Foundation Nation
Foundation Nation
S4 - E11: Tales from the Electric Side and the Virtual Work Revolution
Ever wondered what it's like to navigate the evolving roads of technology and lifestyle with a Lego train in hand? Grab your conductor's hat and join Matthew Cote and Tech Genius Jay for a riveting journey through Foundation Nation. We're unpacking the joy of DIY holiday projects, like Jay's epic Lego Christmas train expansion, while cruising past the days of gas price worries in our rearview mirror. Jay's switch to an electric Tesla sparks candid tales of road rage and the quirky behaviors of Prius drivers, which makes you realize that on today's roads, it's more than just engines that could use a little electric charge.
Shift into a higher gear as we dissect the seismic shift in work culture, from the return-to-office mandates to the burgeoning realm of virtual collaboration. Boeing's call to rein back remote work ignites a debate on the future of professional connectivity, with a spotlight on the efficiency of tools like Microsoft Teams. We then strap on our VR headsets to envision a workplace where daily commutes are swapped for digital teleportation into immersive, collaborative spaces. It's not just about clocking in anymore; it's about being plugged into a matrix of innovation. Stick with us, and let's navigate this digital terrain together, brought to your ears by the tech wizards at Jay's Technology Solutions.
Hello and welcome to Foundation Nation. I'm your host, matthew Cote. Today on the podcast, we're going to talk about some interesting recent goings-ons in our beautiful state and maybe even a few things going on in this amazing round thing we call home. Hey, hello. I'm Matthew Cote, host of Foundation Nation, and we are sitting under the SeaTac Airport having a little chitchat about some recent local and international stuff, and I'm here with TechGenius J, with J's Technology Solutions and what you got.
Speaker 2:Hi, my name is J Salmi, owner of J's Technology Solutions. I provide IT and AV solutions for you and your business. I have the pleasure to co-host on Foundation Nation today. Let's start the frivolity, Matt.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's start with first topic of the day. What the hell is frivolity, frivolity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, fun Excitement.
Speaker 1:It's like it sounds like it should be a drink, Hmm.
Speaker 2:That could be a fun drink.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's holiday season. We have some stuff to talk about, but I have some things that I'm curious about. Okay, I'm interested about it's Christmas time. Yes, tis the season.
Speaker 2:Tis the season to be jolly La la, la, la la.
Speaker 1:So we're writing some things down so I can have some notes about your superpowers, but we were talking about DIY project master. So what is the project that you're doing and can you explain a little bit about what that?
Speaker 2:is so right now, the project that we are working on is. It actually started about five years ago with a single Christmas style train from Lego with a track going around the tree. Just one train. Now this is a multitude of different Christmas winter scenes mini figures, white base plates, three train tracks. Wait, white instead of the green, exactly Cause it's winter time. It's gotta be snow. There's 126 base plates that are down on the floor underneath the Christmas tree and we are almost done and getting it all set up, and I will be posting video and pictures on my Facebook page here Probably by Sunday night.
Speaker 1:Is that a personal or a company one?
Speaker 2:It'll be my personal one. I was thinking about putting it on the company Facebook page as well.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, let us know on the next episode. If you do cause, I'll add a link on the podcast. That sounds fantastic. Yeah, just watch it that.
Speaker 2:Christmas stuff can be really cool. It's roughly nine feet by eight feet in size. Jesus, holy, yeah, that's amazing. So we've added Lego style looking supports for the elevated train track.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so 3D print. What is the material that the 3D printer uses? What is it called?
Speaker 2:It's technically it's filament, but it's PLA, abs, petg PLA plus carbon fiber flex a whole bunch of different options.
Speaker 1:Okay, but more or less plastic yeah.
Speaker 2:It's plastic. Yes, correct.
Speaker 1:I mean we have some good news going on. I wanted to start out with some like kind of good news Gas prices are falling. I don't care anymore, you don't care anymore. Why is that? I drive an electric vehicle. You drive an electric vehicle. Yeah, Some people love it, Some people hate it. So tell me about the. So has anybody flipped you off going down the road?
Speaker 2:Oh, I got haters, yes.
Speaker 1:How do they interact like with you?
Speaker 2:Well, one car got mad at me. I have no idea. I know that in fact I might have been in Tesla and he tried he or she, because I wasn't looking, tried to tap my side view mirror with their side view mirror what we even over and trying to tap my side view mirror At least that's what it appeared to be. I just looked straight forward and didn't make eye contact. Wow, too scary. These days People are kooky, lookey. I had one person that I wasn't even in the fast lane, as people call it, the left lane. I was in the carpool lane with carpool person. I was actually able to stay in there legally, not like some people do, and person would fly in by and flip me off. Wow, my passenger looked at me and looked at how fast we were going because, you know, in the Tesla the display is right there. Anybody can see it in the car how fast you're going. Uh-huh, he looks over, he goes. Oh, they just hate Teslas. Oh, geez, I like and this happens more than it should, you know in my truck.
Speaker 1:I haven't had any issues with Teslas. I think their sensors just stay the hell away from the truck or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they do.
Speaker 1:But I've had no issues with but Toyota Prius' you know, out of all the vehicles in the whole world and you've seen my truck right, oh yeah, they're constantly cutting me off. That's it. That's the only problem and that's why I love driving my truck, cause I you know it feels really safe. If they crash, they're actually not going to hit me, they're just going to go under it and come out the other side. They're not quite that small. Yeah Well, the the the only issues for vehicles just like who I want to know. I want to interview a Prius driver. Like who are these people Like? Cause I'm not looking at their face, it's just they're just out to get you. They see a big truck and they just want to like circle around you like a shark and poke at you.
Speaker 2:Well, the funny thing is is what I've noticed is it doesn't matter what kind of vehicle you got, People are going to cut you off. You know, I've seen smart cars get cut off by big trucks.
Speaker 3:Vice versa.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the the road rage is horrible right now. It's gotten worse and all you have to do is just look out your window just to see if you can move over, and if someone thinks you're giving them a bad look, they'll get mad at you. Uh-huh, you know it's, it's in, who knows if it's gas prices, if it's the pandemic, which people blame the pandemic for more than they should have In the least, that's my opinion. Remind, remember people. These are our opinions, not as actual fact on a lot of this.
Speaker 1:We talk about all.
Speaker 2:I do is talk about facts, the fact of your opinion.
Speaker 1:I'm going to eat a cookie right now. Let's see how this sounds on the radio. Let me see huh. Are you able to hear it?
Speaker 2:Yes, it sound like a cookie, sounds like you're chewing. Hmm, interesting. But in all, in all reality, I do. Actually, my wife and I still have a gas vehicle. Okay, it's a 69 Chevelle. Oh, 69 Chevelle. Oh, I've seen that, that's right. Yeah, we don't fill it up that often cause it's not driven very much. So, yes, I go to the gas station when it gets filled up and I don't even look at how much is going in.
Speaker 1:Well, so okay, look, if you have to, if you have to fix your your, what Chevelle, yeah, your Chevy.
Speaker 2:Chevelle, is it carbureted? No, I put fuel injection in it myself.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you have a Chevelle, you got fuel injection, so you can fix that with a screwdriver. Now, if you're Tesla, you need 27 laptops and a PhD.
Speaker 2:Well, with the warranty on it, I don't care, just Tesla fixes it and I move on my day. Hmm, okay, so the warranty is quite nice.
Speaker 3:The warranty is strong.
Speaker 2:I'm the third owner of mine and it's worked out well. The warranty is true. It does transfer with the car, not with the original owner.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good. Well, so right now national gas price averages are 314. That's low, it seems low, and they were at $4.74. So we're below over a dollar. You know, about 60% of the gas stations in the country are at $3 a gallon and they're gonna say they're gonna get below $2.75. So when gas so I remember like 10 years ago we were gonna run out of gas and it was this big old thing going on and it was the end of the world.
Speaker 1:So I read an article probably five years ago, interesting article. This guy, it was a Ford dealership. They had a guy come in have a chat with them. He had a car, a four door sedan. I think I might've told you that one time. No, maybe I don't know. He comes walking in to Ford dealership, four door sedan, sits down, gives them a presentation. This car gets 320 miles a gallon. It's a gasoline car, four door sedan. How's that even probable? I don't know, but this was in the 80s. Where the hell is that car? And would we need electric cars if they got 150 miles to the gallon? You know, that's what that's.
Speaker 1:I was just wondering. You know how much of a play the big boys, what do they call them, the big five, you know the, you know the big manufacturers. How much of them? Because we know.
Speaker 1:I know for a fact that long ago a guy invented intermittent wipers. He took them to the Ford dealership. This was on a Netflix thing, the documentary. He took it to the Ford dealership and he said this is what I have, this intermittent wiper thing. And they're like oh, this is the dumbest shit I've ever seen. He walks out like three weeks later they invent it and it's on every one of their cars. So I know that they buy and bury things or they buy, you know they'll, they're very strong, they're very competitive, you know, or in that way, and controlling. So I just wonder how much of it. You know the electric manufacturers are having to battle through with these guys. You know, right, because I know that somehow they like made some weird law where you can't even have electric dealership kind of thing, right? So you can only have like an electric car in a mall, in a store, but you can't have like a full on, for example, tesla dealership, like you can have a Honda dealership or a Chevy dealership. There's some weirdness going on there.
Speaker 2:That's intriguing because I heard the opposite of that, that car manufacturers were upset and basically saying that Tesla had to have a dealership.
Speaker 1:So it's amazing. I don't really know what's going on, but there's some definitely some big you know ball swing and watermelon size deals going on out there about that stuff.
Speaker 2:And when you look up information, you and I could type in to look for the same thing and we'll both get three different answers. Right, right, so it's just the way it is. And you know, and as far as gas prices and electric cars and everything, I remember back in high school my chemistry teacher was talking about the technology where, literally, you take the hydrogen out of water Hydrogen Out of water and you use that to burn and make a motor, an engine, run and the byproduct is oxygen. This technology exists and yet it never actually made it anywhere.
Speaker 2:Early on in the internet, when you could actually look up YouTube videos and you know everything was out there and you could see a lot. And I remember finding a article in a video about a guy I don't know if it was Canada or the US, but it was over on the East Coast, around the Great Lakes, somewhere. Like I said, I don't know if it was Canada or the US, but it was right around that area and he had a video where he ran his car. He made an adjustment to all the changes and custom made whatever he needed and he poured water in and the engine ran and he could drive it. It was a hydrogen.
Speaker 1:Hydrogen car Okay. Well here, Jay. Okay. Have you ever heard of a gas bomb? No, yeah, but they have the largest non-nuclear weapon in the world as a hydrogen bomb.
Speaker 2:But you're talking massive amount of hydrogen in those. This is a small amount.
Speaker 1:Oh, so it's just a little bomb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just a little bomb. You do know that your gas truck that's sitting right outside here is a bomb as well. Right, it can explode.
Speaker 1:All right, okay cool, we're all driving around bombs. Remember the? Do you remember the Ford Pinto? Have you ever? Have you ever read so Ford Pinto had they own the record for the biggest nastiest recall there ever was. You rear end the Ford Pinto and it blows up because the gas tank was right behind the bumper.
Speaker 2:Well, they did the same thing with the Ford Explorer. I mean Explorer, Ha ha ha ha, holy shit. Ford Explorer.
Speaker 1:Lord Explorer.
Speaker 2:They had that same issue with that. They had to change that too, that's interesting. Most tanks on a lot of cars are behind the back bumper are 69 Chevelle. The gas tank is right behind the bumper. You actually have to open the license plate in order to get to the fuel fill to put gas in. So you're literally going through the bumper to fill up the gas tank.
Speaker 1:Well, my 72 Chevy truck that I drive around the blue and white one the gas tank is directly behind the seat so you can smash into the truck all you want, it's not gonna blow up. But you're completely high the entire time you're driving it from the gas fumes. So you know it's kind of a trade-off safety and hallucination.
Speaker 3:Foundation Nation is proudly sponsored by Jace Technology Solutions. Call Jace Technology Solutions at 253-376-7579 for all your computer repair, IT and network solutions.
Speaker 1:So a big company that we have locally here is Boeing, and they're kind of heading the trend to get everybody to go back to work full-time and starting January 1st, when everybody comes back, and you know, from Christmas vacations and stuff, they want everybody back in the office full-time. And you were just telling me about how your dad lived in Puyallup and worked in Everett. Correct, there's a lot. So that's far. Yes, that's hella far. Actually, is there a train that? No, it doesn't go that far.
Speaker 2:No, we're talking.
Speaker 1:This is back in the late 80s or 90s, so I think that from what I know, there's people that live even further than that that work for Boeing. So you know, because they it's been a few years, maybe more now, that they've been working remotely and they've had to, you know, they want to buy a house and the houses are expensive. To close to you get Seattle, so they got to kind of like go further away to get a house they can afford, right. So now it's like you know Boeing. I don't understand, like what do you think? Why do they want everybody back in the office? What's the deal?
Speaker 2:Well, there's two types of employees that we got to think about here, matt, is the fact that you have employees that actually physically work on planes or cars or whatever the manufacturing process is for a said company, with the office staff, which is what Boeing is talking about. Anyone who works in the office and collaborates on projects, as far as contracts and design work and everything like that, they can work remotely from home with the proper setup for collaborating, especially with like some people hate it, some people don't Microsoft Teams great way to collaborate together. But when you're in person, physically next to somebody, you're able to collaborate a lot faster, a lot quicker and a lot easier. So I agree and disagree with going back to full-in time for employees, because a lot of these positions that companies have, they can have them do it remotely from their own home. But keep in mind, if a employee doesn't do their work efficiently then, yeah, I can understand. They want them to come back to the office because there's no distractions you have at home.
Speaker 1:Right, you can focus on actually doing what you're getting paid for in the best way you can.
Speaker 2:And there's those that I actually know, people personally, that work out of the home. They have their wife, they have their kids, their kids are homeschooled and for both of these people I'm talking about the husband's, the one that works and they are 100% focused on their job during that time. Did you say at home? At home, okay, and they don't get distracted by their family because they know they have the parameter set up. Right, and as long as you do that, you can get very good work out of employees. Right, and that depends on the employee and their living arrangements and how well they work. Right, when you we were just talking about gas prices, get people off the road and that reduces congestion, it reduces smog, it reduces wear and tear on the roads.
Speaker 2:Right, sure, I mean, there's so many benefits to working remotely. And even if remotely means hey, we understand that we got like, let's say, let's say Eatonville, right, we'll just throw something that's way out. Hey, eatonville, mike, you know, whatever company, let's say Alaska, let's say they got 50 people in Eatonville, don't make them come all the way up to Seattle. Yeah, yeah, build an office in Puyallup or Graham or Bonnie Lake, you know something closer. And there you go, everyone can collaborate down there. That would actually enhance that's probably a good idea A real satisfaction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, instead of having a giant building with everybody in it, have smaller satellite offices. You know around and I think that would probably that would probably increase your retention too, you know. So the CEO, david Calhoun I think he goes by Dave he had an all hands meeting and his quote was our virtual moment was a great moment. It taught all of us, especially old timers, that people can work virtually and he believes that there are massive benefits associated. When people are Together, they do have to work. Do they have to work five days a week? He's not sure, but he I think he's driving the main theme here, which is he sees a Benefit in everybody being together, kind of working as a tribe in one place at one.
Speaker 1:So so, if that's the case, if you're trying to so, if, if you're Want you know. So I see two kind of two, two things here. One is the worker being a good worker and doing their job, and then also they. There's a lot more benefits to them all being together, working together. So I do see that, and I think that's what they're doing is they just want everybody together, working together as a team, right, you know, and having that camaraderie, and even satellite offices or whatever, I don't think you can. You can get that so well, that is true. What is the rest of the world doing is this? Is this remote shit, the you know is just in the United States, or is it? Is the world doing this?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I actually have not been paying attention to rest of the world, but I do know the rest of the world in the United States are not hand-in-hand. No, so many things.
Speaker 1:I feel like I my guess is Everybody's, you know working together, you know, in a close way to get things done. I know that a Good friend of mine he has a sister that works for a company in Ukraine and they make Prescript per prescription glasses and sunglass frames out of recycling, out of plastic. They mold them and they make them out of plastic. They don't make the lenses right, but they make the frames for sunglasses and prescription glasses in Ukraine out of scrap plastic. And it's like you know they're not a super big company, I think they're like 50 people or something like that, whatever. But they owe their Success to everybody in one place working together. And the way they did it was like the fact.
Speaker 1:It's like imagine a big, giant square, a warehouse, and On the all the outside edge of the warehouse, all the way around the outside edge, is all the office cubicles and spaces to work and in the middle is a factory, and and so every, I mean they're intertwined to the next level. You know, right, they spin around their chair and they're looking directly in the factory. I thought that was a genius Idea, you know, yeah, to be involved in. Like you know, you're right there. You know, imagine, imagine working in a, in a bread factory. You know, make a really good. Well, what's your favorite food? Pizza, pizza, okay.
Speaker 2:I, because I was got pretty common, for my mind too.
Speaker 1:So, okay, so we're. Imagine that we're like you know, we're both like the CEOs of a present of pizza company, okay, and all our workers are there, and so it's same scenario, right, we're in the office, but the office is around the outside edge and in the middle is a giant pizza factory cooking and making pizzas. You know well, probably we'd be Either constantly hungry, constantly full, or so goddamn fat we wouldn't even be able to work. There'd be couches all the way around. I don't know, but it would really, you know, you'd be in it. You'd go home Smelling like pizza sauce, like when I worked at Pizza Hut. Yeah, yeah, the best. That's the best pizza pizza. It's the best pizza. Papa John's pizza, john.
Speaker 2:I like Brewery City Pizza, the best Brewery City. Where's a brewery City pizza? There's three locations down the Lacy in Olympia area. Oh, brewery is. That is that kind of a Chicago style deep dish thing, or, you know, I'm not very good at knowing the different styles but I don't know. No, this is more like hand-tossed. Oh, okay, oh okay, second best for me is round table, round table.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have good pizza, that's right yeah so when you're bringing up these fact of these employees Working around the warehouse, yeah right, yeah. So in this day and age with AI and virtual reality, there are other options that are coming very much to the forefront. Of course, you have the Microsoft Holo lens. You can work in 3d, in virtual and real reality at the same time with multiple people.
Speaker 1:So you're all in like a virtual room.
Speaker 2:Right, you have the Holo lens on and you're looking and you could have like that make people sick.
Speaker 2:The Holo lens is a see-through lens, oh, okay you can see your surroundings as well as what is being projected in in real time.
Speaker 2:And then you got the Apple Provision Coming out early in the year, okay, and that is technically closed, but because of all the cameras and the technology that Apple uses, you see what's around you in real time, hmm, and it takes away Based on their studies, they're saying it takes away from that feeling vertical, of feeling dizzy.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you know, awesome to eliminate. And then if someone, if you start talking to someone that came up to you and they're talking to you and you're talking to them, the front of the Provision, uh-huh, the, the lens on it is actually like a TV, a little tiny TV screen, uh-huh, and it'll show your eyes and in that main part of your face so they could see you looking at them. Yeah, and then when you stop talking with them, it goes back to just a blank screen and everyone knows you're immersed in whatever you're doing. Okay, but the Provision, you can work in that real time and virtual reality and collaborate on stuff in. You can have an object there and all of you can add and subtract stuff to it and and work together to create something.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, an object, yeah interesting imagine being inside a video game where you can interact with it and add and take yeah like record.
Speaker 1:Ralph, yeah, exactly, yeah, going in there fighting bids.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean it's going to bring a whole new meaning to um A TV monitor. Oh, right, right, you can literally have a TV here. You can have your face time here, you have your zoom call here and inner, inner, inner Twine between all of them, right, right. So I would not suggest having a face time and a zoom call at the same time. That would really get confusing. But you could be on a zoom call and have your power point up and see it. Right, everything is as large or small as you need it.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm gonna wrap this up. We'll save the other articles and stuff for another time, but I'm going to spend some time and bring some more technology conversations from the table. That's gonna be really cool and that's gonna be one of them on the next show. So I wanted to thank tech genius j for uh co-host in and joining us for some time and and I'm Matthew Cote, this is foundation nation.
Speaker 2:Is jay's salami or jay's technology solutions?
Speaker 1:and we'll catch you on the flip side.
Speaker 3:Foundation nation is proudly sponsored by jay's technology solutions. Call jay's technology solutions at 253 376 7579 for all your computer repair, it and network solutions.
