012 - Living Eulogies, Hydration, and Amazon's Oversharing: Modern Life Unpacked

Death, hydration, and notification overload might seem like an unlikely trio, but they weave together perfectly in this episode as we navigate the contradictions of modern life. We kick off with a powerful quote that stops us in our tracks: "The tragedy of modern man is he spends more time optimizing what is on his CV than what is in his eulogy." This springboards us into candid reflections on mortality and preparedness – Ben reveals he's written a eulogy for someone still living (who happens to be a listener and will learn this for the first time), while Richard has meticulously curated his funeral playlist chronologically from childhood discoveries to recent indie tracks.

The conversation pivots to practical wisdom with our essential travel tip: stay hydrated! Whether you're battling the moisture-sapping environment of a long-haul flight or navigating the inevitable alcohol consumption of business trips and vacations, carrying water is non-negotiable. We share listener feedback about ingenious travel hacks, including a packable shirt steamer https://amzn.asia/d/eE7uXwd that banishes wrinkles without ironing – perfect for the business traveler who refuses to check luggage.

What truly gets us fired up is modern communication overload. When did humanity collectively decide we needed fifteen notifications about a single Amazon package? Why does a buttonless medical device require a 128-page manual? And the email etiquette minefield – is it appropriate to text someone alerting them you've sent an email, or should you use those contentious read receipts? We're asking the questions everyone's thinking but few are discussing. Between Ben's insights on diabetes technology advancements and Richard's handwritten-but-digital letters to his daughter, we're exploring how communication has fundamentally transformed. Ready to pause the notification flood and think about what really matters? Give this episode a listen and join the conversation!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Bravo Charlie Club podcast, making you
12 and a half minutes moreawesome each week.
He's Ben.
I'm Richard.
Let's go, ben.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm well, mate.
I'm well, still recovering fromthe surgery we discussed in
last week's episode, but feelingpretty good, feeling pretty
good.
I am actually going to startthe episode, though on a
slightly somber note.
I know we don't.
You know we list it as a comedyin some of the podcast
platforms, but this one, youknow, it's a shout-out to a

(00:37):
listener, pb, who buried hismother recently.
Shout-out to PB that's tough,that is really tough.
I haven't had to experiencethat yet, but it reminded me of
a quote and I'm going to read itand make sure I don't get it
wrong.
The tragedy of modern man is hespends more time optimizing
what is on his CV than what isin his eulogy.

(00:59):
Wow, what a punch in the face.
Obviously it came to mindbecause Paul had to give the
eulogy.
But hey, richard, have you everwritten a eulogy for anyone?
Have you been?

Speaker 1 (01:10):
put in that position?
I haven't, although I haveprepared my own funeral playlist
.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Okay, so it's a concert at your funeral, is it
you know?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
when people have to turn up and listen to terrible
music, they're waiting aroundthe last, final request.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
I think every final will should be what's your
playlist?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I've got all the songs, all the
songs ordered chronologicallyfrom when I discovered them,
sort of like, through to morerecent Indie and electronica
versions as well, of course.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I have.
Of course I have Of course, ifI was going to predict, that
would be the first two thingstop of mind.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yes, I've got the go list as well.
If I kick the bucket, here'swhere all the account numbers,
here's all the passwords, here'sall the services Probably
brings us into a.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
You know that passwords.
Here's all the services itprobably brings us into a, you
know that's password managementmaterial, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
That's sort of the topic.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
How about yourself, ben?
Listen, I have, actually I'vewritten two eulogies one for a
person who's passed and one forsomeone who's still alive,
believe it or not, right, andI'll tell you why.
I'll tell you why.
Probably the two most stoicthings I've ever witnessed was
my father giving the eulogy forhis father.
So my grandfather and then mybest mate giving the eulogy for

(02:31):
his mother.
Yep, and thinking about thosepost-event things, there's
absolutely no way in the worldI'd be able to do it.
I gave my grandmother's eulogyand I bawled my eyes out the
whole way.
Yeah, and I think I asked thepriest for some vodka, which he
didn't have.
Disappointing church we chosethe wrong church clearly um the

(02:56):
sacramental wine.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I think is probably the the right ask.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Bed and and, and the second eulogy I've already
written is is for my.
Yeah, right, and interestingly,I don't think she even knows
this and she's a listener, soshe's about to learn something.
But the reason for that isshe's such an important part of
my life that I can't imaginebeing without her and being in a

(03:20):
condition to write something,even meaningful, that respects
her life.
Should that time come and Ihope I never need it, trust me,
I hope I never need it, but I'malso a realist and it's a 50-50
bet, right.
So I made the decision to writethat and it's tucked away ready
and again, just pray that it'sa long time in the future, yeah,

(03:44):
yeah there you go InterestingDon't mean to bring the tone
down too much on our usuallyjovial sort of podcast.
It was a bit of a punch in theface when I was thinking about
that and thinking about my mate.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Fully awake.
That's what it's about.
Yeah, I wanted to raise thatone.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Hey, travel tip, I've got a very simple one for you.
Stay hydrated and I'll tell youmy theory, tell you my theory If
you're on a long haul, theplane is going to suck the juice
out of you and you need to stayhydrated, yes, yeah.
And if you're on a short haul,you're either going for two
reasons You're going forpleasure, and there's probably

(04:20):
going to be alcohol involved, soyou need to stay hydrated.
Or you're probably going forbusiness, and there could be
business drinks involved, andyou need to stay hydrated.
I mean, we're Australian, sothat's the mentality.
For those who are non-drinkers,more power to you.
But for the average punters andprobably for most of our
listener base, just carry abottle of water, guys.

(04:42):
Let's just be smart about this.
So there, you go.
That's a very basic travel tip.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
This Well, and you can get them on the plane too.
You just have to ask.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
And the long haul you know.
Obviously you've got to take anempty water bottle through.
As soon as you're through thegates you can fill it up.
So, that's worthwhile.
Hey, listener feedback.
We're blessed, aren't we?
We get plenty of comments andtexts, and a few people in the
inner sanctum on the WhatsAppchannel are messaging us as well

(05:12):
.
But if anyone actually knowshow to use that star rating
feature on their favouritepodcast platform and I don't, so
don't ask, and if you feelwe're worthy, please go ahead
and drop a rating there too.
I'm sure it means something,yeah definitely.
But you had a listener write inwith a travel hack of his own.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
I did.
Yes, listener PA writes in withhis shirt travel hack.
No ironing needed.
I've got to try and describethis visually for the listeners
at home.
It's like a coat hanger with abuilt-in steamer and you can buy
it on Amazon.
He's got a link.

(05:55):
I'll put it in the show notesand yeah, no ironing needed.
You just kind of hang yourshirt on the shirt steamer and
it steams out all the wrinklesInteresting.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
So does it fit our other theory that you shouldn't
check luggage Like can it betaken as carry-on?
Like it's not a violent-on,like what's is it?

Speaker 1 (06:12):
it's not a violent object I don't think it was that
big actually.
I think it was kind of like thesize of kind of like a portable
speaker cylinder kind of kindof size.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
So packable coat, hanger, shirt, steamer.
Didn't you tell me once thatyou should never iron in the
nude and use the shot of steam?

Speaker 1 (06:31):
it's generally good advice.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
It sounds like it's got danger written all over it
um it'd be a double warning fora coat, hanger, shirt, steamer
wouldn't it like yeah, it'sprobably got warnings all over
it hey, speaking of amazon, youraise it, not me, but I'm I'm
homebound and so i've've had touse Amazon.
Obviously the last few weeksand it's highlighted something

(06:57):
to me which I need to unpackwith you when did we become so
needy on communicationspecifically?
So there must have been amoment in time where the human
race said tell me everything.
Oh yes, don't leave anythingout.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
You know, you buy something on Amazon and then you
get a message the purchase isabout to be shipped.
The purchase is shipped.
The purchase is reached.
We received your order in.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yahoo.
We're on the way to thewarehouse and, yippee, we've
chosen the perfect bowl wrap.
Like just give me a link totell me if it's coming or not.
Like what is going on there,it's, it's, it's.
And ebay does it as well, andI'm sure other platforms that
listeners use and enjoy areexperiencing the same thing.
Even australia post, theclunkiest, probably,
organization on the planet, aresending multiple you know

(07:45):
communications to us.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Now what's going on.
I don't know, but theinteresting thing, though, with
with os post, and particularlyif you live in in a capital city
or sort of like a major region,is that quite often by
something, they're waiting forAusPost to pick it up and then
it goes into the AusPost systemand it's not available for like

(08:08):
24 hours.
Sometimes I actually receivethe package before I've actually
got the tracking information onthe package that I've received.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
It doesn't work anyway and we're not just
talking about online orderingtoo.
I got this new CGM sensor, thecharger.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
What's CGM Ben?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
So continuous glucose monitoring.
Most of the listener base knowthat I'm type 1 diabetic by now.
This is a device with no buttons, right, you literally put the
sensor transmitter into it tocharge so it has a 128 page user
manual and no buttons, nobuttons I'm not even kidding now

(08:55):
, I'm I'm pretending a littlebit, because it's like written
in you know six languages orsomething, but like how, even if
you divide that by six, what'sthat?
20, 20 plus pages, yeah,describe a device with no
buttons, like what is going on.
What is going on?
I will give a shout out thatthe opposite happens in this.
Actually, in this same category, there's a brand called type

(09:16):
strong which make the cgmpatches.
Um, anyone's on video they cansee.
It's a big black dot whichcovers, um the the sensor.
They just come in a packet.
You know what they are, youknow they work.
Um, it's also a massive bigblack dot which so hang on those
things.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Do they have a bluetooth sensor in them, like
do?
They and they transmit to yousort of like to the monitor yeah
, so every five minutes I get ablood glucose reading transmits
yeah makes a decision on whetherI need insulin or it should
turn off.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
And, man, it's really easy to be a type one diabetic
these days, hey.
So, um, yeah, it's.
Uh, it's not the death sentencethat it was A hundred years ago
.
If you were diagnosed withdiabetes, I'd say I'm sorry.
Yeah, how can we make youcomfortable?
It's not, it's not that anymore.
So, yeah, shout out to Ryan atTypeStrong Great product and the

(10:11):
fact that he believes in it anddoesn't put a fricking manual
in there which describes indifferent languages how to use
it when it's just a patch.
Let's not overcomplicate this.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, cool.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
I've got a counter question, though, because I am
pretty frustrated by the amountof communication.
What happens, what's theexpected response time on an
email?
These days Is it rude to usethe delivery and read receipts?
And if you've emailed someone,should you which I've
experienced have to thenWhatsApp them or text message

(10:47):
them to say, hey, I've sent youan email.
Oh no, what is going on there?

Speaker 1 (10:53):
I think that's dangerous territory.
What is going on there?
I think that's dangerousterritory, although I mean,
sometimes, though, it's rightthough.
Sometimes they're like oh,sorry it went to spam or
something like that, which Ihave had happen.
I think if they're people thatyou've emailed before, like I
think if you're sendingcontracts and things like that,
then I think it's fine to sortof follow up with a hey, you

(11:15):
know, sort of just a sort of asecond channel.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
But my question is is there an expected response time
on an email these days Likewhere do you see it?

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Well, I think it depends on the contents of the
email.
Right Is the email?
If the email is something I canresolve straight away, I'll
attempt to resolve it straightaway.
If it's something that needsinvestigation or I've got to
perform an activity, then it'slike two to three days.
Yeah, but do you respond to?

Speaker 2 (11:46):
say you've got it, I'll get back to you, or do you
just do it and not respondBecause you're a geek?

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I'm interested in your response here because
probably 50, 50 actually, whichisn't really helpful, is it um?
So I'm more operational.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
My style is to respond say got your message, uh
yeah, here's.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Here's when I would set an expectation yeah, yeah,
but that's yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
No, that's not every person you know, I think.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
If it's work-related, I reply, although these days
all those things kind of gothrough Slack and Teams and
other sorts of channels.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
And that's sort of different, isn't it?
That's the magic dust, knowingwhich communication channel to
hit people on.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Well, you can throw an emoji, a thumbs up or
something on there to say thatyou've sort of read it, which is
sort of a bit different thanread receipts and other sorts of
things Crazy fact, I actuallywrite my daughter letters and
she reads them In the post.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah, no, no, it's a digital letter.
I use a remarkable and thentext it to her.
Oh yeah, she reads them.
Yeah, it works well, nice, hey,that's it to her.
Oh, yeah, she reads them.
Yeah, it works well, nice, hey,that's it.
Richard.
Listeners have been BCC'd onour week Next week.
We ask why does dental flosshave an expiry date?
See you next week.

(13:08):
Bravo, charlie, Club Out andthat's the pod.