October 30, 2024 • 27 mins
I sit down with Sean Marihugh, Sr. Accessibility Program Manager at Microsoft, Independent Consultant to talk accessibility, tech, sports, and how they intersect. We'll also share our current go to for tequila and tea.
Visit https://www.seanmarihugh.com/ to learn more about Sean!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Upbeat Music]
(00:21):
Hello everyone,and welcome to Tech and Sips,
where I sit down with some interestingfolks to talk tech trends
and whatever else may cross our minds,all while sipping our favorite cocktails.
let's get into it.
My guesttoday is Sean Marihugh, program manager
at Microsoft, Accessibility Consultant,and a good friend of mine.
Sean, welcome to the show.
Thanks, Eddie,for having me. Excited to be here.
Yeah, I’mpretty excited, man. New podcast.
(00:42):
I am, I am stoked.
I appreciate you taking your timeand being here.
Let's kick things off.
Tell me a little bit about what it is,what it did you do on a day to day basis?
Sure. Yeah. Let's do it.Thanks for. Thanks again for having me.
I have been at Microsoft for a while,a little over nine years now,
but I've been in the accessibility spacefor a while before that as well.
It all startedwith kind of this fascination
(01:04):
of just how people with disabilitiesinteract with technology.
When I was a lot younger,I went through a program
at the University of Washingtonthat was all about getting high school
and college students with disabilitieskind of prepared for college and career
and going through that program.
We got to come to the Microsoft campus,got to know some several folks there.
And I always had this interestin just the technology aspect of
just seeing all the different waysthat people tweak things to make it work
(01:26):
for them, try new toolsand that sort of thing.
that's why I really lovejust being in the accessibility world.
I think it's a really fun industrythat's always evolving,
and there's just so much creativityand finding things that work for people.
And, you know, there's a ton of techgoing on today, man, on a new stuff
coming out, AI everywhere.
Yeah, yeah.Yeah, it's definitely a big part of it.
So my current role,I work really closely with companies
(01:47):
that make assistive technology,whether that's like screen magnification
software or communication devices and appsand that sort of thing.
Just a whole range of tools.
And they're really cool companiesthat they're small,
they're really passionateabout what they do.
And they are, really understandthe needs of their customers.
And so I think in the last year
especially, it's been really tryingto figure out how I can help,
(02:08):
evolve some of their businessesand modernize some of their technology
just with the pace of it's evolving.
It's just it's quite exciting,
but it's sometimes hard to keep upwith, to be honest.
Yeah, it's a little scary at times.
It seems like every time you turna corner, somebody's got a new product.
I remember when we kind of first Microsoftkind of first launched the stuff.
It was it was a little bit crazy.
Then the news here, there.
And the next thing you know, it's like,
(02:29):
well, Microsoft's got an AI and Google'sgot an AI and Meta’s got an AI.
And now it's like McDonald's has an AI,you know?
It's a little bit everywhere,but it's really cool to see
that it's not just, you know, a fad trend,but people are really kind of diving in
and looking at how how AI can help peoplelive better lives in general, not just,
you know,how can we make a quick buck, right.
(02:50):
And I think the assistive tech space, isis pretty cool.
I mean, you know, we, know, there's like,what, 1.3 billion people estimated
now that that, know,have some form of disability?
It's a lot of people,you know, and it's a huge market.
So even just from a financial standpoint,it it's
it makes sense to kind of look athow can we can improve those lives.
But you also think about it too,you know, it's
(03:12):
everybody's going to needsome kind of assistive tech at some point.
I know, you know,you see me, I'm wearing ear monitors now.
But, many years of deejayingdestroyed my ears.
And so I'm losing my hearing,and my vision is I'm getting older.
And so, that assistive tech is, is kindof kind of becoming more important.
So on the AI front, it'snot just hardware and stuff.
There's other things that they can,
(03:33):
you know, other waysthat AI can be used to help people out.
I think we've seen it.
You know, Microsoft has their Copilots,but, you know, ChatGPT as well.
They all kind of do these,these same things.
I think some of the cool things
that I've seen recentlyis, is the Be My Eyes, Seeing AI, these,
these really incredible toolsthat folks that that can't see
are able to to use their phonesor their mobile devices
(03:55):
to, to kind of snap a pictureand get a good description.
really cool stuff, man.
Yeah. Super neat.
I think it's just cool to see again,like how much it's evolved over the last
several years in particular,but especially the last year.
more and more people exploring this space.
And I think, like,I would even say like things like ChatGPT
are assistive technologies,like those tools in and of themselves are
(04:15):
such cool things that, people disabilitiescan really use to, to benefit from.
Yeah, I use, I use them for summaries.
I use either Copilot or ChatGPT.
One of the other just depends on which oneI'm closest to at the moment.
And I try to use those to like, summarize,like, long websites, like long articles.
Sometimes I find a cool techarticle and like,
I just do not have the timeor the attention
(04:36):
span to read this whole article,so I just get a quick summary of it.
It's been very helpful.
So, Sean,outside of your day job at Microsoft,
I understand you have a little bitof a new adventure going on.
You and I talk a little bit about that?
Sure. Yeah, it's kind of a new thing.
I just have been building out a website
for kind of a personal brandand kind of consulting service.
I think I've been able to do a lot of funprojects over the years, and,
(04:58):
wanting to just find waysto do some more of those that are, like,
very personally fulfilling and very closeto some of the things that I've talked
about here that are very important to me.
it's, a new, very new thing.
the website is nice and simple.
It's just seanmarihugh.com.
But it's.
Yeah, it's it serves as both a portfolioof some of the things that I've been doing
and some of the projects that I've done,and I and also,
(05:21):
on the consulting side,kind of targeting a few different angles.
One is,the kind of digital accessibility stuff
that I do in the dayjob is kind of the bread and butter.
I think just always it's a skill setthat I enjoy leveraging
and what I always wantto find more projects
that kind of do those sorts of things to,but also in the tourism space,
like finding waysto make tourism providers
(05:42):
and some of the offerings in that spacemore inclusive and more accessible.
Because there's a lot of groups out therethat if you're like, you know,
a helicopter tour company,there's some things that you can do, like
there's some training that might help youto be able to better offer services
for someone like me who uses a wheelchair,whether that's like help
just transferring inand out of a helicopter.
There's a lot the groups can do to just,
(06:02):
better document and advertisewhat is available on their sites.
So I think that's a really cool space thatI haven't seen a whole lot of focus in.
But there is a group in New Zealandcalled Making Tracks,
and they've kind of the, started a modellike that.
And it's, fascinating to me.
And it's kind of always been in the backof my mind to do something similar.
And so this is kind of asomething I'm just starting to explore.
(06:24):
I've also found I love writing,I've gotten to write a few blogs
recently about adaptive sports.
One on adaptive mountain
biking, a couple on sailing and kayakingthat I think will come out in the spring
because we're already in the fall,which happens next.
But also kind of writing
about accessibility in generaland why, is such an important thing,
why there's, just so many thingsthat touch accessibility
(06:46):
and it has a potential to reachso many more people.
So, I don't know.
I think those are like a few anglesthat I'm exploring and again,
it's kind of just building outa personal brand and finding some projects
that are gigs that I think are closeto the things that I enjoy.
Right? Yeah.
Well, it's not just that you enjoy it,but you're passionate about to it.
What, like you did.
I believe, if I recall correctly.
And you can fix it.
Fix it if I'm wrong here, but,you recently did some, work
(07:09):
around, Seattle, helping them get some ofthe sidewalks accessible, I believe.
Yeah. So there was a, a couple things.
There's a transportationlevy that Seattle, the city of Seattle,
and the Department of Transportationhere, where we're looking at,
and there was a campaign in partnershipwith a group called Disability
Rights Washingtonthat was all about, documenting
and kind of telling some of the storiesof some of the issues with sidewalks,
(07:33):
whether that's lack of curb cutsor some of the ramps up to the sidewalks
or just sidewalks that aren't maintained
or overgrown or things like that,and just a huge safety issue that that,
both the safety issue that, that causes,but also just the,
the lack of opportunity for people like,I, live in a neighborhood of Seattle
that is overall decently accessiblein this kind of core that I'm in.
(07:55):
I remember looking at another placethat was, I really like the place,
good neighborhood,it was less accessible to me.
And so there like financial reasonsas well.
Like like I'm not I chose to livein a different area because of that.
And so there that's a very real thingthat people have to, to choose and decide.
And so important that sidewalksand all that infrastructure is maintained
really well.
(08:15):
And so in partnership with DisabilityRights Washington, I was able to go
to some of the city's public commentperiods, about the transportation levy
and got to share some insightand some of my perspective on why sidewalk
access and maintenance is so criticalfor my own safety getting around.
But also just the opportunities and placesthat I can even go in the first place.
(08:38):
Right now. That's that's really cool.
That's really awesome.
And I'm sure there's a lot of peoplethat appreciate
that input, that you had on helping,getting that stuff straightened out.
So that's really good.
And congrats on the on the new site.
and the new gig, you're starting upthere, we'll be sure to make sure we post
links to everything, in the descriptionsand for the podcast.
And so hopefully folks can goand check that out.
(08:58):
And, knows, maybe maybe it'll, generategenerate a little bit of interest and,
get you some leads.Hopefully. That never hurts.
I understand that you're a big sports guy.
Like, you like outdoor stuff I do. Yeah.
Yeah, That’s, that's
an area I want toI want to learn more about, like.
Like, how did you get into outdoor sportsbefore we even get
(09:19):
into the cool tech side of it.
How did you just, like, get, like,what was the thing that really sparked
the desire to get outand do these outdoor activities for?
Yeah, I don't know how far backyou want me to go, but, no, I think the
I think had an interesting relationshipwith a lot of outdoor activities.
I have what's called muscular dystrophy,which is a degenerative, muscle disorder.
(09:39):
so, I use a powered wheelchair these days.
But when I was a kid,I didn't use any assistive devices.
And so I was in a family that went,snow skiing a lot.
And so that was just somethingI grew up doing.
Probably started learningwhen I was, like, three.
And probably didn'treally know anything about it then.
Other than it was probably scary at first,but then you kind of get over that.
(10:00):
It's scary to me now.
Yeah, you get used to it.
But I,
as my body changed over the years, like,I found that harder and harder to do.
And I think there was a certain point
maybe around like 10 or 11where it just, like,
didn't really feel like it was my thingto be able to do that anymore.
Which is pretty challenging
because I think, like, again,like in my family,
that was some of the thingsthat we all did in the winter.
My, brother still skis quite a lot.
(10:22):
My parents,
less these days, but they still get outas much as they can in the winter.
Yeah, I think for a
long time there was that feeling of like,well, that's not for me anymore.
yeah, having a lot of complex, emotionsaround that.
Just, I kind of vaguelyknew about adaptive sport programs.
My brother actually volunteeredwith one of them, over in the Seattle area
when I was growing up,and I think that was probably a nudge
(10:46):
from my family for me, like, oh, maybethis could be an option, but I don't know.
I think for whatever weird identity issuesdidn't feel like that was for me still
and just kind of felt that wayfor a long time and kind of resisted
trying a lot of thosekind of outdoor activities.
And yeah, no, I think just over the years,I kind of just realized, like,
I got more and more aware of the thingsthat were out there,
(11:07):
that some of the tools and resourcesavailable for people with disabilities.
And I didn't see people for quite exactlylike me out doing a lot of this stuff.
I just started to get to know more peoplethat were doing it
and got a better understandingof what was out there.
And finally, with my partnerat the time, like,
I finally was convincedjust to try it, like,
I don't know about thiswhole skiing thing.
I'll probably just be cold.I won't have fun.
(11:30):
I was cold, but it was super fun. Just.
I think that feeling
of just sliding on snow that, I did as a kid, like, it felt so familiar.
But it was, different.The mechanics are different.
Like, I use a sit ski now,
which is like, I'm in a seatthat's got 1 or 2 skis under it.
There's a bunch of different varieties.
But that, I thinkjust trying that and realizing, oh, okay,
(11:51):
there is a tool that can get me out there.
I think really started me on that journeyof just wanting to see
what things are out there, what toolsI can use, what I can try
and I don't know.
Yeah, it's kind ofjust been a motivation to just.
I'll try anything at least once. Right.
So you get brought backa little bit of nostalgia, right?
Some of those childhood memories.
Yeah. Yeah,I definitely totally understand that.
(12:12):
It's really good
to see how you can kind of combine your,you know, a couple of your passions
there, like your passion for skiingwhen you were a kid.
You know, that those memoriesand the good times that you had
in that family side and then combine thatwith the the assistive technologies
and finding things that's out there,I mean, that's one good on you.
That's that's great.It's very inspirational.
But at the same time I'm like,I'm a little bit jealous because I know
(12:36):
I, I probably can't get out thereand ski worth a flip.
Like I'mjust not that coordinated at times.
And, I tried water skiing once.
That wasI, I managed to get up on onto the skis.
I was twoskis. Got me to get up on two skis.
I didn't stay there long,
before I face planted, but, I'm like,yeah, I just yeah,
water skiing is a little bit differentthan snow skiing, though.
But Yeah, you know,I never really took to water skiing.
(12:58):
It's funny
because my parents have always beenhuge water skiers, and I'm pretty sure,
like when I was like one,I was probably the one in the boat
holding the flag up when they were outwater skiing,
and they would do it year round, likein the winter and everything, just to me.
But yeah, not my jam.
No. Yeah, I, I,I can't imagine doing that now.
Now biking.
I did do quite a bit of bikingwhen I was a kid.
(13:19):
A lot of it did some mountain bikingwhen I got a little bit older.
So I understandbiking is another, another big thing.
You recently got a new, bike?
Tell us about that.
That’s been an adventure.
First I'll say I'm still, like, a littleterrified of it because it is very fast.
But, yeah, so I, got intoadaptive mountain biking over the summer.
friend of mine
has been slowly trying to convince meto try it out for a couple years
(13:41):
now, just because he does it all the timeand loves it.
And, yeah, I think started a journey to,like, figure out what would work for me.
So last summer, I startedjust kind of experimenting and, like,
trying out a bunch of different bikesthat are out there.
And for me, a lot of the, a lot of theadaptive mountain bikes are trikes.
So sometimes they'll either have one wheelin the front and two in the back, or two
(14:02):
in the front, one in the back.
There's kind of prosand cons for for each of those.
But I tried a bunch of thoseand just kind of like got a sense of what
worked about some of them, what didn'twork, and narrowed in on a bike
that would work for me.
It's made by a company called Bowheadin, Alberta.
In Calgary and itself.
And so they it's, and they have severaldifferent models, but the one that I have
now is called The Reach,and it's basically an electric trike.
(14:26):
A lot of adaptive bikes, you might.
So, like hand pedal.
Sometimes with e-assists
seeing that I don't have a ton of strengthfor using some of those.
that's why when I had tried out thethe Bowhead Reach really felt like it.
Some of the challengeswith some of the other bikes, it's solved
by just being just like throttleand brake, which is much easier for me.
(14:47):
And so,
yeah, it's been fun to get to know that,like anything in the adaptive sports
and just accessibility world it’sexpensive.
Like, it's, it's not cheapto get one of these bikes new.
There are a lot of grants out there,which is great.
but for me,I think a lot of those focus on people,
spinal cord injuries,which I don't fall into that category.
And so it was hard to find funding,at least on that side.
(15:07):
So I end up doing a personal fundraiserfor that.
Yeah, it was neat.
And it was really, it felt really cooland very humbling of just how many people
were willing to contribute to that.
Yeah, I think I rememberI remember some of the emotion
you for sharing, you know,just how surprised and thankful you are,
that folks were willing to help out there,and it's. Yeah, you're right.
They I remember you sharinghow much that thing was,
and it was was like,Holy cow, that's a car.
(15:30):
Yeah.I mean, you could buy a car for this.
So I understand this thing is fast.
You said fast.
How fast is itactually? That’s a good question.
I don't know that I've really, like,put it to the limit.
I remember being on, like,a pretty straight, path.
It was, paved, and I gave it full power,and it was like a residential street
next to it.
I was almost keeping pace with the car,so I think I might go, like,
(15:53):
20 miles an hour.
Crazy. More if you point it down hill.
Oh, yeah, well, yeah.
I'm sure gravity'sgoing to help out there.
I used to, we used to have a, golf cart,
our neighborhood, it'sone of the golf cart communities.
So if you have one that's quote unquotestreet legal, you can have one on there.
And mine was dialed.
It was throttled, at 22 miles an hour.
(16:14):
And when you're driving a car, 22does not seem fast at all.
I mean, it's like, feelsalmost like you're standing still.
Yeah.I'm going to tell you 22 on a golf cart.
It's a little scary.
So. Yeah.
So 20 to 25 miles an hour on that thing.
I could imagine. It's...
and especially because I don't know
if you've driven an electric car,they have that kind of instant power.
(16:35):
Instant torque. does this,
when I give it full power, I pretty much,like, always skid the tire,
and then it just goes, you're just,like, instantly, which is kind of scary.
Yeah, but, you know, it's scary,but it's thrilling ...
It's gotta give you an adrenalinerush. Yeah.
So let me ask you,is there any other sports
that you're not doing nowthat you're considering trying out next?
(16:57):
I've got kind of a running list of thingsthat I would try.
One of them is adaptive surfing.
I think with the caveat that I wouldonly go where the water's really warm,
because that just sounds so much better.
yeah, there's, there's groups, that doadaptive surfing and there's surfboards
that essentially have a seata lot like my sit ski.
Right. With the seat mounted on top of it.
Obviously you're not fully strapped in
(17:19):
like I am with my sit ski,so if it goes under.
yeah, I think surfing is one of them.
Yeah, I think there's just
there's a lot out there, and it's been funto just learn more about them
and even kind of within each sportthat I do, there's
so many ways to branch offand do other things, like with my bike.
I've been doing some mountainbiking on traditional mountain
biking trails, which has been fun.
(17:40):
I've also liked gravel biking,where you're just kind of on these longer
treks on kind of mixed surfaces.
yeah,I think wanting to do more of the gravel
biking to go just further distances,similar with sit skiing like there is,
I've done a lot of resort skiing,but there are a ways of doing
some backcountry skiing, whether that'swith, snowmobile or things like that.
moral of the story is I just need to makefriends with snowmobiles. But
(18:02):
[laughin] yeah, I don't know.
Well, we I'm, I'm in the south obviously.
And so yeah,I mean there's snowmobiles don't exist.
Snow doesn't really exist down here.
We get it like once every five years.
And when we do get it, it'susually like four feet.
Everythingshuts down. So yeah, it's, Yeah.
Now I say that kind of tongue in cheek.I mean, we do.
The mountains do get quite a bit of snow.
I'm. I'm a few hours from mountains.We do have a couple of ski resorts.
(18:24):
I don't know, maybemaybe I'll put that on my bucket list.
Maybe I'll like.You know what? I'll get out there.
Maybe I'll try it.
The downside is,I'm afraid that I might like it
and enjoy it and actually have fun at it.
And it's another thingthat I'm going to have to spend money on.
Just go down that rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah.
The wife and I did kayaking.
I think it was.
second time doing
it was her first time, At Biltmore, yearbefore last, we we were down.
(18:48):
We went down the French Broad River there,which is,
for those who heard about about Helene,it just came through.
A lot of that area is devastated.
And so I'm hopingby the time we get this edited
and up there that a lot of that stuffis starting to recover.
But I know a lot of it.
But so we did we did kayaking there andwe were on a trip to the, Biltmore Estate.
And, you know, it was nicelittle most of it was pretty slow.
(19:08):
The French Broadis, fairly shallow in the area we ran.
So obviouslyit's like there weren't really any rapids.
There were a couple places where it gota little fast, but not too bad.
But it was, was a good time.
And the wife, you know, despite itbeing extremely hot in August,
not the besttime to go kayaking down the river.
it gets hot in a kayak, you can't, like,just jump out and jump back in easily.
(19:29):
But yeah,she said she's wanted to do it too.
So we've debatedon purchasing a couple of kayaks.
There's a few places near here.
Yeah. That's neat.
Yeah, I've tried, I've also triedadaptive kayaking and sailing now, and,
I do love being out on the water.
Like I mentioned that my parentswere have always been big water skiers.
And so, I was often in the boat as a kid,maybe not great at water skiing
(19:49):
because never clicked for me.
But yeah, there's just something specialabout being out on the water.
Yeah, to kind of float down.
Just no power sometimes too.
It's just it's quiet. Peaceful.
Yeah. It.
No, it is definitely an escape.
It gives you an opportunity to kind of
just forget about everythingand step away.
And that’s important.
I think for anybody of any age, it'sjust sometimes you just need to step away
and floating down the river is definitelya good, good way to do it.
(20:13):
really cool.
So I think, you know,
I appreciate you sharingkind of those little personal stories
and stuff,talking a little bit about your work.
The other thingthat we want to talk about on our podcast,
normally is going to be cocktailsand you're not a big alcoholic drinks
[...] Myself, today I'm having an, 1800tequila and a little bit of, I'm going
with the Zero Sugar Pepsi because,you know, gotta watch my watch my figure.
(20:35):
But, yeah. So this isthis is kind of interesting.
Again, I know you're not, not a big liquorguy, but, the 1800, extra anejo here
that I have actually tastesa little bit like a bourbon.
So this is almost like having a bourbonand coke, so it's really good.
Interesting story. The I.
This is the first set of, craft
ice globes,if you will, that I tried, tried making.
(20:55):
I'm like, you know what?
I kind of want to get some like,these craft ice things.
Yeah.
So I found, like, I don't know,it was like, 20 some bucks off of Amazon.
Oh, it's a little insulated I don’t evenknow, it’s a little container.
it's got a plastic piecethat has the half round at the bottom.
And then it's silicone moldthat goes on top.
And you, have to fillput the water for these for ice globes.
(21:17):
Put the water in this little tiny hole inyou have to fill it up.
my first go around I got onethat was an ice globe, one that was two
thirds of an ice globe, onethat was an ice acorn,
and the other onelooked more like an ice pear.
whatever I'm still figuring out,there's like,
I need to figure out how to get
the right amount of water in thereso that it doesn't like, go off balance.
But but anyway, if, if,if any of my viewers
(21:39):
are tequila folks and your bourbon,you like bourbon as well.
The 1800 extra anejo highly recommended.
You on the other hand though,
what's some of your favorite type,you know, again, could be mocktails.
It could be anything else I what what whatkind of things do you like to to drink?
Yeah, I would say I don't drinka whole lot these days.
I do enjoy a good beer once in a while.
There's a new brewery that just openednear me in Seattle.
(22:01):
So I’ve tried that recently.
Which one is that? It's calledJellyfish Brewing.
It's based in, in Seattle,and that was their second, taproom
that they just openedup, Okay. I’ll have to check that out.
Yeah, yeah.
But otherwise, like, I enjoya lot of different teas and things.
I don't drink coffee anymore,but I found a lot of different teas.
(22:21):
Is kind of a good.
know I don't make it every day,but when I want a nice, warm beverage.
I've been doing a lot of chai.
It's just easy to makeand just always as good to me.
I admit, I'm probably not doing itin the traditional way.
It is like a pretty traditional,like, powder that you mix in.
Right.
But the deal with chaias you're mixing it in
with milk and sugar and, like, it'sturns it into quite a good drink.
(22:42):
For me I just kind of like,
pour the powder in some hot waterand it's actually spicy.
Which I like that.I like spiciness of chai.
But may not be the most traditional, but,there's a whole lot of ways
of preparing it, but I've just found thatthat's. I enjoy that one.
Can't say that I've ever had a chai.
I just, I can't I don't think I ever have,not that I haven't.
Like, just never cross my mind.
Like, usually when I go someplacewhere they, they have that as an option.
(23:05):
I'm usually usually a coffee shopand I'm going for coffee.
I'm, you know, a Navy guy,so I drink a lot of coffee.
And so coffee is usually my go to there.
But so If want to branch out into trying
chai either is a hybrid,or it's called a dirty chai.
That'sbasically a chai with some espresso in it.
Interesting.
See, now you're talking about,now you're talking so I.
(23:26):
Yeah, this is onesay I'm willing to try things like I.
Absolutely.
Especially when it comes to like foodbeverages.
I'll try stuff all day long. Againexpand the palate.
Right.
I've, I've found there's thingsthat I did not think I would like.
I tried escargot for the first time.
I'm like, you know what
and, you know, that's one of those thingswhere you can't really get it
a lot of places,like, it's a fancy thing, right?
And usually when I go to some placethat might serve it,
(23:46):
it's like don’t knowif I want to spend that kind of dough,
try something that I might not like,you know?
Yeah. So,you know, I've always avoided it.
But I did get a chance to try, escargotwhen I was in Mexico at a resort because
it's all inclusive, and they actually hada nice French restaurant in the
the resort, and it was on the menu,so I'm like, all inclusive, so go for it.
(24:08):
Actually, it's very good. Okay.Well that's good. Yeah.
So I will try the you'll have to like,I know I'll be out in Seattle area
in a couple of weeks.
And so maybe that's something we canwe could try that dirty chai.
Yeah. Highly recommend.
I've also done and tried matcha,which is like
a, more of a concentrated green tea.
It's a bit more like, particular to get itjust right,
(24:29):
because sometimes the texturelike it's a powder as well, but getting it
kind of mixed injust right is a little tricky in,
not a whole lot of places that I've beento do a great matcha, but some do.
But yeah, it's also just a good,just a good drink.
It's like, kind of very verbally herbal,herbal and grassy.
I would describe it, which, if that's notyour vibe, that that's fine, but,
(24:50):
I don't know, it's a good thing that
that I try to work in once in a while,but I would say the chai is definitely
the go to.
you would you say matcha is kind oflike the, tea version of espresso
in, I think, in the sensethat it's like a bit trickier
and a bit more particular to get. Right.Yeah, I’d say so.
I do like it.
I'm probably going to get a lot of hatecomments for that, but whatever.
So I’m from the South, we pretty muchdrink one kind of tea down here.
(25:12):
And that's usually sweet tea,
although I dogenerally go with unsweet tea just because
don’t tell any of my southern friendsbecause they will probably disown me.
But it's mainly because, you know, I'mjust I just try to cut down on the sugar.
Like I said, I'm drinkingsugar free Pepsi.
And so, it doesn't bother me.
I got a buddy that calls tea dirty water.
So, yeah, whatever
(25:32):
to each their own.
Sweet dirty water and unsweet dirty water.
That's right.That's that's what he calls it.
but yeah, I generallyI do like a good hot tea occasionally.
Most of the time when I drink at hot tea,it's like in the wintertime sore throat,
you know, sinus thing.
I'll drink a good, lemon zingerhot tea with a little bit of honey in it
to help feel better.
Or when I go to the Chinese restaurant.
(25:54):
Tastes good with that meal.
what about the, the what? The boba teas.
You drink those things with a little, what do they have pearls in it?
But I'm a bit picky on, like,texture of things, and that's never quite
worked right for me.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, no.
Like, if I have to have a straw
that large to drink my drink,unless it's a milkshake.
(26:15):
Oh, man.
That's that's just awesome.
Well, I appreciate it, Sean.
Thanks for your time today.
And, look,you know, maybe come back with us again.
Give us an update.
Let us know how some of that,surfing's going and stuff.
Okay.
Yeah, well, once it once we hit summer,and once I go to warm water,
then I'll report back.
Yeah, I'm. I'm done with summer.
It's still summer here in the South.
We have summer until, like, December,so I'm ready for fall/winter here.
(26:39):
As a little differentwhere you're at. But.
Yeah. All right. Well thank you.
I appreciate everyone listening and,hope you enjoyed the podcast.
Leave us some comments, like, subscribe.You know the deal.
Check us out on all the socials. You folkshave a good one.
Thanks, everyone.
[Upbeat music]
[Upbeat Music]
(00:21):
Hello everyone,and welcome to Tech and Sips,
where I sit down with some interestingfolks to talk tech trends
and whatever else may cross our minds,all while sipping our favorite cocktails.
let's get into it.
My guesttoday is Sean Marihugh, program manager
at Microsoft, Accessibility Consultant,and a good friend of mine.
Sean, welcome to the show.
Thanks, Eddie,for having me. Excited to be here.
Yeah, I’mpretty excited, man. New podcast.
(00:42):
I am, I am stoked.
I appreciate you taking your timeand being here.
Let's kick things off.
Tell me a little bit about what it is,what it did you do on a day to day basis?
Sure. Yeah. Let's do it.Thanks for. Thanks again for having me.
I have been at Microsoft for a while,a little over nine years now,
but I've been in the accessibility spacefor a while before that as well.
It all startedwith kind of this fascination
(01:04):
of just how people with disabilitiesinteract with technology.
When I was a lot younger,I went through a program
at the University of Washingtonthat was all about getting high school
and college students with disabilitieskind of prepared for college and career
and going through that program.
We got to come to the Microsoft campus,got to know some several folks there.
And I always had this interestin just the technology aspect of
just seeing all the different waysthat people tweak things to make it work
(01:26):
for them, try new toolsand that sort of thing.
that's why I really lovejust being in the accessibility world.
I think it's a really fun industrythat's always evolving,
and there's just so much creativityand finding things that work for people.
And, you know, there's a ton of techgoing on today, man, on a new stuff
coming out, AI everywhere.
Yeah, yeah.Yeah, it's definitely a big part of it.
So my current role,I work really closely with companies
(01:47):
that make assistive technology,whether that's like screen magnification
software or communication devices and appsand that sort of thing.
Just a whole range of tools.
And they're really cool companiesthat they're small,
they're really passionateabout what they do.
And they are, really understandthe needs of their customers.
And so I think in the last year
especially, it's been really tryingto figure out how I can help,
(02:08):
evolve some of their businessesand modernize some of their technology
just with the pace of it's evolving.
It's just it's quite exciting,
but it's sometimes hard to keep upwith, to be honest.
Yeah, it's a little scary at times.
It seems like every time you turna corner, somebody's got a new product.
I remember when we kind of first Microsoftkind of first launched the stuff.
It was it was a little bit crazy.
Then the news here, there.
And the next thing you know, it's like,
(02:29):
well, Microsoft's got an AI and Google'sgot an AI and Meta’s got an AI.
And now it's like McDonald's has an AI,you know?
It's a little bit everywhere,but it's really cool to see
that it's not just, you know, a fad trend,but people are really kind of diving in
and looking at how how AI can help peoplelive better lives in general, not just,
you know,how can we make a quick buck, right.
(02:50):
And I think the assistive tech space, isis pretty cool.
I mean, you know, we, know, there's like,what, 1.3 billion people estimated
now that that, know,have some form of disability?
It's a lot of people,you know, and it's a huge market.
So even just from a financial standpoint,it it's
it makes sense to kind of look athow can we can improve those lives.
But you also think about it too,you know, it's
(03:12):
everybody's going to needsome kind of assistive tech at some point.
I know, you know,you see me, I'm wearing ear monitors now.
But, many years of deejayingdestroyed my ears.
And so I'm losing my hearing,and my vision is I'm getting older.
And so, that assistive tech is, is kindof kind of becoming more important.
So on the AI front, it'snot just hardware and stuff.
There's other things that they can,
(03:33):
you know, other waysthat AI can be used to help people out.
I think we've seen it.
You know, Microsoft has their Copilots,but, you know, ChatGPT as well.
They all kind of do these,these same things.
I think some of the cool things
that I've seen recentlyis, is the Be My Eyes, Seeing AI, these,
these really incredible toolsthat folks that that can't see
are able to to use their phonesor their mobile devices
(03:55):
to, to kind of snap a pictureand get a good description.
really cool stuff, man.
Yeah. Super neat.
I think it's just cool to see again,like how much it's evolved over the last
several years in particular,but especially the last year.
more and more people exploring this space.
And I think, like,I would even say like things like ChatGPT
are assistive technologies,like those tools in and of themselves are
(04:15):
such cool things that, people disabilitiescan really use to, to benefit from.
Yeah, I use, I use them for summaries.
I use either Copilot or ChatGPT.
One of the other just depends on which oneI'm closest to at the moment.
And I try to use those to like, summarize,like, long websites, like long articles.
Sometimes I find a cool techarticle and like,
I just do not have the timeor the attention
(04:36):
span to read this whole article,so I just get a quick summary of it.
It's been very helpful.
So, Sean,outside of your day job at Microsoft,
I understand you have a little bitof a new adventure going on.
You and I talk a little bit about that?
Sure. Yeah, it's kind of a new thing.
I just have been building out a website
for kind of a personal brandand kind of consulting service.
I think I've been able to do a lot of funprojects over the years, and,
(04:58):
wanting to just find waysto do some more of those that are, like,
very personally fulfilling and very closeto some of the things that I've talked
about here that are very important to me.
it's, a new, very new thing.
the website is nice and simple.
It's just seanmarihugh.com.
But it's.
Yeah, it's it serves as both a portfolioof some of the things that I've been doing
and some of the projects that I've done,and I and also,
(05:21):
on the consulting side,kind of targeting a few different angles.
One is,the kind of digital accessibility stuff
that I do in the dayjob is kind of the bread and butter.
I think just always it's a skill setthat I enjoy leveraging
and what I always wantto find more projects
that kind of do those sorts of things to,but also in the tourism space,
like finding waysto make tourism providers
(05:42):
and some of the offerings in that spacemore inclusive and more accessible.
Because there's a lot of groups out therethat if you're like, you know,
a helicopter tour company,there's some things that you can do, like
there's some training that might help youto be able to better offer services
for someone like me who uses a wheelchair,whether that's like help
just transferring inand out of a helicopter.
There's a lot the groups can do to just,
(06:02):
better document and advertisewhat is available on their sites.
So I think that's a really cool space thatI haven't seen a whole lot of focus in.
But there is a group in New Zealandcalled Making Tracks,
and they've kind of the, started a modellike that.
And it's, fascinating to me.
And it's kind of always been in the backof my mind to do something similar.
And so this is kind of asomething I'm just starting to explore.
(06:24):
I've also found I love writing,I've gotten to write a few blogs
recently about adaptive sports.
One on adaptive mountain
biking, a couple on sailing and kayakingthat I think will come out in the spring
because we're already in the fall,which happens next.
But also kind of writing
about accessibility in generaland why, is such an important thing,
why there's, just so many thingsthat touch accessibility
(06:46):
and it has a potential to reachso many more people.
So, I don't know.
I think those are like a few anglesthat I'm exploring and again,
it's kind of just building outa personal brand and finding some projects
that are gigs that I think are closeto the things that I enjoy.
Right? Yeah.
Well, it's not just that you enjoy it,but you're passionate about to it.
What, like you did.
I believe, if I recall correctly.
And you can fix it.
Fix it if I'm wrong here, but,you recently did some, work
(07:09):
around, Seattle, helping them get some ofthe sidewalks accessible, I believe.
Yeah. So there was a, a couple things.
There's a transportationlevy that Seattle, the city of Seattle,
and the Department of Transportationhere, where we're looking at,
and there was a campaign in partnershipwith a group called Disability
Rights Washingtonthat was all about, documenting
and kind of telling some of the storiesof some of the issues with sidewalks,
(07:33):
whether that's lack of curb cutsor some of the ramps up to the sidewalks
or just sidewalks that aren't maintained
or overgrown or things like that,and just a huge safety issue that that,
both the safety issue that, that causes,but also just the,
the lack of opportunity for people like,I, live in a neighborhood of Seattle
that is overall decently accessiblein this kind of core that I'm in.
(07:55):
I remember looking at another placethat was, I really like the place,
good neighborhood,it was less accessible to me.
And so there like financial reasonsas well.
Like like I'm not I chose to livein a different area because of that.
And so there that's a very real thingthat people have to, to choose and decide.
And so important that sidewalksand all that infrastructure is maintained
really well.
(08:15):
And so in partnership with DisabilityRights Washington, I was able to go
to some of the city's public commentperiods, about the transportation levy
and got to share some insightand some of my perspective on why sidewalk
access and maintenance is so criticalfor my own safety getting around.
But also just the opportunities and placesthat I can even go in the first place.
(08:38):
Right now. That's that's really cool.
That's really awesome.
And I'm sure there's a lot of peoplethat appreciate
that input, that you had on helping,getting that stuff straightened out.
So that's really good.
And congrats on the on the new site.
and the new gig, you're starting upthere, we'll be sure to make sure we post
links to everything, in the descriptionsand for the podcast.
And so hopefully folks can goand check that out.
(08:58):
And, knows, maybe maybe it'll, generategenerate a little bit of interest and,
get you some leads.Hopefully. That never hurts.
I understand that you're a big sports guy.
Like, you like outdoor stuff I do. Yeah.
Yeah, That’s, that's
an area I want toI want to learn more about, like.
Like, how did you get into outdoor sportsbefore we even get
(09:19):
into the cool tech side of it.
How did you just, like, get, like,what was the thing that really sparked
the desire to get outand do these outdoor activities for?
Yeah, I don't know how far backyou want me to go, but, no, I think the
I think had an interesting relationshipwith a lot of outdoor activities.
I have what's called muscular dystrophy,which is a degenerative, muscle disorder.
(09:39):
so, I use a powered wheelchair these days.
But when I was a kid,I didn't use any assistive devices.
And so I was in a family that went,snow skiing a lot.
And so that was just somethingI grew up doing.
Probably started learningwhen I was, like, three.
And probably didn'treally know anything about it then.
Other than it was probably scary at first,but then you kind of get over that.
(10:00):
It's scary to me now.
Yeah, you get used to it.
But I,
as my body changed over the years, like,I found that harder and harder to do.
And I think there was a certain point
maybe around like 10 or 11where it just, like,
didn't really feel like it was my thingto be able to do that anymore.
Which is pretty challenging
because I think, like, again,like in my family,
that was some of the thingsthat we all did in the winter.
My, brother still skis quite a lot.
(10:22):
My parents,
less these days, but they still get outas much as they can in the winter.
Yeah, I think for a
long time there was that feeling of like,well, that's not for me anymore.
yeah, having a lot of complex, emotionsaround that.
Just, I kind of vaguelyknew about adaptive sport programs.
My brother actually volunteeredwith one of them, over in the Seattle area
when I was growing up,and I think that was probably a nudge
(10:46):
from my family for me, like, oh, maybethis could be an option, but I don't know.
I think for whatever weird identity issuesdidn't feel like that was for me still
and just kind of felt that wayfor a long time and kind of resisted
trying a lot of thosekind of outdoor activities.
And yeah, no, I think just over the years,I kind of just realized, like,
I got more and more aware of the thingsthat were out there,
(11:07):
that some of the tools and resourcesavailable for people with disabilities.
And I didn't see people for quite exactlylike me out doing a lot of this stuff.
I just started to get to know more peoplethat were doing it
and got a better understandingof what was out there.
And finally, with my partnerat the time, like,
I finally was convincedjust to try it, like,
I don't know about thiswhole skiing thing.
I'll probably just be cold.I won't have fun.
(11:30):
I was cold, but it was super fun. Just.
I think that feeling
of just sliding on snow that, I did as a kid, like, it felt so familiar.
But it was, different.The mechanics are different.
Like, I use a sit ski now,
which is like, I'm in a seatthat's got 1 or 2 skis under it.
There's a bunch of different varieties.
But that, I thinkjust trying that and realizing, oh, okay,
(11:51):
there is a tool that can get me out there.
I think really started me on that journeyof just wanting to see
what things are out there, what toolsI can use, what I can try
and I don't know.
Yeah, it's kind ofjust been a motivation to just.
I'll try anything at least once. Right.
So you get brought backa little bit of nostalgia, right?
Some of those childhood memories.
Yeah. Yeah,I definitely totally understand that.
(12:12):
It's really good
to see how you can kind of combine your,you know, a couple of your passions
there, like your passion for skiingwhen you were a kid.
You know, that those memoriesand the good times that you had
in that family side and then combine thatwith the the assistive technologies
and finding things that's out there,I mean, that's one good on you.
That's that's great.It's very inspirational.
But at the same time I'm like,I'm a little bit jealous because I know
(12:36):
I, I probably can't get out thereand ski worth a flip.
Like I'mjust not that coordinated at times.
And, I tried water skiing once.
That wasI, I managed to get up on onto the skis.
I was twoskis. Got me to get up on two skis.
I didn't stay there long,
before I face planted, but, I'm like,yeah, I just yeah,
water skiing is a little bit differentthan snow skiing, though.
But Yeah, you know,I never really took to water skiing.
(12:58):
It's funny
because my parents have always beenhuge water skiers, and I'm pretty sure,
like when I was like one,I was probably the one in the boat
holding the flag up when they were outwater skiing,
and they would do it year round, likein the winter and everything, just to me.
But yeah, not my jam.
No. Yeah, I, I,I can't imagine doing that now.
Now biking.
I did do quite a bit of bikingwhen I was a kid.
(13:19):
A lot of it did some mountain bikingwhen I got a little bit older.
So I understandbiking is another, another big thing.
You recently got a new, bike?
Tell us about that.
That’s been an adventure.
First I'll say I'm still, like, a littleterrified of it because it is very fast.
But, yeah, so I, got intoadaptive mountain biking over the summer.
friend of mine
has been slowly trying to convince meto try it out for a couple years
(13:41):
now, just because he does it all the timeand loves it.
And, yeah, I think started a journey to,like, figure out what would work for me.
So last summer, I startedjust kind of experimenting and, like,
trying out a bunch of different bikesthat are out there.
And for me, a lot of the, a lot of theadaptive mountain bikes are trikes.
So sometimes they'll either have one wheelin the front and two in the back, or two
(14:02):
in the front, one in the back.
There's kind of prosand cons for for each of those.
But I tried a bunch of thoseand just kind of like got a sense of what
worked about some of them, what didn'twork, and narrowed in on a bike
that would work for me.
It's made by a company called Bowheadin, Alberta.
In Calgary and itself.
And so they it's, and they have severaldifferent models, but the one that I have
now is called The Reach,and it's basically an electric trike.
(14:26):
A lot of adaptive bikes, you might.
So, like hand pedal.
Sometimes with e-assists
seeing that I don't have a ton of strengthfor using some of those.
that's why when I had tried out thethe Bowhead Reach really felt like it.
Some of the challengeswith some of the other bikes, it's solved
by just being just like throttleand brake, which is much easier for me.
(14:47):
And so,
yeah, it's been fun to get to know that,like anything in the adaptive sports
and just accessibility world it’sexpensive.
Like, it's, it's not cheapto get one of these bikes new.
There are a lot of grants out there,which is great.
but for me,I think a lot of those focus on people,
spinal cord injuries,which I don't fall into that category.
And so it was hard to find funding,at least on that side.
(15:07):
So I end up doing a personal fundraiserfor that.
Yeah, it was neat.
And it was really, it felt really cooland very humbling of just how many people
were willing to contribute to that.
Yeah, I think I rememberI remember some of the emotion
you for sharing, you know,just how surprised and thankful you are,
that folks were willing to help out there,and it's. Yeah, you're right.
They I remember you sharinghow much that thing was,
and it was was like,Holy cow, that's a car.
(15:30):
Yeah.I mean, you could buy a car for this.
So I understand this thing is fast.
You said fast.
How fast is itactually? That’s a good question.
I don't know that I've really, like,put it to the limit.
I remember being on, like,a pretty straight, path.
It was, paved, and I gave it full power,and it was like a residential street
next to it.
I was almost keeping pace with the car,so I think I might go, like,
(15:53):
20 miles an hour.
Crazy. More if you point it down hill.
Oh, yeah, well, yeah.
I'm sure gravity'sgoing to help out there.
I used to, we used to have a, golf cart,
our neighborhood, it'sone of the golf cart communities.
So if you have one that's quote unquotestreet legal, you can have one on there.
And mine was dialed.
It was throttled, at 22 miles an hour.
(16:14):
And when you're driving a car, 22does not seem fast at all.
I mean, it's like, feelsalmost like you're standing still.
Yeah.I'm going to tell you 22 on a golf cart.
It's a little scary.
So. Yeah.
So 20 to 25 miles an hour on that thing.
I could imagine. It's...
and especially because I don't know
if you've driven an electric car,they have that kind of instant power.
(16:35):
Instant torque. does this,
when I give it full power, I pretty much,like, always skid the tire,
and then it just goes, you're just,like, instantly, which is kind of scary.
Yeah, but, you know, it's scary,but it's thrilling ...
It's gotta give you an adrenalinerush. Yeah.
So let me ask you,is there any other sports
that you're not doing nowthat you're considering trying out next?
(16:57):
I've got kind of a running list of thingsthat I would try.
One of them is adaptive surfing.
I think with the caveat that I wouldonly go where the water's really warm,
because that just sounds so much better.
yeah, there's, there's groups, that doadaptive surfing and there's surfboards
that essentially have a seata lot like my sit ski.
Right. With the seat mounted on top of it.
Obviously you're not fully strapped in
(17:19):
like I am with my sit ski,so if it goes under.
yeah, I think surfing is one of them.
Yeah, I think there's just
there's a lot out there, and it's been funto just learn more about them
and even kind of within each sportthat I do, there's
so many ways to branch offand do other things, like with my bike.
I've been doing some mountainbiking on traditional mountain
biking trails, which has been fun.
(17:40):
I've also liked gravel biking,where you're just kind of on these longer
treks on kind of mixed surfaces.
yeah,I think wanting to do more of the gravel
biking to go just further distances,similar with sit skiing like there is,
I've done a lot of resort skiing,but there are a ways of doing
some backcountry skiing, whether that'swith, snowmobile or things like that.
moral of the story is I just need to makefriends with snowmobiles. But
(18:02):
[laughin] yeah, I don't know.
Well, we I'm, I'm in the south obviously.
And so yeah,I mean there's snowmobiles don't exist.
Snow doesn't really exist down here.
We get it like once every five years.
And when we do get it, it'susually like four feet.
Everythingshuts down. So yeah, it's, Yeah.
Now I say that kind of tongue in cheek.I mean, we do.
The mountains do get quite a bit of snow.
I'm. I'm a few hours from mountains.We do have a couple of ski resorts.
(18:24):
I don't know, maybemaybe I'll put that on my bucket list.
Maybe I'll like.You know what? I'll get out there.
Maybe I'll try it.
The downside is,I'm afraid that I might like it
and enjoy it and actually have fun at it.
And it's another thingthat I'm going to have to spend money on.
Just go down that rabbit hole. Yeah, yeah.
The wife and I did kayaking.
I think it was.
second time doing
it was her first time, At Biltmore, yearbefore last, we we were down.
(18:48):
We went down the French Broad River there,which is,
for those who heard about about Helene,it just came through.
A lot of that area is devastated.
And so I'm hopingby the time we get this edited
and up there that a lot of that stuffis starting to recover.
But I know a lot of it.
But so we did we did kayaking there andwe were on a trip to the, Biltmore Estate.
And, you know, it was nicelittle most of it was pretty slow.
(19:08):
The French Broadis, fairly shallow in the area we ran.
So obviouslyit's like there weren't really any rapids.
There were a couple places where it gota little fast, but not too bad.
But it was, was a good time.
And the wife, you know, despite itbeing extremely hot in August,
not the besttime to go kayaking down the river.
it gets hot in a kayak, you can't, like,just jump out and jump back in easily.
(19:29):
But yeah,she said she's wanted to do it too.
So we've debatedon purchasing a couple of kayaks.
There's a few places near here.
Yeah. That's neat.
Yeah, I've tried, I've also triedadaptive kayaking and sailing now, and,
I do love being out on the water.
Like I mentioned that my parentswere have always been big water skiers.
And so, I was often in the boat as a kid,maybe not great at water skiing
(19:49):
because never clicked for me.
But yeah, there's just something specialabout being out on the water.
Yeah, to kind of float down.
Just no power sometimes too.
It's just it's quiet. Peaceful.
Yeah. It.
No, it is definitely an escape.
It gives you an opportunity to kind of
just forget about everythingand step away.
And that’s important.
I think for anybody of any age, it'sjust sometimes you just need to step away
and floating down the river is definitelya good, good way to do it.
(20:13):
really cool.
So I think, you know,
I appreciate you sharingkind of those little personal stories
and stuff,talking a little bit about your work.
The other thingthat we want to talk about on our podcast,
normally is going to be cocktailsand you're not a big alcoholic drinks
[...] Myself, today I'm having an, 1800tequila and a little bit of, I'm going
with the Zero Sugar Pepsi because,you know, gotta watch my watch my figure.
(20:35):
But, yeah. So this isthis is kind of interesting.
Again, I know you're not, not a big liquorguy, but, the 1800, extra anejo here
that I have actually tastesa little bit like a bourbon.
So this is almost like having a bourbonand coke, so it's really good.
Interesting story. The I.
This is the first set of, craft
ice globes,if you will, that I tried, tried making.
(20:55):
I'm like, you know what?
I kind of want to get some like,these craft ice things.
Yeah.
So I found, like, I don't know,it was like, 20 some bucks off of Amazon.
Oh, it's a little insulated I don’t evenknow, it’s a little container.
it's got a plastic piecethat has the half round at the bottom.
And then it's silicone moldthat goes on top.
And you, have to fillput the water for these for ice globes.
(21:17):
Put the water in this little tiny hole inyou have to fill it up.
my first go around I got onethat was an ice globe, one that was two
thirds of an ice globe, onethat was an ice acorn,
and the other onelooked more like an ice pear.
whatever I'm still figuring out,there's like,
I need to figure out how to get
the right amount of water in thereso that it doesn't like, go off balance.
But but anyway, if, if,if any of my viewers
(21:39):
are tequila folks and your bourbon,you like bourbon as well.
The 1800 extra anejo highly recommended.
You on the other hand though,
what's some of your favorite type,you know, again, could be mocktails.
It could be anything else I what what whatkind of things do you like to to drink?
Yeah, I would say I don't drinka whole lot these days.
I do enjoy a good beer once in a while.
There's a new brewery that just openednear me in Seattle.
(22:01):
So I’ve tried that recently.
Which one is that? It's calledJellyfish Brewing.
It's based in, in Seattle,and that was their second, taproom
that they just openedup, Okay. I’ll have to check that out.
Yeah, yeah.
But otherwise, like, I enjoya lot of different teas and things.
I don't drink coffee anymore,but I found a lot of different teas.
(22:21):
Is kind of a good.
know I don't make it every day,but when I want a nice, warm beverage.
I've been doing a lot of chai.
It's just easy to makeand just always as good to me.
I admit, I'm probably not doing itin the traditional way.
It is like a pretty traditional,like, powder that you mix in.
Right.
But the deal with chaias you're mixing it in
with milk and sugar and, like, it'sturns it into quite a good drink.
(22:42):
For me I just kind of like,
pour the powder in some hot waterand it's actually spicy.
Which I like that.I like spiciness of chai.
But may not be the most traditional, but,there's a whole lot of ways
of preparing it, but I've just found thatthat's. I enjoy that one.
Can't say that I've ever had a chai.
I just, I can't I don't think I ever have,not that I haven't.
Like, just never cross my mind.
Like, usually when I go someplacewhere they, they have that as an option.
(23:05):
I'm usually usually a coffee shopand I'm going for coffee.
I'm, you know, a Navy guy,so I drink a lot of coffee.
And so coffee is usually my go to there.
But so If want to branch out into trying
chai either is a hybrid,or it's called a dirty chai.
That'sbasically a chai with some espresso in it.
Interesting.
See, now you're talking about,now you're talking so I.
(23:26):
Yeah, this is onesay I'm willing to try things like I.
Absolutely.
Especially when it comes to like foodbeverages.
I'll try stuff all day long. Againexpand the palate.
Right.
I've, I've found there's thingsthat I did not think I would like.
I tried escargot for the first time.
I'm like, you know what
and, you know, that's one of those thingswhere you can't really get it
a lot of places,like, it's a fancy thing, right?
And usually when I go to some placethat might serve it,
(23:46):
it's like don’t knowif I want to spend that kind of dough,
try something that I might not like,you know?
Yeah. So,you know, I've always avoided it.
But I did get a chance to try, escargotwhen I was in Mexico at a resort because
it's all inclusive, and they actually hada nice French restaurant in the
the resort, and it was on the menu,so I'm like, all inclusive, so go for it.
(24:08):
Actually, it's very good. Okay.Well that's good. Yeah.
So I will try the you'll have to like,I know I'll be out in Seattle area
in a couple of weeks.
And so maybe that's something we canwe could try that dirty chai.
Yeah. Highly recommend.
I've also done and tried matcha,which is like
a, more of a concentrated green tea.
It's a bit more like, particular to get itjust right,
(24:29):
because sometimes the texturelike it's a powder as well, but getting it
kind of mixed injust right is a little tricky in,
not a whole lot of places that I've beento do a great matcha, but some do.
But yeah, it's also just a good,just a good drink.
It's like, kind of very verbally herbal,herbal and grassy.
I would describe it, which, if that's notyour vibe, that that's fine, but,
(24:50):
I don't know, it's a good thing that
that I try to work in once in a while,but I would say the chai is definitely
the go to.
you would you say matcha is kind oflike the, tea version of espresso
in, I think, in the sensethat it's like a bit trickier
and a bit more particular to get. Right.Yeah, I’d say so.
I do like it.
I'm probably going to get a lot of hatecomments for that, but whatever.
So I’m from the South, we pretty muchdrink one kind of tea down here.
(25:12):
And that's usually sweet tea,
although I dogenerally go with unsweet tea just because
don’t tell any of my southern friendsbecause they will probably disown me.
But it's mainly because, you know, I'mjust I just try to cut down on the sugar.
Like I said, I'm drinkingsugar free Pepsi.
And so, it doesn't bother me.
I got a buddy that calls tea dirty water.
So, yeah, whatever
(25:32):
to each their own.
Sweet dirty water and unsweet dirty water.
That's right.That's that's what he calls it.
but yeah, I generallyI do like a good hot tea occasionally.
Most of the time when I drink at hot tea,it's like in the wintertime sore throat,
you know, sinus thing.
I'll drink a good, lemon zingerhot tea with a little bit of honey in it
to help feel better.
Or when I go to the Chinese restaurant.
(25:54):
Tastes good with that meal.
what about the, the what? The boba teas.
You drink those things with a little, what do they have pearls in it?
But I'm a bit picky on, like,texture of things, and that's never quite
worked right for me.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, no.
Like, if I have to have a straw
that large to drink my drink,unless it's a milkshake.
(26:15):
Oh, man.
That's that's just awesome.
Well, I appreciate it, Sean.
Thanks for your time today.
And, look,you know, maybe come back with us again.
Give us an update.
Let us know how some of that,surfing's going and stuff.
Okay.
Yeah, well, once it once we hit summer,and once I go to warm water,
then I'll report back.
Yeah, I'm. I'm done with summer.
It's still summer here in the South.
We have summer until, like, December,so I'm ready for fall/winter here.
(26:39):
As a little differentwhere you're at. But.
Yeah. All right. Well thank you.
I appreciate everyone listening and,hope you enjoyed the podcast.
Leave us some comments, like, subscribe.You know the deal.
Check us out on all the socials. You folkshave a good one.
Thanks, everyone.
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