it somewhat cool in here . Anyway , what's up ? I noticed too on my um , my last one , the , I started the podcast right when the sun , like , was getting ready to go down , because it was still light out , but then as the episode progressed you could just see it getting darker and darker in my uh , in the video . So I thought that was funny . I guess , I don't know Anyway . So yeah , I , you know , kind of keeps doing that , keeps clicking . I noticed that I don't know if it's something .

Speaker 1 2:52

Having so many um , you know , programs open kind of interfere with each other , I guess trying to like clean up and do stuff while I'm recording , which is always fun for the listener or viewer , right ? But I am trying , okay , so I do care , I do listen , I am trying to make a nice listening experience . What's weird is that , like it does seem like so the the I movie is working great , it seems like . But now it was the audio podcast buzzsprout was not sounding that good and that one goes through like all kinds like has magic mastering which I don't know . Like I pay a little extra for it to do some kind of extra mixing to make it sound better . You know , sound like a real podcast .

Speaker 1 3:45

But it could all just be like , you know , oh , that's true , coat undercoating . You want that , you know , but , um , I don't know . I've been using it now for a while . I use anyway , but so I just got to figure it out . So I think I'm thinking although I thought it last time , I thought this would that would be it , but I think I got it now . So this one will be better and I kind of wanted to not wait too long to record . You know , I want people to that . Maybe just come across my podcast and hear it . I want them to .

Speaker 1 4:26

You know , like I know people might listen to the , the one about the Obama chef , and be like dude , what the hell , this guy's audio is horrible . Um , so I am trying to make it , you know , to make it , you know , tasteful , I guess . Anyway , so what is up ? Um , yeah , another plane crash , right ? Um , god , I see it keeps popping . I keep hearing like this little pop , and I think it comes across on the , on the um , on the podcast , and it kind of bugs me . Sorry , I'm like anal , retentive anyway .

Speaker 1 5:06

Um , so , another plane crash . This one , though , was like a private kind of airfield . It wasn't commercial , it was just a few people , sadly , that died , and and , um , you know , I don't even think they have like a tower , you know , so you probably don't hear nothing . They have a tower . You probably don't hear nothing because they can't . If it was another , they'd be like oh my gosh , look at C , because it's not FAA , whatever , there was no control tower or whatever , so they can't blame Trump firing all the air traffic controllers . So now the planes are flying blind from the left .

Speaker 1 5:48

You know , now I'm looking at my . I'm sitting here looking at myself right now in the video , and I have my logo on this side . But now , looking at this video , it looks like it'll be better on the other side of the screen and so I'm going to change it . I'm trying not to change stuff too much because I don't know people , like you know they get they , like you know structure , I guess . So at least I do . So that's you know . I kind of trying to keep it and not change everything all the time , but I can't help it . Anyway , all because of these headphones . I started wearing the headphones and I've been jacking with the audio , but I think it's for the best . Anyway , keep talking about the audio , anyway . So what's the other thing going on ?

Speaker 1 6:47

So supposedly , trump and Doge are contemplating giving some of the money that they find , or the excess money or , you know , the money they're saving , to give it back to the taxpayers , which I think is awesome . So they're thinking about giving everybody $5,000 . And , uh , that's pretty cool , cause I know that would help a lot of people . $5,000 , just an extra $5,000 . That's an extra month's worth of pay for a lot of people , you know . So they can put that down payment on the car or whatever . So I think that's pretty good . The thing is , I think if you voted for Harris , that $5,000 , you should not get the $5,000 . You should be able to select which foundation or whichever you want to give to . You know , because , yeah , liberals suck , but could you imagine that though $5,000 .

Speaker 1 8:04

I mean , you know that for a lot of people that's maybe just something they've always . You know somebody who's wanting to get a brand new drum set or a mountain bike . Even you know I could use that and get a whole brand new mountain bike . Can I talk my wife ? And to let me do ? I don't think so . I wouldn't get . Like it's crazy how expensive some bikes can be . Man , it's just insane .

Speaker 1 8:33

I keep seeing like videos of people riding carbon though and then breaking on jumps and stuff . But I don't , I don't . I don't do crazy jumps . I mean I'll go off some drop offs and stuff like that . You know that are a couple of feet or something . I don't think I've ever . I don't think I've ever done one more than like four feet . I want to say , just because I'm I'm kind of a big guy and I'm afraid I'm going to break my bike , but I got a steel or steel fused with aluminum , I don't know , I'd have to look into that . It's steel but it's light . So anyway , okay , $5,000 .

Speaker 1 9:19

If you voted for Trump , you should get that $5,000 . If you voted for Trump , you should get that $5,000 direct deposit . If you voted for Harris , you should get to get an email saying who do you , who do you want to , um , you know , um , donate the $5,000 to ? I think that'd be funny . It's kind of a dick move . I guess about maybe 2500 you get and then the other 2500 you vote , you get to pick who to donate it to there .

Mechanical and Bicycle Troubleshooting

Speaker 1 9:51

What's that ? What's that gonna do for people ? I mean , some people who really don't need it are just gonna be like I don't need it and they will just give it to somebody just to be like eh . But there are people that will need it and use it , who don't like Trump , like you know . I'm just curious what that's going to . I don't know . They'll still find some kind of reason . Oh well , it was probably because , I don't know , they come up with the dumbest excuses and the dumb reasons and you know it's on both sides . Both sides kind of do it they . They will completely . Um , you know , no matter what happens , their , their team is always good and right and everything .

Speaker 1 10:36

But I'm trying to set this thing up . Sorry , I'm messing with my mic . But yeah , it would be just kind of funny , cause I was . I was thinking about that when this all first started . I was like that would be bad-ass . I mean , so much money , that's being what if they turned around and gave a lot of it back to you know the American people ? And if that would , I'm sure it would probably have to completely you know , red pill a few people . They'd be like man you know what . Maybe he is looking out for us and I mean people are getting red pilled every day , more and more people . It's happening , Um , and you see it , but you do . You still do have those real stubborn individuals such as my friend gosh . It keeps making that popping sound . I guess that's what .

Speaker 1 11:43

No , the screen like I had somebody comment on that , maybe putting and I have one , um , maybe I'll try it . I had one on for a little while but I was like I couldn't really tell the difference . But I don't know , maybe different . Actually , I think I have a different microphone now , so maybe that would actually play a bigger part in this microphone . I don't know , because I'm hearing tonal changes and weird noises in my headphones and it's driving me crazy . This is why I kind of don't like the microphone or the headphones . But yeah , so there's that .

Speaker 1 12:29

So yesterday , I guess , since I keep talking about my mountain bike , so I talked about mountain biking yesterday . Was it yesterday when I did my last one ? Yeah , because , that's right , the tubeless . I was talking about switching back to tube tires . Well , yesterday was kind of getting stuff set up to go riding for today and I was gonna . My truck needs a new starter , which is what I would use to put my mountain bikes in , usually to go wherever we're gonna go riding . But I was gonna see if , if I took the tires off , if I could get the bikes to fit in my wife's car . So that's what I was doing .

Speaker 1 13:18

I go to ride my bike to the car and it's just my chain keeps , it's not working right . I'm like what is going on ? And then I was messing with it and it kept coming off and all this kind of crap . I'm like what the hell ? So I go inside , I take my rear wheel off and the cassette , you know , I take the cassette off of the , off the off the wheel , and it's just it's all chewed up like inside , like it's all messed up . So it wasn't , it wasn't stationary to the hub and spinning , because you know like you pedal your bike . But then when you stop , your cassette will stop with it and then your wheel , your hub and your tire will stop with it , and then your wheel , your hub and your tire will keep rolling and it makes that clicking sound , click , click , click right , and I wasn't doing that and so my chain kept coming off and just not . You know , I was like at first I thought like did I like put too much gunk on it or something ? I was like trying to figure it out . But yeah , so my cassette is pretty much ruined , I think . I don't know . I mean , there's , you know , the teeth and the other gears are still salvageable for whatever . But so now , so I didn't go riding today because of that , because I basically don't have a bike now .

Speaker 1 14:41

So I've been trying to keep my eyes open for various things . So here's , here's another gosh . I don't know , does anybody even really care ? There might be a few people I feel like I'm just talking about . I just kind of get tired of talking about politics all the time .

Speaker 1 14:58

I mean , I know that's kind of what the podcast is for , but I'm not like a commentary person . I'm not . You know what I mean . I'll talk about some stuff , which I did , I guess , but you know , I just talk about whatever , whatever I feel like talking about . So you know , is that a smart move for a podcast ? Probably not . But I'm not really trying to grow the podcast , like I said . I mean , if you know , if it just happens to grow which it is , it's my pop , it's , it's growing , it's just slow , but I'm not trying to make a living out of this . You know , just another hobby out of my 50 million hobbies , it seems like .

Speaker 1 15:51

But anyway , so I , where was I at ? Gosh ? Oh , okay , so through me , replacing all my components and all the different parts to my bike with , you know , the , the , the valves , and I talked about it with my , my tubeless and everything like that . Well , so I upgraded everything else on the bike , right , but I've been having some problems with the drive train , the derailleur , and you know I said like I was talking about the chains and stuff , the derailleur , and you know I said like I was talking about the chains and stuff .

Speaker 1 16:31

So I , I've always , you know I'm , I'm a pretty mechanically inclined individual , you know I'm not , I'm not , um , I would never consider myself a mechanic , but I have a lot of tools I can do . I can get a lot done on a vehicle . Um , my biggest thing is I'm not educated to the point of where I can do . I can get a lot done on a vehicle . Um , my biggest thing is I'm not educated to the point of where I can diagnose a problem . Somebody can say , hey , this needs to be . Oh , that's broken , you should fix that . I can fix it for the most part . You know I've done some pretty strenuous , intensive repairs on vehicles before . Granted , those were on older vehicles which are much easier to work on .

Speaker 1 17:11

Um , you put electronics in and I'm just like , like my wife's car has some wiring stuff and I don't even know where to begin or even want to like . I just I don't know , I don't even want to mess with electrical stuff . I mean I don't know , I don't even want to mess with electrical stuff . I mean you know wiring in a home is different , but gosh , anyway , so you can pick what you want . You know what I mean . But then the ones where they really need you is where you get bonuses and things like that . I mean this is how it was when I joined anyway . It's probably the same , I'm sure . But so I wanted to be an MP . I tested high enough and that's what I did an MP . I tested high enough and that's what I did Years later when I got out and I was actually looking to join um , the air national guard , so the air force , but the national guard , you know .

Speaker 1 18:20

I went and spoke with the recruiter . He looked at my scores and he was like he looked at me . He's like why were you an MP ? You know . And he was like he looked at me . He's like why were you an MP ? You know , and that's because the air force generally puts you where you test higher . You know what I mean .

Speaker 1 18:34

So again , this might be different now , but where you test higher is your primary MOS and then you can have a secondary um which is kind of like you get the one you get to pick . You know what I mean . Um , I can't . I mean don't , don't , you know . Take it with a grain of salt , because I wasn't in the air force , but just from what I can tell and from conversations I've had and various whatever , but um , you know . So like you'll test , like what the air force would do , from what I'm told is you would like . Let's say , you tested highest in mechanics but you wanted to be , you know , security police or whatever they would be like . Okay , we'll try and get you into security police , but your fallback is going to be mechanical because that's what you tell . And then generally , you end up getting what you tested higher in you know which actually makes sense Really .

Speaker 1 19:35

Um , I keep talking close to the microphone but it sounds better like this , and I know that stop making out with the microphone dip shit . Um , see , it sounds better talking quieter , making out with the microphone dipshit . See , it sounds better talking quieter , closer to the mic on my headphones . But when I just listened to my other podcast it did not . So I'm really trying , sorry , so please bear with me .

Mechanic Troubles and DIY Solutions

Speaker 1 20:03

So when I went and spoke to the Air Force , he was like hey , why ? Why were you MP ? And I was like cause , that's what I wanted . And he asked me that because I scored high in mechanics , you know . So if I would have went the Air Force route , I would have been like a jet engine mechanic or something like you know what I mean , um , something like you know what I mean , um , and part of the reason I didn't want to be a mechanic was , um , my uncle .

Speaker 1 20:33

He was a Marines and he was a mechanic and he just really kind of it's like he was not happy that he went that route or I think he just got burnt out . He was just tired of being a , you know , grease monkey type individual . He was always . He was always kind of trying to get away from it , but he's always kind of getting pulled back in . I guess I mean , he had , you know , he had a pretty good career and he , you know he's retired now , but he didn't do just , you know , working on cars .

Speaker 1 21:05

He worked for like a , I think he retired from an electric company , as I don't know if he was a manager . I know he was like a manager for um , waste management , so like a garbage truck company , and he was a manager . But he left that and became and , like you know , kind of got a demotion but got a better company for better benefits or something . I can't remember now it's been a little while . But um , you know , and I remember when I was in high school , he , he , basically , so he got a job at some point in time for like a um as a mechanic for an insulation company and then the owner of that company opened a used car dealership . So my uncle got a job doing that . So he was like a used car um salesman , but you know he was a mechanic , so he kind of managed the mechanics and sometimes he would work on the cars , or , but you know he was a mechanic , so he kind of managed the mechanics and sometimes he would work on the cars or whatever you know . So he was always trying to get out of from just being underneath the car working on them . I guess I guess he just kind of I don't know . He was good at it though and , um , you know I learned most of my stuff from him .

Speaker 1 22:25

Anyway , what the hell ? Why am I talking ? There was a reason I went this route . I totally just went off on a whole tangent again . Long story short , I'm mechanically inclined , right . So since I've been here in the in the philippines , I've I've really just kind of let , because it's cheap , labor is cheap here here . I get paid in US dollars and then you know , I can pay to have like to pay . Have my car washed at a car place is like $2 , basically you know what I mean . So to have it's like okay , I can go through and I can fix my bike or I can replace a part , or I just take it to the bike shop and they can do it , and it's so much cheaper , right .

Speaker 1 23:35

But I just kind of come to find out that Filipinos don't really take pride in other people's . I don't know , I mean , all people are like this . I really don't want to . I'm not trying to bash Filipinos , I'm really not . But maybe it's just because where we live up north more country , rural area , I guess I don't know . But in the States rural area , I guess I don't know . But in the States companies generally try and push for good customer service and quality . You know , service and all that kind of stuff . Right , you don't always get it , but generally most of them are trying to do that and you'll find , oh , this person's good and you'll stick with them or whatever , this and that .

Speaker 1 24:29

But here it's like you get a lot of people that really kind of don't know what they're doing and they're doing the best they can , but they're not very good or they don't care really . They're just like here you go , get out of here . You know what I mean . And then part of the problem is the language barrier . So most people here I can talk to . It may not be pretty , but they speak enough english to where , you know , we can communicate , right .

Speaker 1 25:09

But it's like trying to like if you have two different kinds of parts , right , because there's brands that I know , like Stanley , there's Stanley stuff here , but then there's brands here that I've never heard of you know . So it's like you know , I could ask somebody . I'm like hey , hey , which one's the best one ? And you know , if somebody owns a shop , of course they want to sell the most expensive whatever . But , um , generally it's like , even like at the main stores where they don't get commission or anything they don't really know . They don't , you know . They're like oh , that one because it's branded , and I'm like , because it's branded , they're like , yeah , and I'm like well , that's it . Like what's ?

Speaker 1 25:58

You know you try and get like why is this good , or why is this better , or why is this worse , or is this actually good for the money ? You know , I'm not trying to spend a bunch of money like , I'm trying to find a part that is well made but it's not branded . You know , that's basically my mindset . I don't need to buy branded stuff , but I want something good , you know , and I'll pay a little more for good , but I don't want to pay extra just because it has a name on it . So trying to get that all figured out is sometimes a hassle .

Speaker 1 26:38

So a lot of the parts that are on my mountain bike are cheap parts and you know I've been having problems ever since . And then you know I was talking with my riding buddy about that and because he's always like , man , you should get a new bike , you should get a new bike . And I'm like I like my bike . Man , I like my bike , I just need to get it dialed in with the right parts and everything . And I said to him I was like you know , before I tried upgrading everything , I never had problems . And he was like , yeah , because everything was shimano , that which came with the specialized bike . And I was like you know what ? That's true , that's right . So let's , where am I at 27 minutes later ?

Speaker 1 27:22

Basically , I'm done getting having people work on my bike , because I can work on the bike . I mean it's , it's pretty simple . It's like working on an old vehicle . You know what I mean ? There's not much to it . Once you get it figured out , you can do it . You know , I got pretty much all the tools I need . I've done a lot anyway , I mean , on my bike . So it's like I just need to quit .

Speaker 1 27:45

I guess I was always kind of afraid that I would I don't know do something wrong and then I'd go riding and something would fall off like while I'm riding and then crash or something maybe . But I mean I know I'm capable of like I know if something is good or not . You know , if I build something or fix something , you know either I'm happy with it or I'm like , okay , I think it's good , or I'm like I don't know , I don't trust it . You know what I mean . So I'm pretty good at feeling good about something or not . So I just need to get off my lazy ass and just work on it myself and just do the research , because I don't really know everything . There's lots of little things involved , especially with the , the drivetrain on the bikes and stuff , so but I just need to go buy .

Speaker 1 28:33

I think when I get paid I'm gonna buy , because shimano you can get here . Is that how you say it ? Shimano , shimano I think it's Shimano , right ? Yeah , sram , shimano are like the two big ones and there's lots of other ones , but I don't think SRAM is around here , but Shimano is . The only thing is , though . Like I've said before , though , is just because something branded here doesn't mean it's is good , because I swear like at the shimano factory , which probably is in china um , you know their quality control . They inspect it and if this is like , okay , this is , this is good quality , that's going to america . Yeah , this one's okay , that's going to the philippines . You know what I mean . So that's always kind of there .

Speaker 1 29:25

But yeah , I just need to go buy I'm gonna buy a cassette and buy a derailleur , which will have a shifter as well , I guess and put it on myself , and then bob's , your uncle , that's it . I think that you know , I just got to do it . I just got to bite the bullet and take the time and get it done , because then I know if it's good . I know it's good or not . You know what I mean . I know what's on there , I know you know if it's good quality or not .

Speaker 1 30:01

I don't know , but it's just , it's just one of those things you know , living , living overseas . It's like this is one of the I mean it's . It's a pretty minimal moot , whatever . It's not that big a deal , to be honest with you , whatever , it's not that big a deal to be honest with you and for you know , I'm retired , so I have the time . It's just the motivation . That's what it is , the motivation to do it .

Speaker 1 30:36

So , but going riding the other day , even though it was only for like 45 minutes , it , you know , I love , I love riding on the trail . It's so much fun , even even when it's not really anything really fun . It's just riding on a dirt trail outside is just a lot of fun . It's always been , you know . So it kind of got me , got my blood going again , got me really wanting to get my bike going . So , man , just when yesterday , when it was broke , when I , you know , when I pulled it off and looked at it , it was like I was just so frustrated because , like , I just feel like all I've been doing is having parts replaced and stuff and but yeah , so I just I gotta bite the bullet and spend a little more money , get the stuff and just do it myself and I'll probably be much happier and have less problems .

Speaker 1 31:21

Anyway , um , I've been talking for 30 minutes Dang . I feel like I've been talking about Jack . Shit . Let me know , was this a good episode ? Trolls , I get it , but you know legitimately people that are listening . Let me know if you like listening to me talk about bullshit , or do you want me to focus on certain topics or whatever , which I do ? I'm not , you know , I'll . You know , I just talk about whatever I don't . You know , sometimes it's a focused topic , or sometimes it's just me rambling , like today . But anyway , uh , I appreciate your time . Thanks for hanging out . Um , you know , leave a comment , send me an email , the objective jerk at gmailcom , and uh , god bless and I'll see you guys next time . All right , thanks Bye .